The official motion poster of the new Eken Babu film starring Anirban Chakrabarti as the quirky sleuth was dropped by the makers on Tuesday to mark the occasion of Poila Baisakh.

Titled The Eken: Benaras e Bibhishika, the latest instalment of the detective franchise set in Varanasi will hit screens on May 16.

Directed by Joydeep Mukherjee, The Eken: Benaras e Bibhishika is based on a novel penned by Sujan Dasgupta.

Anirban Chakrabarti reprises his role as the eccentric yet astute Eken Babu, with Somak Ghosh and Suhatro Mukhopadhyay returning as his trusted aides, Promotho and Bapi.

The ensemble cast also includes Saswata Chatterjee, Ishaa Saha, Gaurav Chakrabarty, Rishav Basu, Debesh Chattopadhyay, Biswanath Basu, Sagnik Chatterjee, Kaushik Hafizee and Sreeja Bhattacharya.

“Eken Babu is returning to the big screen with Hoichoi Studios. Are you ready for a family vacation in Benaras this summer,” the official X handle of Hoichoi posted on Tuesday.

Eken Babu debuted in March 2018 on Hoichoi, quickly earning a fanbase for its refreshing take on detective fiction. The series follows the misadventures of a seemingly ordinary Bengali man with an extraordinary knack for solving mysteries.

Following the success of the web series, the franchise expanded into feature films. The Eken, released in April 2022, saw the detective solving a case in Darjeeling, while its sequel, The Eken: Ruddhaswas Rajasthan, took him to the deserts of Rajasthan in April 2023.

The Eken: Benaras e Bibhishika is part of Hoichoi Studios’ four-film slate for 2025. The line-up also includes Kader Kuler Bou, created by Srijit Roy and Souvik Chakraborty; Kumir Danga, directed by Parambrata Chattopadhyay’ and Gora-e Gondogol, helmed by Sahana Dutta.