Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment is commissioning a spinoff from Sujoy Ghosh’s 2012 hit, Kahaani. One of the film’s most popular characters, Bob Biswas, an LIC agent/assassin for hire is getting his own film, which is named after him. Earlier played by Saswata Chatterjee in Sujoy Ghosh’s film, the character will now be played by Abhishek Bachchan. The film will be the directorial debut for Diya Annapurna Ghosh, while Sujoy Ghosh will serve as a creative producer on the film along with Shah Rukh Khan & Netflix.
Nomoshkar! Thrilled to announce our upcoming film, #BobBiswas in association with Bound Script Production; starring @juniorbachchan and directed by Diya Annapurna Ghosh. @gaurikhan @iamsrk @sujoy_g @_GauravVerma pic.twitter.com/CoQLlfE55X
— Red Chillies Entertainment (@RedChilliesEnt) November 25, 2019
Saswata Chatterjee, a famous Bengali actor in his own right, got pan-India fame because of this character and his strange modus operandi. Giving the appearance of a docile middle-aged bhodrolok, Biswas usually says ‘Nomoshkar, ek minute…‘ before pulling out a gun and shooting his victims from close range. Bob Biswas stars in one of the scariest scenes in Kahaani, when he pushes a pregnant woman in front of the underground metro, only to pull her back in time.
Interestingly, Bachchan also plays an assassin in the second season of Breathe, which is currently under production for Amazon Prime. This is Red Chillies Entertainment’s second original initiative with Netflix, after the widely-panned Bard of Blood. Shah Rukh Khan’s first undertaking with Netflix, starring Emraan Hashmi, Vineet Kumar Singh and Sobhita Dhulipala, proved to be hugely underwhelming.
Bachchan is slowly finding his foothold as a lead actor again, where he’s being approached for everything from streaming content to Anurag Basu’s next film. It could easily turn into one of those films that are trying to profit out of their successful predecessors. But the more one thinks about a bored LIC agent’s life, who moonlights as an assassin, there’s surely potential. Let’s wait and watch.
