Emperor vs Sarat Chandra
Official poster released on 21 April 2026
Directed by	Srijit Mukherji
Screenplay by	Srijit Mukherji
Story by	Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Based on	Pather Dabi by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
Produced by	Pradip Kumar Nandy
Starring	Abir Chatterjee Mimi Chakraborty Tota Roy Chowdhury
Narrated by	Tota Roy Chowdhury
Music by	Srijit Mukherji
Production company	Nandy Movies
Distributed by	PVR Inox Pictures
Release date	16 October 2026 (2026-10-16)
Country	India
Language	Bengali

Emperor vs Sarat Chandra is an upcoming Bengali-language epic historical drama film written and directed by Srijit Mukherji, who also makes his debut as a film music album composer in the film.^[1] Produced by Pradip Kumar Nandy under the banner of Nandy Movies, initially scheduled for release on May 1, 2026, it is now set for a release in October, 2026, on the occasion of Durga Puja.^[2] It is based on Pather Dabi, a 1926 novel (novella) written by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, the subsequent ban on the book and a correspondence between Chattopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore.^[3] A 59-second teaser of the film was released on June 3, 2026 by its makers.^[4]

On its first announcement, Dag Creative Media and Shree Venkatesh films were its producers. The cast given by Mukherjee was Sohini Sarkar, Abir Chatterjee, Tota Roy Choudhury, Rudranil Ghosh in lead roles. By new rules implemented by the film committee (IMPFA-Federation), Media and SVF dropped out, conflicting release dates of their films. Pradip Kumar Nandy, owner of Nandy Movies, became the producing house. Mimi Chakraborty replaced Sarkar by Nandy Movies and Buddhadev Das replaced Ghosh with prior discussion between Mukherji and Ghosh. Start of the shooting was delayed from November to January.

Premise

Pather Dabi was published by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay in August 1926, centering the British Raj as its story. In January 1927, the novel was banned by the British colonial government (British Raj) for its revolutionary theme and for openly challenging the government.^[5] Within a week, it sold out all its available copies. In 1938, Chattopadhyay died of liver cancer. The next year in 1939, the ban was lifted by the government.^[6]

Cast

• Abir Chatterjee^[5] as Sabyasachi Mallick
• Tota Roy Choudhury^[5] as Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay
• Richard Bhakti Klein as Charles Tegart
• Mimi Chakraborty
• Buddhadev Das
• Divyani Mondal^[5]
• Kanchan Mallick^[5]
• Rick Chattopadhyay

Soundtrack

The film's music is set to be composed by Srijit Mukherji, which is his first time as a music director for a film. The soundtrack of the film along with background music are set to be put to music by him according to his own imagination.^[7][8] There are four songs set in Emperor vs Sarat Chandra, one written by Mukherji, one written by Srijato and the other two songs' lyricists are unknown.

Production

Development and pre-production

Srijit Mukherji is the director and song composer of the film.

The film is based on the work of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Srijit Mukherjee announced the film by posting on Twitter on the morning of 31 August 2025. He stated the film to be a period drama set in 1926, the pre-Indian independence era. He said the title of the film to be inspired from the British Indian court case about the bombing in Alipore, Emperor v. Aurobindo Ghosh.^[9] Mukherji said the production to originally begin from November 2025. Among the appearances from the period depicted, Rabindranath Thakur and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das are to appear.^[10] Mukherji stated the cast to appear in the film on 17 September; he did not reveal the roles of the actors in the first few days.^[11]

Upon the first announcement of the film, Srijit Mukherji said that Tota Roychowdhury, Abir Chatterjee and Sohini Sarkar would be playing the lead roles,^[12] with the production houses Dag Creative Media and Shree Venkatesh Films.^[3][13] With effect on the Tollywood film industry, IMPFA-Federation gave out new rules that a production house will not be able to release two films at the same to avoid conflicting the release dates of films by production houses. Production companies Dag Creative Media and Shree Venkatesh Films had a release date of May for their other separate films.^[14] In November 2025, Nandy Movies replaced Dag Creative Media as the production house. Shree Venkatesh Films left the project for their role of producing the film.^[15]

The new film poster with Nandy Movies was released on 27 November 2025.^[15] Pather Dabi was adapted as a film in 1977, called Sabyasachi, starring Uttam Kumar. During the announcement of Emperor vs Sarat Chandra, Mukhherji's upcoming film Lawho Gouranger Naam Re was being shot, scheduled for release during Christmas.^[16] With a new release set for Durga Puja 2026, Emperor vs Sarat Chandra is said to show the evolution of Chattopadhyay from writing his greatest works such as Parineeta and Devdas besides the plot of Pather Dabi. It is also said to include resistance of Sarat Chandra against the ban, his appeal to Rabindranath Tagore and societal debates.^[17] In response to a query why Mukherji picked Sarat Chandra to other writers, remarked "At that time, not only in Bengal, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was the most popular writer in whole of India. He managed to reach every house of Bengal. Famous dramas, pictures, movies are being adapted from his works, and his novels are being translated into English and published under Oxford University Press. Even by sitting at the peak of his popularity and success, the way he had the bravery to still oppose the British Empire and build resistance against it is very inspiring."^[18]

A teaser for the film lasting 59-seconds was released on June 3, 2026, a Wednesday. In the teaser, Abir Chatterjee was revealed to be playing the role of Sabyasachi Mallick, protagonist of the novel and a revolutionary. He appeared in the teaser dressed in a white shirt, coat, and a hat, holding pistols in both hands suggesting ambidexterity.^[19] Tota Roy Chowdhury makes an appearance in the film as Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, shown sitting at a desk in a rainy atmosphere, wearing a traditional dhoti and punjabi.^[20][21]

References

External links

• Emperor vs Sarat Chandra at IMDb 
• Emperor vs Sarat Chandra at Letterboxd