Toofan (2024 film)

Toofan is a Bangladeshi period crime action thriller film directed by Raihan Rafi and produced by Alpha-i studios Limited. The story of the film revolves around a gangster of Bangladesh in the nineties, featuring Shakib Khan along with Mimi Chakraborty and Masuma Rahman Nabila, while Chanchal Chowdhury made an extented cameo appearance.

It is the first collaboration between Khan and Chowdhury. The film is marked Khan's 250th film.

Plot
In 1961, Galib Bin Gani, later known as Toofan, is born under tragic circumstances as his mother dies during childbirth. By 1974, in the village of Alokdiya Gram, his father Goni Miah stands up to Shehnawaz, a notorious land raider. Shehnawaz retaliates by killing Goni Miah, prompting the young Toofan to avenge his father's death by decapitating Shehnawaz, which leads to his arrest. Recognizing his potential, influential gangster Bashir bribes the authorities to release Galib and takes him under his wing. Eventually, Galib, now Toofan, betrays Bashir by killing him and aligns with Bashir's rival, only to poison him later.

Ambitious for power and wealth, Toofan is advised to enter politics. His advisor arranges a meeting with a top political party and their affiliated "dons." However, feeling disrespected as a mere village gangster, Toofan kills everyone at the party using a XM214 Microgun, gaining nationwide notoriety. He subsequently funds and supports the Janata Party, a third-rate political faction, which wins the election. However, Toofan's reckless influence disrupts society.

In 1994, aspiring actor Shanto loses a role in the film "Pagla Badshah" for being more attractive than the lead actor. Julie, the costume designer, feeling guilty, secures him a role as a corpse, but Shanto is disheartened. During filming, when Julie tries to intervene in a local dispute involving Hero Raj, Shanto defends her and impresses action director Rocky, who casts him as the second villain in an upcoming movie. Suchona, the lead actress and Toofan’s love interest, recognizes Shanto's resemblance to Toofan and removes his scenes. Heartbroken, Shanto contemplates suicide but is kidnapped by Toofan's henchmen. Toofan gives Shanto two months to emulate him.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Ariffin assigns Assistant Commissioner Akram to eliminate Toofan. Akram captures Toofan’s foster father and advisor, Jalaluddin, who divulges crucial information. Though Toofan rescues Jalaluddin, he is furious at the betrayal and kills him. Desperate, Toofan forces Suchona to reveal Shanto's location, passing him off as himself. Seeking to escape Toofan's violent grasp, Suchona discloses Toofan's actual location to Akram, who subsequently kills the real Toofan.

Shanto, now a famous actor, continues his life. In the end credits, it is revealed that Akram did not actually kill Toofan, who is shown recovering in secrecy.

Cast

 * Shakib Khan in dual role as
 * Galib Bin Gani a.k.a. Toofan, a Mafia kingpin & top terrorist of the country
 * Shanto, an aspiring actor & Toofan's lookalike
 * Mimi Chakraborty as Suchana, Toofan's partner and film actress from Kolkata
 * Masuma Rahman Nabila as Julie, a costume designer and Shanto's girlfriend
 * Chanchal Chowdhury as AC Akram, a CID officer tasked with eliminating Toofan
 * Misha Sawdagor as Bashir, a local gangster
 * Fazlur Rahman Babu as Arifin, member of the Janata Party and Home Minister of Bangladesh
 * Shahiduzzaman Selim as Shahnawaz, a village land raider
 * Gazi Rakayet as Jalaluddin, Toofan's foster father and advisor
 * Sumon Anowar as the top gangster outside of Dhaka
 * Loknath Dey as the advisor of Toofan
 * AK Azad Setu as a member of intelligence under Akram
 * Hasnat Ripon as a member of intelligence under Akram
 * Bishwajit Ghosh as Sultan, one of Toofan's personal bodyguards
 * Raj Basu as Suleiman, one of Toofan's personal bodyguards
 * Salahuddin Lavlu as a member of the opposition party
 * Gousul Alam Shaon as Rocky, an "action" director
 * Adnan Adib Khan as "Hero" Raj, a film actor with a superiority complex
 * Manav Sachdev as Sohan Choudhary, a famous film actor of the 1990s.
 * Arijit Bhusan Bagchi as a member of the Janata Party

Pre-production
In October 2022, after wrapped up the filming of Shakib Khan's Leader: Amie Bangladesh, director Raihan Rafi announced the making of a film titled Premik with Shakib Khan. The director then confirmed that the film's shooting would begin in December that year. Almost a year later in September 2023, Channel i confirmed that the film will not be produced due to unspecified reason. The newspaper also confirms that Chorki, Alpha-I and Shree Venkatesh Films is planned co-produced a film jointly, slated for release on Eid al-Adha 2024. Initially it was reported in the media that Khan will be acting in a film titled Avineta directed by Raihan Rafi, later Channel i confirmed that the films is not titled Avineta but Toofan. Then on December 11, 2023, through a press conference in Dhaka, production companies Chorki, Alpha-i and SVF officially announced the name of the film as Toofan and Shakib Khan as the lead actor under the direction of Raihan Rafi, which is their first collaboration.

The pre-production work of the film began in the first week of January 2024. The film's director Raihan Rafi went to Chennai, India to select the shooting location in the same month. On April 13, 2024, Shakib Khan went to India to participate in the shooting of the film.

Development
The construction of the set for the shooting of the film at Ramoji Film City began in the first week of January, where a total of 4 huge sets will be constructed with 100 people working daily. The director confirmed with Kaler Kantho that it would take around two months to make the 4 shooting sets. Rafi confirmed that the sets of this film were built by the same technician who built the sets of the South Indian film franchise Baahubali. A big budget of the film was spent on the set construction. It was reported that Bangladesh of the nineties will be highlighted in those sets. Cars, trains and even roads of the 90s can be seen in the film. Three major cities of the nineties of the country will be brought up in the film along with various events that happened there.

Casting
Initially, Nusraat Faria was rumored to be the lead actress of the film. Later on Meril Cafe Live of Prothom Alo, she confirmed that she is not in the film. Later in February 2024, Samakal reported that alongside Indian actress Mimi Chakraborty, as well as Madhumita Sarcar's name was also rumored to be the female lead. However, the producer of the film denied it at the time. The film's production company Alpha-i Studios Ltd., SVF and Chorki revealed in a press release that the two actresses of the film is Mimi Chakraborty and Masuma Rahman Nabila. It is reported that both of them will be playing as the lead female roles, both of them will perform opposite Khan for the first time. There is another rumor that Indian actor Jisshu Sengupta will play the villainous character in the film,  later, The Daily Star confirmed that he will be played as lead villain in the film. According to a report of Anandabazar Patrika, initially Bangladeshi actor Afran Nisho was reportedly offered the role of the villain in the film. But as he did not agree to do play the role, the makers later offered Sengupta. In late April 2024 Samakal reported that, it was rumored that Chanchal Chowdhury would be playing a guest role as the villain in the film. Later the same week, Chorki confirmed in a press release that Chanchal Chowdhury will play a special role in the film,  which will be the first collaboration between Khan and Chowdhury. At the same time, prominent Bangladeshi actor Fazlur Rahman Babu was also signed for the film, which he confirmed to Jugantor. United News of Bangladesh also reported that Shahiduzzaman Selim, Gazi Rakayet, AK Azad Setu and Hasnat Ripon will cast some important characters in the film.

Characterization
Shakib Khan played the role of a Bangladeshi gangster of nineties in the film.

Filming


Initially, the film was supposed to begin filming in India from March 20, 2024, which confirmed by The Daily Star. Subsequently, the principal photography of the film was commenced on April 15, 2024 in India. The films antagonist Chanchal Chowdhury went to India to participate in the filming on April 25. On the same day he participated in the filming. As of April 28, both Shakib Khan and Chowdhury have shot several scenes together. After the release of the trailer teaser, the director told Samakal that the majority of the film's shooting has already been completed. The film was wrapped up on May 26, 2024 with a 41-days filming in India. The protagonist also returned to country after the complete of filming as well as his dubbing, on the same day.

Themes and influences
The plot of Toofan revolves around an underworld mafia in the nineties. According to director Raihan Rafi, the story is inspired by the life of a gangster in 1990s Bangladesh, promising a brutal action film. He stated that such a film has never been made in Bangladesh, with Khan taking on the role of a gangster.

Marketing
The announcement poster of the film was released through a press conference on December 11, 2023. 5 pre-production miniature stills were revealed on January 9, 2024, with one of the stills used the poster of renowned Bangladeshi actor Salman Shah's Moha Milon. The first glimpse of the film was revealed on March 27, 2024, coinciding with Shakib Khan's 45th birthday. The promotional image portrayed Shakib Khan seated in an armchair, smoking a cigarette, with a Kalashnikov rifle resting against the chair. A 1 minutes 21-seconds teaser trailer, titled "Toofani Tease" was released on May 7, 2024, which received mostly positive response from the audience and critics, with a wide criticism for plagiarism from Indian films KGF and Animal (2024). It crossed over 10 million views in just 24 hours across social media, which is a milestone in the history of Bengali films, which also considered as one of the best teaser of Khan's career. The first official poster of the film, titled "Toofani Poster", was unveiled four days after the release of the official teaser on April 11. Four fan-made posters went viral across social media, which were praised by the film's director. In the post credit scene of Toofan movie, Toofan 2 is coming.

Music
The film's first track, "Laage Ura Dhura," was released on May 28, 2024, coinciding with the silver jubilee of Shakib Khan's career. The chorus tune of the song is adapted from Matal Razzak Dewan's song "Morar Kokiley," written by Sharif Uddin. The rest of the lyrics were written by Russell Mahmud and Sharif Uddin, with the tune and music arrangement by Pritom Hasan. The song is sung by Pritom Hasan and Debosree Antara, and was included in the film to fit the 1990s timeline. Pritom Hasan and director Raihan Rafi made cameo appearances in the song.

Release
The film was released on 17th June for the occasion of Eid al-Adha 2024. On 17 June 2024, the movie was released in 129 theaters on Holiday Eid al-Adha, clashing with Rashid Palash's Moyurakkhi, Mostafizur Rahman Manik's Dark World, Sumon Dhar's Agontuk and Mohammad Iqbal's Revenge.

Reception
According to a report of Amader Shomoy in the first week of July, unofficial sources say that the film grossed BDT32 crore. But according to a group of people related to the industry, its box office is BDT91 million.

Sequel
Director Raihan Rafi has confirmed that "Toofan 2" is in development and is expected to be released on Eid-Ul-Fitr 2025. Additionally, the post-credits scene in the current film teased the upcoming sequel, indicating that "Toofan 2" is coming soon.

Controversies
After the announcement poster of the film was revealed, it was faced wide criticism for copying the American film John Wick: Chapter 2, which is very similar to John Wick: Chapter 2 film poster. Just as Keanu Reeves is seen in the poster of John Wick: Chapter 2, Shakib Khan also seen in the poster of Toofan.

Upon the release of its teaser, the film faced accusations of copying looks from Ranbir Kapoor's film Animal and Yash's look from KGF Additionally, there were rumors that the story of Toofan was also copied from KGF. These claims were debunked by both the director and producer.

The Bangladesh Film Censor Board has accused the film's production company of showing the teaser "Toofani Tease" in theaters without any censor clearance. The Bangladesh Film Censor Board alleges that the film Toofan is proceeding without adherence to regulations.