A Satyajit Ray film by Srijit Mukherji tops the lineup of over 25 serials, movies and TV titles from Bengali broadcaster Hoichoi for its 10th anniversary. The list also includes new cases for the platform’s first animated series with detectives Feluda and Eken Babu.
In “Hail to Maharaja Tomare,” Ray accepts his son’s request to make a children’s film. He struggles with money troubles, industry resistance, and the pressure of his own reputation on the way to “Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne,” which would later become a classic of Indian cinema. Starring Jeetu Kamal, Ritwik Bhowmik, Rudranil Ghosh, Sairity Banerjee, Shatakshy Nandy and Arijit Dutta.
The Hoichoi Studio film series also includes “The Eken: Kerala-e Kurukshetra” directed by Joydeep Mukherjee. In this film, a failed undercover mission leads Eken Babu into a mystery in Kerala. The cast consists of Anirban Chakrabarti, Ritwick Chakraborty, Raima Sen, Somak Ghosh, Suhotra Mukhopadhyay, Ambarish Bhattacharya, Arna Mukhopadhyay, Subrat Dutta and Kamaleswar Mukherjee.
Parambrata Chatterjee directs and stars in “Jononi,” which is about a college professor who goes in search of his maid’s missing young daughter and finds secrets closer to home. Koel Mallick, Koneenica Banerjee and Joy Sengupta also star. Debaloy Bhattacharya’s “Bhugun”, starring Abhishek Banerjee and Parno Mittra, is about a wealthy Bengali family whose deal with a tantrik to restore their wealth removes a deadly curse.
On the drama front, Kamaleswar Mukherjee is directing “Feludar Goyendagiri: Baksho Rawhoshyo”, in which Feluda follows the secret of a box that was changed during a train journey. Starring Tota Roy Choudhury, Kalpan Mitra and Subhadip Chakrabarty. Other returning series include “Birangana 2”, “Kuheli 2”, “Thakumar Jhuli 2”, “Tansener Tanpura: Mohonbashi” with Vikram Chatterjee and “Choddobeshi 2” created and starring Parambrata Chatterjee. He also directed “Agambagish: Drolmar Khorgo” starring Saswata Chatterjee. In this film, tantric saint Krishnananda Agambagish battles a group of ghostly priests in 17th-century Bengal.
New series include Pratim D. Gupta’s “Chaalchitro: The Ekchala Murders,” about a serial killer who leaves his female victims disguised as goddesses in the lead-up to Durga Puja. It stars Tota Roy Choudhury, Anirban Chakrabarti, Chanchal Chowdhury and Sweta Mishra in the lead roles. Raima Sen is directing Sahana Dutta’s “Kumari”. Starring Ananya Chatterjee and Joy Sengupta and directed by Ayan Chakraborti, “Shrimoti Not Out” is about a 48-year-old woman who learns that she is pregnant while her son is about to get married. Mimi Chakraborty stars in Aditi Roy’s “Uttoron: Charulata” and Sabyasachi Chowdhury stars in “Detective Tarinicharan”, a murder mystery set in colonial Darjeeling.
Rounding out the cast of the series are “Debipokkho”, “Kauriburir Mandir”, “Mangolik”, “Konya”, “Shoti”, “Jujuma” and “Kanamachhi”. Sanglap Bhowmick directs the animated “Shri Ramkrishna”, which traces the life of spiritual master Ramakrishna Paramahansa. On television, Madhumita Sarcar and Arjun Chakrabarty star in “Katha-Amrito” and Trina Saha stars in “Sholaka Rawhoshyo”. The broadcaster also continues to support Bangladeshi creators and productions.
“For me, 10 years of Hoichoi is not just about the number of shows we have done or the milestones we have crossed. It is about the stories, characters and creators that have stayed with the people and become part of Bengali popular culture in many ways,” said Soumya Mukherjee, COO of Hoichoi. “When we started, our aim was simply to create a home for Bengali stories. A decade later, that belief remains the same, but the possibilities around these stories have become much greater. We have seen Bengali intellectual property move beyond the screen, where it is created through adaptations, licensing, theatrical, partnerships, new formats, and our stories are increasingly moving beyond Bengali and the language.”
Hoichoi’s library currently has over 600 Bengali movies and over 200 original series watched in India, Bangladesh and abroad. Beyond subscriptions, it also makes money from licensing, branded content, theatrical releases and distribution deals. It also switched to technology it developed itself.
Newer bets include Hoichoi FM, which carries original audio fiction within the app, and Sooper, a microdrama venture that works across languages and markets. The company is also testing AI tools for development and production through LoglineAI.
Hoichoi and LoglineAI co-founder Vishnu Mohta said the first decade was about proving that a language-first platform could build a meaningful global business. “The next decade is about expanding what this platform can become,” Mohta said. “Technology, artificial intelligence and new formats are opening up possibilities that didn’t exist when we started. Our goal is to use these possibilities without losing the cultural instinct and storytelling sensibility that made Hoichoi what it is.”