# 8th WBFJA Awards

The 8th West Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards (WBFJA) also known as Cinemar Somabarton (transl. Convocation of Cinema) is an annual award ceremony which honoured the best Bengali-language films of 2024.
Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole led the ceremony with 14 nominations, followed by Khadaan with 13 and Ajogyo with 12 nominations respectively.
Dev received dual nominations under Best Actor and Most Popular Actor categories, for two different films – Tekka and Khadaan, winning the latter.

## Background

The nominations for the ceremony were announced on 3 January 2025 at a Press conference held at Rotary Sadan, Kolkata and subsequently live streamed via Facebook from the official page of the organization. Actors Tota Roy Chowdhury and Rituparna Sengupta were present at the conference. The ceremony was to take place at the Ajanta Circus in order to commemorate the 100th Birth Anniversary of noted Indian actor Raj Kapoor. However, owing to security concerns, the venue was later changed to Priya Cinema.

## Winners & Nominees
### Main Awards

The nominations were announced on 3 January 2025.
| Best Film | Best Director |
| Manikbabur Megh – Little Lamb Films Beline – DrishtiShree Arts Pvt. Limited Chaalchitra Ekhon – Hoichoi Studios Padatik – Friends Communication Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole – Hoichoi Studios | Debaloy Bhattacharya – Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole Srijit Mukherji – Padatik Anjan Dutt – Chaalchitra Ekhon Pratim D Gupta – Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale |
| Best Actor | Best Actress |
| Chandan Sen – Manikbabur Megh as Manik Babu Abir Chatterjee – Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole as Dipak Chatterjee Anjan Dutt – Chaalchitra Ekhon as Kunal Sen Dev – Tekka as Iqlakh Alam Tota Roy Chowdhury – Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale as Kanishka Chatterjee | Rituparna Sengupta – Ajogyo as Parna Majumdar Koushani Mukherjee – Bohurupi as Jhimli Pramanik Mamata Shankar – Bijoyar Pore as Alokananda "Aloka" Mimi Chakraborty – Alaap as Aditi Mitra Rukmini Maitra – Boomerang as Ishaa Sen/Nisha |
| Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress |
| Silajit Majumdar – Ajogyo as Raktim Majumdar Anirban Chakrabarty – Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale as Naseer Indraneil Sengupta – Hubba as Dibakar Sen Paran Bandopadhyay – Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole as Swapan Kumar Ritwick Chakraborty – Shontaan as Indranil "Bablu" Bose | Swastika Dutta – Alaap as Swatilekha Sen Sanjita Mukherjee – Doaansh as Sarathi Sardar |
| Best Actor in a Negative Role | Best Actor in a Comic Role |
| Anirban Bhattacharya – Athhoi as Anagra "Gogo" Chatterjee Dibyendu Bhattacharya – Bonbibi as Dakshin Ray Jisshu Sengupta – Khadaan as Mohan Das Loknath Dey – Hubba as Baapi Soumya Mukherjee – Pariah: Volume – I as Nanda | Saswata Chatterjee – Jamalaye Jibonto Bhanu as Bhanu Bandopadhyay Sourav Das – Boomerang as Ayan |
| Best Music Director | Best Lyricist |
| Amit Chatterjee – Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole Amit Chatterjee – Athhoi Anupam Roy, Indraadip Dasgupta & Ranajoy Bhattacharjee – Ajogyo Anupam Roy, Bonnie Chakraborty, Arnab Dutta & Nani Chora Das Baul – Bohurupi Nilayan Chatterjee, Rathijit Bhattacharya & Savvy Gupta – Khadaan | Kaushik Ganguly – "Keu Jaanbe Naa" – Ajogyo Anupam Roy – "Ajogyo Ami" – Ajogyo Barish – "Taasher Deshe" – Tekka Dhrubojyoti Chakraborty – "Mon Kharaper Gaan" – Oti Uttam Ranajoy Bhattacharjee – "Tomay Chhere Jete" – Tekka |
| Best Male Playback Singer | Best Female Playback Singer |
| Rathijit Bhattacharya – "Kishori" – Khadaan Timir Biswas – "Taasher Deshe" – Tekka Anupam Roy – "Ajogyo Ami" – Ajogyo Arijit Singh – "Keu Jaanbe Naa" – Ajogyo Rupankar Bagchi – "Mon Kharaper Gaan" – Oti Uttam | Antara Mitra – "Kishori" – Khadaan Monali Thakur – "Saaiyaan Beimaan" – Oti Uttam Shreya Ghoshal – "Tui Aamar Hobi Naa" – Ajogyo Shreya Ghoshal – "Elomelo Raat" – Babli Sohini Saha – "Phiraiya Dao" – Khadaan |

### Popular Awards

| Most Popular Film | Most Popular Actor |
| Khadaan – Surinder Films & Dev Entertainment Ventures Ajogyo – Surinder Films Alaap – Surinder Films Bohurupi – Windows Production Boomerang – Jeetz Filmworks & Grassroot Entertainment Eta Amader Golpo – Dhagaa Production | Dev – Khadaan as Shyam Mahato / Madhu Mahato Ankush Hazra – Mirza: Part 1 – Joker as Mirza Jeet – Boomerang as Samar Sen / Amar Prosenjit Chatterjee – Ajogyo as Prosen Mitra Vikram Chatterjee – Pariah: Volume – I as Lubdhak Chatterjee |

### Special Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award :
* Aparna Sen

### Other awards

* Most Promising Director
* Abhinandan Banerjee – Manikbabur Megh
* Arna Mukhopadhyay – Athhoi
* Rajdeep Paul & Sarmistha Maiti – Mon Potongo
* Samik Roy Choudhury – Beline
* Soojit Dutta – Khadaan
* Most Promising Actor (Male)
* Sawon Chakraborty – Chaalchitra Ekhon
* Gambhira Bhattacharya – Hubba
* Pratik Dutta – Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole
* Subhankar Mohanta – Mon Potongo
* Most Promising Actor (Female)
* Baishakhi Roy – Mon Potongo
* Oindrila Sen – Mirza: Part 1 – Joker
* Roshni Bhattacharyya – Oti Uttam
* Sreya Bhattacharya – Beline
* Tanika Basu – Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale

### Technical Awards

| Best Screenplay | Best Editing | Best Art Director | Best Cinematography |
| Anjan Dutt – Chaalchitra Ekhon | Antara Lahiri – Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale Srijit Mukherji – Padatik | Tanmoy Chakraborty – Padatik | Anup Singh – Manikbabur Megh |
| Best Sound Designer | Best Background Score | Best Costume Designer | Best Makeup |
| Abhijit Teny Roy – Manikbabur Megh | Rathijit Bhattacharya – Khadaan Amit Chatterjee – Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole Prabuddha Banerjee – Alaap Subhadeep Guha – Athhoi Subhajeet Mukherjee – Manikbabur Megh | Sabarni Das – Padatik | Somnath Kundu – Padatik |

## Controversy

Windows Production, owned by Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy, requested the organisation to revoke the nominations for their film Bohurupi (2024), conveying their wish to abstain from attending the ceremony or accepting any awards.

## Superlatives

Multiple nominations :
| Nominations | Film |
| 14 | Shri Swapankumarer Badami Hyenar Kobole |
| 13 | Khadaan |
| 12 | Ajogyo |
| 8 | Chaalchitro: The Frame Fatale |
| 7 | Manikbabur Megh, Padatik |
| 6 | Athhoi, Chaalchitra Ekhon |