Jyotirmoyee Kundu

Biography

Projapati 2 (Subtitled as Bhalobasha; Bengali pronunciation: [prɔd͡ʒapoti 2]; transl. Butterfly 2) is a 2025 Indian Bengali-language culinary drama film directed by Avijit Sen. Produced by Dev and Atanu Raychaudhuri under the respective banners of Dev Entertainment Ventures and Bengal Talkies, Pranab Kumar Guha and Swastik Bibek Ruia served as its co-producers. A spiritual sequel to the 2022 blockbuster Projapati, the film stars Mithun Chakraborty and Dev in the lead roles, reuniting for the third time on-screen, alongside an ensemble cast of Anirban Chakrabarti, Jyotirmoyee Kundu (in her debut), Anumegha Kahali, Kharaj Mukherjee, Aparajita Auddy and Shakuntala Barua in other pivotal roles, with Idhika Paul in a special appearance. It revolves around a Bengali family's restaurant and home which become the backdrop for an emotional reunion as scattered generations return for a festival, forcing them to redefine their bonds and sense of belongings. Initially titled as Protikkha, the film began its production in December 2024, marking Chakraborty's 359th and Dev's 48th film as actors. It was announced in January 2025, in the fourth collaboration between Sen and Dev, also pairing the latter with Paul for the third time. Principal photography commenced in July 2025 and wrapped by in October 2025. Predominantly shot in London and Edinburgh, portions were filmed in Kolkata. Music of the film is composed by Jeet Gannguli, while Rathijit Bhattacharjee provided its score. Subhankar Bhar and Sujay Datta Ray handled its cinematography and editing respectively. Projapati 2 was released in the theatres on 25 December 2025, on the eve of Christmas, to positive reviews from critics and audience alike with specific appraisals of its cast performances, direction, script and musical score.

== Plot == After certain death of his wife, Joy Chakraborty leaves India permanently and starts living in London as a chef with his only daughter Mimmim. His father Gour Chakraborty, a restaurant owner in Kolkata, wants his son to get remarried. He, along with his wife Ganga, daughter Babi and son-in-law Bishu try a lot to convince his son for remarriage. But Joy is happy with his daughter Mimmim and do not want to marry anyone else as he still loves his late wife. During Durga Puja vacation, while Joy along with his daughter comee to India, though Video calling, Gour meets with Joy's colleague Madhu who is very close to Joy's daughter. Gour funded 5 million INR to Joy for opening Joy's own kitchen in London and also asked Joy to marry Madhu for the future of Mummum. This 5 million INR Gour gained as an advance by selling his own beloved house to a local promoter which in turn caused his death. Following his father's death Joy decides to shift permanently again to India and renovates his father's restaurant for a fresh start as a symbol of Love of a child for his father.

== Cast == Mithun Chakraborty as Gour Chakraborty Dev as Joy Chakraborty, Gour's son Jyotirmoyee Kundu as Madhu Anumegha Kahali as Mimmim, Joy's daughter Aparajita Auddy as Babi, Joy's sister Kharaj Mukherjee as Bishu, Babi's husband Shakuntala Barua as Ganga, Gour's wife Kanchan Mallick as Gour's hotel-manager Partha Bhowmick as Bhajahari Kar Biswajit Ghosh Majumder as Ratan Sriparna Roy as Bhajahari's sister

=== Special appearances === Paran Bandyopadhyay as Bhajahari's father Idhika Paul as Shree, Joy's wife Anirban Chakrabarti as Sakibul Hassan Jhontu Ambarish Bhattacharya as Keshto, wedding caterer

== Production ==

=== Development === Following the success of Pradhan (2023), the box-office hit trio of Dev, director Avijit Sen and producer Atanu Raychaudhuri reportedly was to collaborate for the fourth time; Sen also expressed to make a Hindi film with Dev in the lead and Raychaudhuri as producer. In February 2024 however, it was revealed that Sen met Dev and narrated two scripts, one of which titled as Protikkha was reportedly nodded by the latter, who was "keen" to work on the film, however, would finalize it only after hearing the final script, which was still progressing writing. The same month, Anandabazar Patrika noted that Mithun Chakraborty would also star in the film, reuniting with Dev for the third time after Herogiri (2015) and Projapati (2022), also collaborating with Sen and Raychaudhuri secondly after working on the latter. In August 2024, Raychaudhuri confirmed the news. Protikkha was to be Dev's 46th film as actor, which later would be actually Khadaan (2024) as the former was usually rumoured to have a release in the Christmas weekend of 2024 as each film in this trio had always been released that time since. Principal photography was expected to commence in London from 19 November 2024, which was postponed in October 2024 due to the extremely cold weather and delayed to July 2025. On its prolongation, Raychaudhuri revealed "A little more time must be needed to dedicate to develop the film's screenplay. We are not willing to make a film by writing just haphazardly to bring two superstars." The film had its official announcement on 2 January 2025 as Projapati 2, a spiritual successor to the 2022 film, changing its title from Protikkha.

=== Pre-production ===

Cinematographer Gopi Bhagat, a long-time collaborator of Sen, exited the film due to his commitment to Manohar Pandey (2026), which led Subhankar Bhar to replace him. Sen further renewed his norm technicians—Subhadeip Das as screenwriter, Sujay Datta Ray as editor, Anindit Roy and Adeep Singh Manki as sound designer; dance choreographers Baba Yadav and Adil Shaikh also joined the technical crew in their maiden collaborations with Sen. Jeet Gannguli signed the film as the music composer in his collaborations for the second time with Sen after Tonic (2021); Rathijit Bhattacharjee, another frequent collaborator of Sen came on the board to provide its background score, in his third collaboration with the latter after Projapati and Pradhan (2023). By late-December 2024, Sen began location scouting for the film in London. Initially, the film was set to begin production in March 2025. However, the plans were rescinded owing to pre-production delays, resulting in the film's eventual commencement being pushed to July 2025. The muhurat of the film held on 2 February 2025 at Bengal Talkies' office with the film's cast and crew, on the occasion of Vasant Panchami. Both Chakraborty and Dev had reportedly finalised looks for their respective characters at a look-test, which was reportedly in early-February 2025 at a studio in Kolkata.