Kolkata: Director and screenwriter Srijit Mukherjee have decided to adapt Shankar's classic 1962 novel 'Chowringhee' for his next film. The film, with Prosenjit Chatterjee in the lead, will be set in the present day, the 'Begum Jaan' director said recently at an event here. It would not be a remake of the 1968 Bengali film 'Chowringhee', where Uttam Kumar had been cast in the lead role of Sata Bose, he said. 

"My next venture would be a contemporary take on the novel and not a period film. I am in love with the city. It has a character of its own. Most of my films had in past sought to capture the city - its buildings and people. Chowringhee is a timeless novel," the director said. 'Chowringhee' tells the story of myriad people of an upper-class city hotel as seen by its receptionist. 

Author Mani Shankar Mukherjee, who writes under the pseudonym of better 'Shankar', expressed hope that Mukherjee would retain the spirit of the original novel. "I believe Srijit will retain the essence of the original work, published in 1962," he said. 

The yet-untitled film, co-produced by Mukherjee and the SVF, will have Abir Chatterjee as the first-person narrator and actors Jisshu Sengupta, Anjan Dutt, Jaya Ahsan and Mamata Shankar in pivotal roles. The shooting for the film will begin from July-August this year, he added.