# Chander Pahar
**Chander Pahar** (চাঁদের পাহাড়; "Mountain of the Moon") is a 2013 Indian Bengali-language action-adventure film directed by Kamaleswar Mukherjee, based on [Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay](https://www.edgepedia.org/bibhutibhushan-bandyopadhyay)'s 1937 adventure novel of the same name, with Dev starring as the young adventurer Shankar.[1](https://www.indianfilmhistory.com/movie/chander-pahar-2013) Produced by Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni for Shree Venkatesh Films, it was made on a budget of Rs 150 million (Rs 15 crore), the highest in Bengali cinema at the time, and was released on 20 December 2013.[2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/out-of-africa-7/) • [3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300904/) In the United States it was released under the title *Mountains of the Moon*.[1](https://www.indianfilmhistory.com/movie/chander-pahar-2013)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 20 December 2013 (India and United States); Bengali language; runtime 148 minutes[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300904/) |
| Source | Adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1937 adventure novel *Chander Pahar*[1](https://www.indianfilmhistory.com/movie/chander-pahar-2013) |
| Director / cast | Kamaleswar Mukherjee directing; Dev as Shankar, Gérard Rudolf as Diego Alvarez, Martin Cito Otto as Jim Carter[4](https://tv.apple.com/in/movie/chander-pahar/umc.cmc.109n2utekny2ll0io35duoxn6) |
| Budget | Rs 150 million (Rs 15 crore), the highest for a Bengali film at the time; roughly half spent on shooting in Africa[2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/out-of-africa-7/) • [5](https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/beyond-business/chander-pahar-makes-waves-114011000026_1.html) |
| Setting | 1909–1910; Shankar leaves Keutia, West Bengal, to work as station master at Nakuru on the Uganda Railways[2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/out-of-africa-7/) |
| Early performance | Rs 45 million (Rs 4.5 crore) gross within ten days; screening at 23 multiplexes outside Bengal ten days after release[6](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/chander-pahar-scales-new-heights/articleshow/28157750.cms) |
| Reception | 10% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (10 reviews) against an 83% audience Popcornmeter[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chander_pahar) |
| Sequel | *Amazon Obhijaan* (2017), also directed by Mukherjee with Dev as Shankar[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300904/) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film follows Shankar Roy Chowdhary, a 20-year-old man from Bengal who leaves his family and goes to Africa in search of gold and diamond mines.[4](https://tv.apple.com/in/movie/chander-pahar/umc.cmc.109n2utekny2ll0io35duoxn6) Set in 1909–1910, the story begins with Shankar, a young man from Keutia in [West Bengal](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-bengal), refusing the jute-mill work taken up by his contemporaries and instead taking a job with the Uganda Railways as station master of Nakuru station.[2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/out-of-africa-7/) His dream of adventure becomes a fight for survival against lions, poisonous snakes, and other dangers of the wilderness.[2](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/out-of-africa-7/)
After saving the explorer Diego Alvarez (Gérard Rudolf) from a pack of hyenas, Shankar quits his railway job and joins him in searching for diamonds in the mountains of South Africa, in pursuit of the fabled Mountain of the Moon.[8](https://www.villagevoice.com/chander-pahar-an-unfocused-adventure-cum-travelogue/) The journey includes an erupting volcano and a prehistoric-looking beast, the bunyip, a creature Bandyopadhyay invented for the novel.[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/chander-pahar-movie-review/2014/01/08/2faa50e0-74a5-11e3-8b3f-b1666705ca3b_story.html) • [10](https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/costliest-tolly-film-fights-the-odds-mountain-to-climb-for-chander-pahar-at-box-office/cid/1285659)
## Production
**A long-gestating adaptation.** The novel, published in 1937, became a fixture of Bengali popular culture, and filmmakers had wanted to adapt it for a long time; according to Shailja Gupta, who ran the U.S. distribution for the film, even [Satyajit Ray](https://www.edgepedia.org/satyajit-ray) wanted to adapt it, but finances got in the way.[11](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/industrybuzz/article/bengali-epic-finally-makes-it-to-big-screen-5129623.php) Director Kamaleswar Mukherjee, who had previously made *Uro Chithi* and the [Ritwik Ghatak](https://www.edgepedia.org/ritwik-ghatak) tribute *Meghe Dhaka Tara*, called the film his dream project.[1](https://www.indianfilmhistory.com/movie/chander-pahar-2013)
**Shooting in Africa.** *Chander Pahar* was the first Bengali film to be shot in Africa extensively, and half of its budget was allocated for shooting there.[5](https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/beyond-business/chander-pahar-makes-waves-114011000026_1.html) Filming took place in and around [Johannesburg](https://www.edgepedia.org/johannesburg), South Africa, and the film lists both India and South Africa as countries of origin.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300904/) Mukherjee described the African terrain and a rock-climbing sequence as among the hardest parts of the production, and noted that Dev trained in horse riding and rock climbing and worked with snakes, lions, and elephants for the role.[12](https://bollyspice.com/interview-director-chander-pahar/)
The film has no heroine and no romantic subplot, a deliberate departure from commercial Indian film formulas; the one concession to popular casting was Dev, then a leading name in Bengali commercial cinema.[13](https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/opinion/subir-roy-remembering-bibhutibhushan-114020701484_1.html)
## Release and box office
The film opened on 20 December 2013, the same day as the Bollywood release *Dhoom 3*, and released in 180 theaters in Bengal.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300904/) • [10](https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/costliest-tolly-film-fights-the-odds-mountain-to-climb-for-chander-pahar-at-box-office/cid/1285659) Within ten days it had grossed Rs 45 million (Rs 4.5 crore) and was running at 23 multiplexes outside Bengal, including eight in Mumbai and six in [Bangalore](https://www.edgepedia.org/bangalore), with subtitled screenings drawing non-Bengali audiences.[6](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/chander-pahar-scales-new-heights/articleshow/28157750.cms) • [14](https://adivaani.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/toikm_2013_12_31_4.pdf) It was one of the rare films from Bengal to get a theatrical release in the United States, planned for about 20 theaters in January 2014.[11](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/industrybuzz/article/bengali-epic-finally-makes-it-to-big-screen-5129623.php) • [14](https://adivaani.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/toikm_2013_12_31_4.pdf) Trade observers read the reception as evidence of a market for large-scale Bengali films outside the state; the average Bengali film at the time cost Rs 20 million–30 million (Rs 2–3 crore).[5](https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/beyond-business/chander-pahar-makes-waves-114011000026_1.html)
## Critical reception
Critical and audience responses diverged sharply. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds 10% on the Tomatometer from 10 critics against an 83% audience score.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chander_pahar) Reviewers praised the cinematography and the African landscapes while faulting the editing, special effects, and pacing: the *Washington Post* called the computer-generated fakery and overuse of music a distraction from what should have been a great adventure,[9](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/chander-pahar-movie-review/2014/01/08/2faa50e0-74a5-11e3-8b3f-b1666705ca3b_story.html) and *Variety* wrote that the thrills seemed to have evaporated from a handsome, slow-moving adaptation.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chander_pahar) [The Village Voice](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-village-voice) singled out the bunyip, rendered as a purple lizard-like monster, as undermining the film's seriousness.[8](https://www.villagevoice.com/chander-pahar-an-unfocused-adventure-cum-travelogue/) Indian critics were warmer: a Telegraph review called roughly 85 percent of the film spellbinding and predicted it would change the course of Bengali cinema,[15](https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/review-chander-pahar/cid/229999) and a Times of India review gave it 3.5 out of 5 for thinking big on a new path for the industry.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chander_pahar)
## Significance
The film's scale marked a shift for Bengali cinema. Its Rs 150 million (Rs 15 crore) budget was several times the previous Bengali benchmark, the Rs 70 million (Rs 7 crore) *Mishawr Rawhoshyo*, and its success outside Bengal suggested a wider market for Bengali-language productions.[10](https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/costliest-tolly-film-fights-the-odds-mountain-to-climb-for-chander-pahar-at-box-office/cid/1285659) • [5](https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/beyond-business/chander-pahar-makes-waves-114011000026_1.html) A scholarly analysis has read the adaptation as updating the novel's vision of Indian-African relations, grounding the encounter in a shared history of migration and in contemporary Indian commercial ventures in Africa.[16](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19438192.2018.1460916) The story continued on screen: Mukherjee's *Amazon Obhijaan* (2017), the most expensive Bengali film at its release, brought Shankar back as its lead.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300904/) • [17](https://svf.in/news/svf/jungle-look/)
## References
1. [Chander Pahar (2013), Indian Film History](https://www.indianfilmhistory.com/movie/chander-pahar-2013)
2. [Out of Africa, The Indian Express (20 December 2013)](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/entertainment-others/out-of-africa-7/)
3. [Mountain of the Moon (2013), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3300904/)
4. [Chander Pahar, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/in/movie/chander-pahar/umc.cmc.109n2utekny2ll0io35duoxn6)
5. [Chander Pahar makes waves, Business Standard (10 January 2014)](https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/beyond-business/chander-pahar-makes-waves-114011000026_1.html)
6. ['Chander Pahar' scales new heights, Times of India (31 December 2013)](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/chander-pahar-scales-new-heights/articleshow/28157750.cms)
7. [Mountain of the Moon, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chander_pahar)
8. [Chander Pahar, an Unfocused Adventure-Cum-Travelogue, The Village Voice (7 January 2014)](https://www.villagevoice.com/chander-pahar-an-unfocused-adventure-cum-travelogue/)
9. ['Chander Pahar' movie review, The Washington Post (9 January 2014)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/chander-pahar-movie-review/2014/01/08/2faa50e0-74a5-11e3-8b3f-b1666705ca3b_story.html)
10. [Costliest Tolly film fights the odds, Telegraph India (20 December 2013)](https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/costliest-tolly-film-fights-the-odds-mountain-to-climb-for-chander-pahar-at-box-office/cid/1285659)
11. [Bengali epic finally makes it to big screen, San Francisco Chronicle (12 January 2014)](https://www.sfchronicle.com/movies/industrybuzz/article/bengali-epic-finally-makes-it-to-big-screen-5129623.php)
12. [An Interview with the Director of Chander Pahar, BollySpice](https://bollyspice.com/interview-director-chander-pahar/)
13. [Subir Roy: Remembering Bibhutibhushan, Business Standard (7 February 2014)](https://www.business-standard.com/amp/article/opinion/subir-roy-remembering-bibhutibhushan-114020701484_1.html)
14. [The Times of India, Kolkata (31 December 2013)](https://adivaani.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/toikm_2013_12_31_4.pdf)
15. [Review: Chander Pahar, Telegraph India](https://www.telegraphindia.com/entertainment/review-chander-pahar/cid/229999)
16. [Mahruba T. Mowtushi (2018). Africa in the Bengali literary and cinematic imagination, South Asian Diaspora 10(2)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19438192.2018.1460916)
17. [Jungle Look, SVF Entertainment](https://svf.in/news/svf/jungle-look/)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Bengali films of the 2010s and 2020s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license