Rituparno Ghosh: An Obituary

The untimely demise of filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh comes as a shock not only to the Bengalis across the globe but also to many more cine audiences who have loved to watch his movies over the years. At a time, when Bengali cinema was at its nadir not just in the context of commercial cinema but also in terms of parallel or art cinema Rituparno Ghosh emerged on the Bengali cine horizon with his movie Unishe April. As far as I remember it was after the demise of one of the greatest filmmakers of the nation Satyajit Ray in the early 1990s. Unishe April was a movie that had a story well told and executed. It was based on the trials and tribulations in the relationship between a daughter and her mother played by Debashree Roy and Aparna Sen respectively.

A series of movies followed after that like Dahan, Bariwali, Utsab and many more. One aspect of filmmaker Ghosh that I really appreciated was that he was always spot on in making movies that were based on his own story rather than films that were based on stories written by others. A case in point is Chokher Bali and Antarmahal; both were movies that I personally believe did not showcase the master filmmaker’s craft too well. If I am to pick two of Rituparno Ghosh’s best movies, it will undoubtedly be Titli starring Aparna Sen, Konkona and Mithun Chakraborty. The other being Raincoat starring Ajay Devgn and Aishwarya Rai. These were both movies which had a very simple story to tell but then the way they were told was simply marvelous. These were the movies that actually defined the true brilliance of Ghosh as a filmmaker.

Apart from being a class director and storyteller, Ghosh had a keen sense of music and was also a fabulous lyricist. Megh Peon song from the movie Titli is a standing testimony to this. As far as his acting prowess goes, my personal favorite will be Memories of March in which he played the role of a gay with lots of pain and emotions attached. Rituparno Ghosh’s death is an irrevocable loss for the Bengali film industry since the man who heralded the renaissance in the thought process behind film making, the man who inspired many young talents to successfully project themselves as filmmakers, the man who identified many acting talents and took some bold decisions in casting actors in his movies is no more. May his soul rest in peace and may his soul keep inspiring more talents in all departments of filmmaking.