Manush: Child of Destiny

Manush: Child of Destiny (/mɑːnuʃ/ transl. Human: Child of Destiny) is a 2023 Indian Bengali-language action thriller film written and directed by Sanjoy Somadder, in his directorial debut in Bengali cinema. Produced by Jeet, Gopal Madnani and Amit Jumrani under the banners of Jeetz Filmworks and Grassroot Entertainment. It stars Jeet, Jeetu Kamal, Susmita Chatterjee, Saurav Chakrabarti and Ayanna Chatterjee in her debut, with Bidya Sinha Saha Mim in a special appearance. It follows Arjun Mukherjee, an NCB officer on the board to bring down the drug lord Chhota Mannan, turns to the drug world due to the circumstances, while the latter changes his path finding solace in religion.

Initially titled as Dwitiyo Purush, the film was announced with its official title in November 2022. Principal photography commenced in January 2023 and wrapped by July 2023. Major portions of the film are shot in Kolkata, Howrah and Purulia, with foreign locations in Bangkok and Pattaya. The soundtrack of the film is composed by Aneek Dhar, Savvy and Ahmed Humayun, while Anbu Shelvan provided its score. Prosenjit Chowdhury and Soumyadipta Vicky Guin handled its cinematography and the editing was done by Malay Laha.

Manush theatrically was released on 24 November 2023 simultaneously in Bengali and Hindi in India, making it the third Bengali Pan-Indian film after Chengiz (2023) and Bagha Jatin (2023), while its Bangladesh release was on 15 November 2023. Opening to highly positive reviews from critics and audience alike with specific appraisals of Jeet and Kamal's performances, storyline, script and action sequences, the film became an average success.