Actress Tanjin Tisha turned down a Kolkata film to make her big-screen debut opposite Shakib Khan in ‘Soldier’. More than a year after shooting began, however, the project remains unfinished, leaving her long-awaited Dhallywood debut uncertain.
According to a report by Prothom Alo, nine days of filming remain, but the production team has yet to confirm when shooting will resume. The film was initially expected to be released in December 2025, before its planned release was pushed back to December 2026. With the year nearing its end, that schedule now appears unlikely.
Shooting for ‘Soldier’ began in October 2025, and the makers released a two-and-a-half-minute video at the time. Tisha worked on the film for several consecutive days before production became irregular. Several subsequent plans to resume filming also fell through.
Tisha had been considering a film debut for several years while many of her contemporaries, including Mehazabien Chowdhury, Tasnia Farin and Sabila Nur, had already appeared on the big screen.
She had signed up for a Kolkata film titled ‘Bhalobashar Moroshum’. However, when the opportunity to work with Shakib Khan in ‘Soldier’ came along, the shooting schedules clashed. She eventually dropped the Kolkata project to make her debut alongside the Dhallywood superstar.
Production delays have since complicated those plans. Shakib became occupied with ‘Prince: Once Upon a Time in Dhaka’ and ‘Rockstar’. Although ‘Soldier’ was expected to resume after the Eid-ul-Azha release of ‘Rockstar’, filming did not restart. Shakib later travelled to the United States, and a further plan to complete the film after his return in August also failed to materialise.
Outstanding payments to cast and crew members have also emerged as a concern. Sources associated with the production told Prothom Alo that unpaid dues had made some artistes and crew members reluctant to commit to new shooting schedules.
Executive producer Moumita Hossain denied that payments were overdue in comments to the newspaper earlier this month. She argued that the production had not yet finished and that payments were not due before filming was completed.
An unnamed member of the production team said repeated changes to the release schedule could reduce audience interest, although the person expressed confidence in the film’s quality. The source also stressed that completing the remaining work was the responsibility of the director and executive producer.
Earlier this month, Moumita said the makers planned to release a teaser soon, with the film’s release date to be announced alongside it. However, no teaser had appeared by the time of the report, and the remaining shooting schedule was still unconfirmed.
Shakib is currently in the United States and is expected to return to Bangladesh in the first week of November. He is then scheduled to work on ‘Nissho’, planned for Eid-ul-Fitr next year, followed by ‘Mohabbat’ for Eid-ul-Azha.
With those projects on his schedule, it remains unclear when he will be available to complete ‘Soldier’. The film is therefore unlikely to reach cinemas in December this year, leaving Tisha’s planned debut without a confirmed timeline.
