Projapati 2 (Subtitled as Bhalobasha; ; ) is a 2025 Indian Bengali-language culinary drama film directed by Avijit Sen. Produced by Dev and Atanu Raychaudhuri under the respective banners of Dev Entertainment Ventures and Bengal Talkies, Pranab Kumar Guha and Swastik Bibek Ruia served as its co-producers. A spiritual sequel to the 2022 blockbuster Projapati, the film stars Mithun Chakraborty and Dev in the lead roles, reuniting for the third time on-screen, alongside an ensemble cast of Anirban Chakrabarti, Jyotirmoyee Kundu (in her debut), Anumegha Kahali, Kharaj Mukherjee, Aparajita Auddy and Shakuntala Barua in other pivotal roles, with Idhika Paul in a special appearance. It revolves around a Bengali family's restaurant and home which become the backdrop for an emotional reunion as scattered generations return for a festival, forcing them to redefine their bonds and sense of belongings.
Initially titled as Protikkha, the film began its production in December 2024, marking Chakraborty's 359th and Dev's 48th film as actors. It was announced in January 2025, in the fourth collaboration between Sen and Dev, also pairing the latter with Paul for the third time. Principal photography commenced in July 2025 and wrapped by in October 2025. Predominantly shot in London and Edinburgh, portions were filmed in Kolkata. Music of the film is composed by Jeet Gannguli, while Rathijit Bhattacharjee provided its score. Subhankar Bhar and Sujay Datta Ray handled its cinematography and editing respectively.
Projapati 2 was released in the theatres on 25 December 2025, on the eve of Christmas, to positive reviews from critics and audience alike with specific appraisals of its cast performances, direction, script and musical score.
Plot After certain death of his wife, Joy Chakraborty leaves India permanently and starts living in London as a chef with his only daughter Mimmim. His father Gour Chakraborty, a restaurant owner in Kolkata, wants his son to get remarried. He, along with his wife Ganga, daughter Babi and son-in-law Bishu try a lot to convince his son for remarriage. But Joy is happy with his daughter Mimmim and do not want to marry anyone else as he still loves his late wife.
During Durga Puja vacation, while Joy along with his daughter come to India, through video call, meets with Joy's colleague Madhu who is very close to Joy's daughter. Gour Later returning back to London, Joy is sacked from his job by his jealous boss. funds 5 million INR to Joy for opening Joy's own food truck in London and also asks Joy to marry Madhu for the future of Mummum.
This 5 million INR Gour gained as an advance by selling his own beloved house to a local promoter. This shock deteriorates his health and in turn causes his death. Following his father's death, Joy decides to shift permanently again to India and renovates his father's restaurant for a fresh start as a symbol of love of a child for his father.
Cast Mithun Chakraborty as Gour Chakraborty Dev as Joy Chakraborty, Gour's son Jyotirmoyee Kundu as Madhu Anumegha Kahali as Mimmim, Joy's daughter Aparajita Auddy as Babi, Joy's sister Kharaj Mukherjee as Bishu, Babi's husband Shakuntala Barua as Ganga, Gour's wife Kanchan Mallick as Gour's hotel-manager Partha Bhowmick as Bhajahari Kar Biswajit Ghosh Majumder as Ratan Sriparna Roy as Bhajahari's sister
Special appearances Paran Bandyopadhyay as Bhajahari's father Idhika Paul as Shree, Joy's wife Anirban Chakrabarti as Sakibul Hassan Jhontu Ambarish Bhattacharya as Keshto, wedding caterer
Production
Development Following the success of Pradhan (2023), the box-office hit trio of Dev, director Avijit Sen and producer Atanu Raychaudhuri reportedly was to collaborate for the fourth time; Sen also expressed to make a Hindi film with Dev in the lead and Raychaudhuri as producer. In February 2024 however, it was revealed that Sen met Dev and narrated two scripts, one of which titled as Protikkha was reportedly nodded by the latter, who was "keen" to work on the film, however, would finalize it only after hearing the final script, which was still progressing writing. The same month, Anandabazar Patrika noted that Mithun Chakraborty would also star in the film, reuniting with Dev for the third time after Herogiri (2015) and Projapati (2022), also collaborating with Sen and Raychaudhuri secondly after working on the latter. In August 2024, Raychaudhuri confirmed the news.
Protikkha was to be Dev's 46th film as actor, which later would be actually Khadaan (2024) as the former was usually rumoured to have a release in the Christmas weekend of 2024 as each film in this trio had always been released that time since. Principal photography was expected to commence in London from 19 November 2024, which was postponed in October 2024 due to the extremely cold weather and delayed to July 2025. On its prolongation, Raychaudhuri revealed "A little more time must be needed to dedicate to develop the film's screenplay. We are not willing to make a film by writing just haphazardly to bring two superstars."
The film had its official announcement on 2 January 2025 as Projapati 2, a spiritual successor to the 2022 film, changing its title from Protikkha.
Pre-production
Cinematographer Gopi Bhagat, a long-time collaborator of Sen, exited the film due to his commitment to Manohar Pandey (2026), which led Subhankar Bhar to replace him. Sen further renewed his norm technicians—Subhadeip Das as screenwriter, Sujay Datta Ray as editor, Anindit Roy and Adeep Singh Manki as sound designer; dance choreographers Baba Yadav and Adil Shaikh also joined the technical crew in their maiden collaborations with Sen. Jeet Gannguli signed the film as the music composer in his collaborations for the second time with Sen after Tonic (2021); Rathijit Bhattacharjee, another frequent collaborator of Sen came on the board to provide its background score, in his third collaboration with the latter after Projapati and Pradhan (2023).
By late-December 2024, Sen began location scouting for the film in London. Initially, the film was set to begin production in March 2025. However, the plans were rescinded owing to pre-production delays, resulting in the film's eventual commencement being pushed to July 2025.
The muhurat of the film held on 2 February 2025 at Bengal Talkies' office with the film's cast and crew, on the occasion of Vasant Panchami. Both Chakraborty and Dev had reportedly finalised looks for their respective characters at a look-test, which was reportedly in early-February 2025 at a studio in Kolkata.
Casting Bangladeshi actress Tasnia Farin was approached to play the female lead alongside Dev in August 2024, on Raychaudhuri's proposal. However, she came out of the project in September 2024 due to the temporary halt of Indian visas regarding the July revolution in Bangladesh. Nusraat Faria entered talks to replace Farin in the same month, while the makers dropped the idea to cast her for the same reason. Then the role went to Idhika Paul in May 2025, pairing with Dev for the third time after Khadaan and Raghu Dakat (2025), but she declined the role. In June 2025, TV actress Jyotirmoyee Kundu was cast in that role in her cinematic debut. In an interview to Anandabazar Patrika, on her involvement to the film, she stated "Getting the opportunity to be Dev Da's leading lady, is a bonus for me." The name of her character was revealed to be Madhu in a source by Aajkaal. In addition, Paul was also reportedly roped in for an important role alongside Dev.
Shakuntala Barua joined the film in June 2025, secondly collaborating with Sen after Tonic. Later, Kharaj Mukherjee, Aparajita Auddy and Kanchan Mullick was signed to play other prominent roles. In July 2025, media reports confirmed Anirban Chakrabarti's inclusion in the film, which marks his second collaboration with Chakraborty after Shastri (2024) and third collaboration with Dev after Pradhan and Khadaan. Anumegha Kahali, the then-anchor of Dance Bangla Dance – Season 13 who previously shared screen with Chakraborty in Kabuliwala (2023), was auditioned and selected to play the daughter of Dev's character in the film.
Filming
Principal photography began with the first schedule on 5 July 2025 in London. Sen reportedly completed some portions in 7 days, which were supposed to take 10 days. A crucial scene was filmed in Stratford-upon-Avon with Chakraborty and Dev. The Indian Cricket team was invited in the sets of the film following their victory in 2-match series, when the shooting took place in Birmingham. On 12 July, filming took place on London Bridge which was revealed by Dev through a post on Instagram, evoking memories of the shooting of the song "Police Chorer Preme Porechhe" from his 2012 film Challenge 2 there. The first schedule was wrapped by on 15 July 2025. In early-August 2025, filming moved to Edinburgh for some song sequences with a little schedule.
The second schedule of the film began on 6 September 2025 in Kolkata. Paul began filming in this schedule. Filming wrapped by on 30 October 2025 with a Durga Puja song sequence, picturised on Chakraborty and Dev under the choreography by Yadav, at a massively erected set which was built at Bharatlaxmi Studio prior to the commencement of this schedule, in September, under the supervision by Ananda Adhya.
Music Jeet Gannguli composed the soundtrack of the film; it marks his eighth and twentieth collaborations with Chakraborty and Dev respectively, after working with the former on Yuddho (2005), MLA Fatakeshto (2006), Minister Fatakeshto (2007), Tiger (2007), Herogiri (2015), Jole Jongole (2018) and Shontaan (2024), and with the latter on I Love You (2007), Premer Kahini (2008), Mon Mane Na (2008), Challenge (2009), Paran Jai Jaliya Re (2009), Dujone (2009), Bolo Na Tumi Aamar (2010), Dui Prithibi (2010), Shedin Dekha Hoyechilo (2010), Paglu (2011), Romeo (2011), Paglu 2 (2012), Challenge 2 (2012), Rangbaaz (2013), Herogiri (2015), Love Express (2016), Chaamp (2017), Kidnap (2019) and Tonic. Rathijit Bhattacharjee provided its background score, in his fifth collaboration with Dev after Projapati, Pradhan, Khadaan and Raghu Dakat.
The soundtrack of Projapati 2 preceded with five singles composed by Gannguli: "Love You Papa" was the first to be released on 14 November 2023. It was followed by the second single "Projapati Song" on 24 November, "Hasli Keno Bol" on 6 December, "Maa Esheche" on 16 December and "Aaj Theme Jaak" released on 25 December 2025, whereas Prasen and Priyo Chattopadhyay penned the lyrics; "Joy Panta", an instrumental theme from the original score was composed by Bhattacharjee.
Marketing The teaser of Projapati 2 was exclusively attached to the prints of Raghu Dakat (also starring Dev), Raktabeej 2 and Devi Chowdhurani for theatrical screenings, all of them released in Durga Puja.
The first poster of the film was unveiled on 1 November 2025. The teaser was officially released on 10 November 2025 with an extended version of 96 seconds, upgraded from the a-minute longer version screened in theatres previously. The trailer of the film was released on 22 December 2025.
Despite posters being hung outside the hall, the film did not get screening slots and advance bookings at Navina cinema hall, one of the famous single screen theatres where Dev's films had created several box-office records.
The film had a premiere on 3 January 2026, attended by Srijit Mukherji, Rukmini Maitra and other film personalities. After the success of the film, Dev visited the Boro Maa Kali Temple at Naihati to seek blessings, along with Sen and Kundu on 4 January 2026.
Release
Theatrical Projapati 2 is theatrically released on 25 December 2025, with 256 screens across West Bengal, coinciding with Dev’s birthday and Christmas. It clashed with Mitin: Ekti Khunir Sandhaney and Lawho Gouranger Naam Rey.
Projapati 2 became the first Bengali flim to get released in Saudi Arabia.