Tenzin Dalha, who debuted at the Toronto Film Festival in Jennifer Peedom’s Apple original film “Tenzing,” has been revealed to play the male lead in the Bengali thriller “Chheledhora” opposite Swastika Mukherjee.
His casting was scrapped earlier this year when the Indian-American drama was first announced, with producers only nominating Mukherjee.
TIFF’s extravaganza Tenzing stars Genden Phuntsok as legendary mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, with a cast that includes Tom Hiddleston, Willem Dafoe and Caitriona Balfe. A limited theatrical screening will begin on October 9th, with worldwide streaming on Apple TV on October 16th.
In “Chheledhora,” written and directed by Shieladitya Moulik (whose credits include “Sweater” and “Surjo”), Dalha and Mukherjee tell a story fueled by an act of parental defiance. Mukherjee plays Brishti, a divorced mother who “steals” her daughter for a birthday outing, only to have the child kidnapped. This discovery then draws a group of deeply flawed adults and their children on a precarious journey in northeastern India, where the youngest characters gradually become the moral compass for the adults around them. Shot extensively in the Ziro Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, the show blends family drama, thriller elements and dark humor with the cultural textures of Northeast India. Currently in post-production.
“When we first revealed Chheledhora, we made a very conscious decision not to announce Tenzing,” said Ann Mukherjee, founder of Indo-American production company Sita22 Films. “We knew he was going to have this extraordinary international moment with Tenzing, and TIFF felt like the perfect time for audiences to discover another side of him. Tenzin possesses a quiet emotional intelligence and restraint that makes him a fascinating contrast to Swastika’s immense emotional power. Their chemistry is at the heart of this film.”
Mukherjee describes Chheledhora as a film that takes a physical and emotional journey deep into Northeast India. “We want to tell stories that are rooted in India but are not limited by language, geography or traditional notions of identity,” she said.
Dalha said it felt “extremely special” to discuss one project while simultaneously discussing another during the festival. “They are completely different movies, but both are rooted in human courage, empathy, and the lengths humans go to for the people they love,” he said. “What attracted me to ‘Chheledhora’ was Shieladitya’s writing. He understands humans as imperfect, complex beings and sees life beyond dichotomies of good and bad individuals. His beautifully broken young adult characters make questionable choices for the people they love.”
The actor described Mukherjee as “a force of nature in the frame and a force of joy on the sets”, adding that the landscape of Arunachal Pradesh shaped the mood of the film from the beginning. “The shooting in Ziro and Arunachal Pradesh provided the perfect backdrop for the thriller, and the weather also set the tone for the atmosphere,” he said.
The film is produced by Ann Mukherjee for Sita22 Films, with Jitin Hingorani as co-producer and creative producer, Dhanraj Sawant as executive producer and Priyangi Borthakur as supervising producer. Italian photographer Vincenzo Condorelli shot the film.
“The idea was never to make a Bengali film that happened to travel to the Northeast,” said Hingorani, who is also head of content and development at Sita22 Films. “The journey transforms these characters, and the Northeast becomes part of the film’s emotional language. The pairing of Swastika and Tenzin gives us two performers from very different cinematic and cultural energies, and that tension is part of what makes this film so exciting. At Sita22, our mission is to find stories that can be hyper-local and hyper-global at the same time, and Chheledhora embodies this idea perfectly.”