General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Montu Pilot

Montu Pilot (মন্টু পাইলট) is an Indian Bengali-language drama web series streaming on the Hoichoi platform, directed by Debaloy Bhattacharya and first released on December 13, 2019.¹^•² It follows Montu, a man who grew up in the Kolkata red-light area called Neelkuthi, dreamed of becoming a pilot as a child, and instead became a "courier of women" in the flesh trade, until his encounter with a young woman named Bhromor changes his life.³ The series has run for three seasons, with the third released in March 2026.⁴

Key fact	Detail
Original title	মন্টু পাইলট (Montu Pilot)²
Platform and language	Hoichoi web channel, Bengali, scripted drama and crime series³
First aired	December 13, 2019¹
Director	Debaloy Bhattacharya, also the maker of Hoichoi's Charitraheen⁵
Lead cast	Saurav Das as Montu, Solanki Roy as Bhromor, Chandrayee Ghosh as Bibi Jaan, Kanchan Mullick as Taufik, Subrat Dutta as The Doctor²
Seasons	Season 1: 9 episodes (2019); Season 2: 10 episodes (2022); Season 3: 7 episodes (2026)⁴
Setting	Neelkuthi, a red-light district of Kolkata⁶

Spoilers

Premise

The title character is named Montu Pilot because he had dreamed of becoming a pilot as a boy. His mother made efforts to remove him from the red-light district so that he could lead an ordinary life, yet her attempts failed and she died a horrific death. Stuck in what director Debaloy Bhattacharya called "rotten hell," Montu becomes a courier of women who, in the director's description, sees women only as commodities and cannot feel sensitive emotions, until a woman named Bhromor enters his life.⁵ Bhattacharya described the series as dealing with "the underbelly of the city," with a lead who has grown up in the red-light area.⁵

The drama is set in Neelkuthi, a red-light district in Kolkata. An essay in High On Films describes the series' Kolkata as socially specific, moving between the narrow lanes of the red-light district, neon-lit rooms where transactions are negotiated, hourly-rate lodges, and middle-class apartments where the same clients return to domestic normalcy, so that economic need determines who enters the trade and who consumes it.⁶

Seasons

Season 1 (2019). Nine episodes were released on Hoichoi, five on December 13, 2019 and four on December 20, 2019, with titles such as "Ghoretey Bhromor Elo," "Welcome to Neelkuthi," and "Mrityu Pothey." The season follows Bhromor's arrival in Neelkuthi, Montu's attempts to free her from the Doctor and the flesh trade, and a final showdown in which he returns to Neelkuthi to bring her out of darkness.⁴

Season 2 (2022). The second season premiered on April 29, 2022 with ten episodes released together. The actor Rafiath Rashid Mithila joined the cast, replacing Solanki Roy, who had played Bhromor in the first season.⁹ In this season a broken Montu returns to Neelkuthi seeking vengeance for his ruined life, bringing a young woman called Bonhi (named Pari by the women of Neelkuthi) and using her as a pawn; the season reveals that Bonhi is the Doctor's daughter and closes with the truth behind Jonaki's death.¹⁰^•⁴

Season 3 (2026). A third season of seven episodes was released in March 2026. TVmaze lists the final episode "Sesh Guli" and its two predecessors as airing March 3, 2026,³ while Ottplay reported the release date as March 4, 2026.¹⁰ Saurav Das and Solanki Roy return, with Bhattacharya again directing. Montu is now a delivery rider who has left Neelkuthi behind, but Bibijaan's failing health and Jehangir's growing empire pull him back; with Kalindi ruling as Neelkuthi's new queen, whispers say Bhromor has returned, and Montu must risk everything to find out if it is truly her.⁸^•¹⁰

Cast and preparation

Saurav Das, already known in the Bengali web series world, plays Montu. He called it the toughest character he had played and prepared by isolating himself for more than a week at his grandmother's abandoned top-floor flat in Batanagar, switching off his mobile phone and speaking only with the men who delivered his meals. He wanted to go bald for the role, but Bhattacharya directed him to get a close-shaved crew cut instead. Bhattacharya had told Das the story a year and a half earlier, while they were shooting Charitraheen, and told him that only he could play Montu; Das canceled work on a film to take the part.⁷

The first season's credited cast also includes Chandrayee Ghosh as Bibi Jaan, Kanchan Mullick as Taufik, and Subrat Dutta as the Doctor.² Season 3 adds Parno Mittra and Qaushiq Mukherjee, with Why So Serious as producer.⁸

Reception and themes

Ottplay described Montu Pilot as a critically acclaimed and popular Bengali thriller series, praised for its gripping storyline and unique concept, though some viewers may find it slow or heavy.¹⁰ The High On Films essay reads the series as an inquiry into how cities manufacture both intimacy and loneliness at the same time, arguing that love in this urban landscape is rarely insulated from power and is shaped by police surveillance, social stigma, and the negotiation between visibility and secrecy.⁶ The series was also among the Hoichoi titles made available when Dish TV India partnered with the platform to bring Bengali on-demand content to DTH subscribers.¹¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › South and Southeast Asian serials › South Asian web serials › Premiered 2013 to 2024

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?