Dabaru – grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly’s biopic – to be released in May

Pathikrit Basu’s Dabaru, a biopic of grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly, will be released this May. The shooting started last July. The first poster came out on Wednesday. The film tells the story of how Surya, hailing from a middle-class family in North Kolkata, overcame all obstacles and became a professional chess player. 

Arghya Basu Ray plays Surya and Rituparna Sengupta and Sankar Chakraborty play his parents. Chiranjeet Chakraborty plays his coach. Dipankar De, Kaushik Sen, and Kharaj Mukherjee are in other important roles. The first poster shows Dipankar, Chiranjeet, Rituparna, and Samadarshi Sarkar who plays the young Surya. 

The film is presented by Nandita Roy and Sanjay Agarwal and produced by Windows. The creative producer of the film is Shiboprosad Mukherjee. The film not only takes viewers on an emotional rollercoaster but also highlights the striking parallels between chess and life itself. 

Pathikrit Basu, the director of the film, expressed his excitement about venturing into uncharted territory, stating, “For a film like Dabaru, only Windows could envision bringing an alternative sport like chess to the forefront of Bengali cinema. I am truly grateful to Nandita Ma’am and Shibuda (Shiboprosad) for entrusting me with this project.”

Grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly, whose remarkable life serves as the inspiration behind 'Dabaru', shared his emotional journey of collaborating with the filmmakers. “When I first met Shibuda on January 2, 2021, it was a memorable moment for me as my daughter was born the following day. Learning about his interest in depicting my life on screen filled me with immense emotion. This film will shed light on the struggles and sacrifices my family endured, which often go unnoticed. I am deeply grateful to Windows for immortalising my journey from a three-year-old to becoming India's first Grandmaster in a film,” Surya Sekhar said.