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Indian Filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh Dead At 49
Indian filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, known for his sensitive portrayal of interpersonal relationships, died in Kolkata on May 30th, (IST) of a heart attack. He was 49.
Ghosh first caught the attention of cinema lovers in the 1990s with a clutch of films made in his native Bengali language.
His work, often showcased on the Western film festival circuit, resonated with global audiences with memorable and strong women characters. Mainstream Bollywood stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgn featured in some of his later films.
Born in 1963, Ghosh started his career in advertising and made his movie debut with a children's film "Hirer Angti" (The Diamond Ring).
Ghosh won a dozen national film awards, including the best feature film honour for "Unishe April" (19 April) in 1995 that explored the nuances of a mother-daughter relationship. In the 1999 film Asukh, Ghosh dealt with the relationship between a film star girl and her father who had to unwillingly depend on his daughter's earnings. The film won National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali.His film "Chokher Bali" (Sand in the Eye), starring Aishwarya Rai, was nominated for the Golden Leopard, the top prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2003.
Bariwali, released in 2000, portrayed a lonely withdrawn widow (Kirron Kher) who rents her house for a film production, and fantasies about the charming director, letting go her long-suppressed desires. Kher won National Film Award for Best Actress.
Ghosh won the National Award for for Best Direction for Utsab, released in 2000. The film dealt with the decadence of a large family whose members are now away from the ancestral house, and meet only during the traditional Durga puja held in the premises of their house.
The 2002 film Titli was a narrative of mother-daughter relationship— debuted Konkana Sen Sharma into the industry, the teenage daughter has a crush for an older film star who, years ago, had an affair with the mother.
In 2003, Ghosh's film Chokher Bali released. The film was based on a novel written by Rabindranath Tagore. In this film Ghosh first worked with Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai.
"Shocked and deeply grieved … loss of a great creative mind," Bachchan told Reuters in a text message.
In 2004 Ghosh's first Hindi film Raincoat released. This film was an adaptation of the short story The Gift of the Magi (1906) by O Henry. In this film he again worked with Aishwarya Rai. The shooting of the film completed in 17 days. This film received National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali award.
In 2005 the Bengali film Antar Mahal released. The film was set in British India and revolved around a zaminder family. Jackie Shroff played the role of the zaminder. Soha Ali Khan and Roopa Ganguly played the zaminder's wives' roles. Abhishek Bachchan plays a supporting role in this film.
The 2007 film The Last Lear revolved around the life of a retired Shakespearean theater actor. In this film Amitabh Bachchan played the lead role.Preity Zinta and Arjun Rampal also acted in this film.
In the 2008 film Khela Ghosh dealt with human relationship. This was Manisha Koirala's debut film in Bengali cinema.
In 2009 Ghosh's film Abohoman starring Jishu Sengupta, Ananya Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey, Mamata Shankar released. He won the National film award for Best Director for his Bengali for this film.
"No one understood women better than Rituparno," said actress Raima Sen, who was cast in several of his films. "It is a personal loss to me."
Ghosh, who flaunted his sexuality and often dressed in women's clothing, also played gay characters in some of his last films.
Chitrangada (2012)
Chitrangada (2012) was Ghosh's last released film. The film was loosely based on Rabindranath Tagore's work Chitrangada.This film recieved the special jury award at the 60th National Film Awards.
The filmmaker tweeted on Tuesday he had wrapped up shooting for his new movie "Satyanweshi" (The Truth Seeker), a crime thriller about the popular fictional Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi.
"Very very sad that the man whose every frame spoke of cinematic beauty and gave a new identity to New wave Bengali Cinema is no more," filmmaker Onir said on Twitter.
"His passing away will be a big loss not only to lovers of cinema and art, but a huge loss to the LGBT community," he added.
Source :Reuters, www.wikipedia.com
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