''Shikari'' ( Hunter) is a 2016 Indian-Bangladeshi joint venture action thriller film directed by

Joydip Mukherjee Joydip Mukherjee is an Indian film director, actor and writer primarily associated with Bengali language, Bengali language films. Career In 2008, Joydip started his career with directed television drama serial. Then he directed two more drama ...

and Zakir Hossain Simanto. It was produced by Abdul Aziz and Himanshu Dhanuka under the

Jaaz Multimedia Jaaz Multimedia is a film production and distribution house in Bangladesh. History 2011–2014: Initial years Jaaz Multimedia released their first film, '' Bhalobasar Rong'' starring Bappy and Mahiya Mahi, in 2012. In 2013, Jaaz Multimedia ...

and Eskay Movies banners. It stars

Shakib Khan Masud Rana Sheikh (born 28 March 1979), better known by the stage name Shakib Khan, is a Bangladeshi actor and filmmaker who works in Bengali language, Bengali films. He is widely regarded as one of the most popular figures of all time in Benga ...

, Srabanti Chatterjee,

Rahul Dev Rahul Dev Kaushal (born 27 September 1968) is an Indian actor and former model who predominantly works in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia language films He also participated in Bigg Boss (Hindi season 10) and was evicted on ...

and

Sabyasachi Chakrabarty Sabyasachi Chakrabarty ( is an Indian actor known for his work in theatre, films and television. He is best known for portraying iconic Bengali detective characters, Feluda, and Kakababu. Personal life His parents, Jagadish Chandra Chakrabarty ...

in pivotal roles and centers around Khan, a disguised professional assassin with a mysterious past, tasked with assassinating a top government official. The film also features

Lily Chakravarty Lily Chakravarty is an Indian actress. She worked in many Bengali and Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari ...

, Amit Hasan,

Kharaj Mukherjee Kharaj Mukherjee or Kharaj Mukhopadhyay is an Indian actor, comedian and singer. He won the Bengal Film Journalists' Association – Best Male Playback Award in 2004 for the film '' Patalghar''. Over the years, he has established himself as on ...

, and

Supriyo Dutta Supriyo Dutta is an Indian Bengali language film and theatre artist from West Bengal. He is prominently known for his diverse roles in the Tollywood industry. He started his career as a background artist in the Indian Bengali film and establi ...

in supporting roles. The soundtrack album and background score of the film have been composed by

Indraadip Dasgupta Indraadip Dasgupta (born 17 January 1973) is an Indian composer whose range of music is well known in various Bengali Films. In 2017 he worked in ''Begum Jaan (2017 film), Begum Jaan'', for which he composed the background score. Film direc ...

. A collaborative Jaaz-Eskay project involving Khan was first reported during mid 2014. However, the project was later shelved due to unavailability of the actor. The film was originally planned to be a multi-starrer film in numerous media reports. Eskay Movies and Jaaz Multimedia intended to begin production of the film again after revisions in the script. The production was officially announced by Eskay and Jaaz in January 2016, and Zakir Hossain Simanto and Joydip Mukherjee were hired as directors.Some of the film and songs were shot in London. The film was released in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

on 7 July 2016 and became the 2nd highest-grossing Bangladeshi film of 2016. For the film Khan won his eighth Meril-Prothom Alo Awards for Best Actor and was nominated in critics choice Best Actor category. It is an official remake of the 2009

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

film '' Aadhavan'' which was itself inspired from the 1990

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

film ''

His Highness Abdullah ''His Highness Abdullah'' is a 1990 Indian Malayalam-language musical drama film written by A. K. Lohithadas and directed by Sibi Malayil. It stars Mohanlal, Nedumudi Venu, Gautami, Sreenivasan, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair and Mamukkoya. The ...

''.

Plot

Sultan is a professional assassin who had run away from home in his childhood After being convicted of attempting to murder his father. Dev Roy, an influential child trafficker hires Sultan to kill prominent Judge Rudro Chowdhury, since he is handling the inquiry and verdict on Dev Roy's

child trafficking Trafficking of children, also known as child trafficking, is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of a child" for the purpose of slavery, forced labour, and ...

case in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. Sultan arrives in Kolkata and attempts to murder Judge Chowdhury by sniping, but misfires due to a large crowd and media around the Judge. The West Bengal Police force chases after him, but ultimately fails to catch him. After Dev Roy insults him for his inability, Sultan is angry with himself, and vows to kill Judge Chowdhury within ten days. Sultan enters Judge Chowdhury's household disguising as a servant, and slowly begins to win over the members of the family.

Cast

as Raghob Chowdhury / Sultan / Raghu / fake Hridoy / Hridoyharan * Srabanti Chatterjee as Chhutki / Riya *

as Rahul Dev Roy, a corrupt doctor involved in organ trafficking *

as Rudro Chowdhury, Raghu's father, a judge appointed by CBI to investigate about organ trafficking in West Bengal * Rebeka Rouf as Chowdhury's wife, Raghu's mother *

as Raghu's grandmother * Amit Hasan as IPS Rudro *

as Abdul Ansari/Abbu *

as Teenkori * Subrata * Rajib Banerjee * Alokananda Guha * Parthasarathi Chakraborty as Bappy Man * Prashanta Samanta * Shiba Shanu as security guard Khan * Dr. Sohail Babu * Mousumi Saha

Production

Casting and development

The project was first announced in January 2016 with an official statement by Jaaz Multimedia. Srabanti Chatterjee was signed to play the female lead opposite Khan in the film. The film was made official in a press conference held in Dhaka on 7 March 2016, where the cast members of the film were introduced.

Filming

The shooting schedule of Shikari commenced on 14 March 2016. The first phase of the film was shot in 12-day schedule and entirely filmed in

. The second phase of the filming took place in London. The last phase of the film was filmed in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

, and lasted 26-days. The entire film was shot on a 48-day schedule. During filming, the shooting was halted for 2-days in Kolkata due to strike from the production crew. The music of the film was shot at various locations in London and Kolkata. A romantic track sequence was shot at

Beachy Head Beachy Head is a Chalk Group, chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, East Sussex, Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters, Sussex, Seven Sisters. Beachy Head is located within the administrative ar ...

in East Sussex, England while other sequences were shot at

Piccadilly Circus Piccadilly Circus is a road junction and public space of London's West End of London, West End in the City of Westminster. It was built in 1819 to connect Regent Street with Piccadilly. In this context, a ''List of road junctions in the Unite ...

Release

The film also released in North America and Europe on 12 August 2016.

Promotions

Promotion of Shikari began on 16 June 2016 with the release of " Harabo Toke Niye" on YouTube. The track featured Shakib Khan, Srabanti Chatterjee and the track was shot in London. The video received an overwhelming response on YouTube, and became the fastest Bengali-language video track to reach 1 million views. The track received praise from the audience and critics. The official teaser of the film was revealed on 18 June 2016 and instantly became the top trend online for 24 hours. Khan's new look and the action sequences were praised. Promotions officially began with a press conference on 22 June 2016, where the film's cast and crew were present.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ''Shikari'' was released worldwide on 12 August 2016.

Accolades

References

External links

* * *
Shikari
' at the Bangla Movie Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Shikari 2016 Film Bengali-language Bangladeshi films Bengali-language Indian films 2016 films Bangladeshi action comedy-drama films Bangladeshi action films 2010s action comedy-drama films Films shot in Dhaka Films set in London 2010s Bengali-language films 2016 romantic comedy-drama films Bangladeshi remakes of Indian films Bangladeshi romantic comedy-drama films Films scored by Indradeep Dasgupta Indian comedy-drama films Films directed by Joydip Mukherjee Jaaz Multimedia films Films shot in Kolkata Indian action films Indian action comedy films Films shot in London Indian romantic comedy-drama films Indian action thriller films Films set in Kolkata Films about assassinations Fictional portrayals of the West Bengal Police Films shot in East Sussex Indian courtroom films Indian legal drama films Rabindranath Tagore Films about child trafficking in India Films about murder Films about contract killing in India Indian action comedy-drama films Films about con artists Films about murderers Films about organised crime in India Films about terrorism in India Films based on adaptations Bengali remakes of Tamil films Bangladeshi remakes of Tamil films