According to an age-old myth, it is believed that water baptizes the mind, the body, and the spirit. Director Riingo’s upcoming Bengali film, A River In Heaven, produced by Flixbug delves into the age-old myth of water as a powerful agent of change and its repercussions on our lives.

Set in Varanasi, A River in Heaven has one single motif running through it — Ganga, which is worshipped, praised, loved, and deified by millions of God-fearing devotees. However, she has another side to her- she can also swallow lives, cause turbulence and lead to disaster.

The film unfolds as a story of human relationships — of love, trust, friendship, betrayal, and final reconciliation.

There is Hari, a poor farmer who lives in Durana with his parents and wife, Banno. Living in abject poverty and in search of respite, Banno gets into an affair with the rich landlord, Sundar Bhai.

Tatoo is a roadside Romeo, a big fan of Salman Khan. He is a pimp at Sonagachi — buying and selling flesh is his trade. He is emotionally detached from it all but life takes a 360 degree turn when he sees Shaon for the first time.

Swapan and Bisakha are a middle-class couple who cannot have a child. Swapan blames Bisakha and although he loves her, he sometimes ends up physically torturing her out of frustration. They come to Varanasi to seek Ganga’s blessing and bumps into Bisakha’s former lover and teacher, Kaushik.

Bela Roy returns from London to shoot a documentary on Ganga. She wants to forget her past and Bob Chatterjee, her lover who left her stranded without notice.

A River in Heaven is a story of relationships — of husbands and wives and parents and children. It is a tale of forgiveness and ultimate realizations.

The cast of A River In Heaven consists of Debshankar Halder (Babulal Subramanian), Chandreyee Ghosh (Bela), Rafiath Rashid Mithila (Bishakha), Amrita Chattopadhyay (Shaon), Sromona Chakraborty (Bhawari) (daughter of legendary actress & singer, Late Ruma Guha Thakurta), Sudip Mukherjee (Sundar Bhai), Bobby Chakraborty (Swapan), Sayan Ghosh (Tattoo), Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee (Bob Chatterjee) and Tannishtha Biswas (Banno) among others in the lead roles.

The story has been written by Ringo who is also in charge of cinematography, editing, grading, and background score for the film.

The film will go on floors in September 2021.

Priyanka Dutta