Atul Kulkarni, Manoj Mishra to star in movie on ‘Patnagarh’ Wedding Gift Blast

KalingaTV News Network

Bhubaneswar: Bollywood actor Atul Kulkarni and Ollywood star Manoj Mishra will feature in the upcoming bilingual movie ‘Patnagarh’ based on the real life wedding gift blast case that killed a newly-wed groom and his grand aunt in Patnagarh of Balangir district in Odisha.

Kulkarni, ‘Rang De Basanti’ fame, will play the role of Crime Branch IG Arun Bothra, while Manoj will be seen as Punjilal Meher- the mastermind behind the blast in the upcoming Odia and Telugu movie.

The first-look poster of the movie was released by the film’s producer Sridhar Martha here on Wednesday. It looks quite intriguing as it features only the face of Bollywood actor Atul Kulkarni, who is known for his firebrand acting in movies like ‘Chandini Bar’ and ‘Hey Ram’ and ‘Rang De Basanti’.

“The movie will be directed by Rajesh Touchriver and will be produced under the banner of Range Royal Cine Lab,” Martha said. “Shooting for the movie will begin in July and is expected to hit screens around Dussehra this year.”

Martha also stated that the film was earlier titled as ‘Bullet Raja’, but changed to ‘Patnagarh’ aiming to connect the audience with the real incident.

On February 23, five days after their marriage, Soumya Sekhar Sahu, a 26-year-old software engineer, and his 85-year-old grand aunt Jemamani Sahu were killed and his 22-year-old wife Reema injured when he was opening a parcel that arrived at their home in Patnagarh.

Odisha police took two months to crack the sensational crime and claimed that Punjilal Meher, 46-year old English Professor, sent the wedding gift over a professional rivalry with Soumya Sekhar’s mother, who happens to be the Principal of the same college where the accused taught.