Remembering Rituparno Ghosh

Credited for bringing in a new wave of cinema in the Bengali film industry and Bollywood,with thought-provoking movies such as Unishe April and The Last Lear,fans of Rituparno Ghosh have a reason to cheer. India Habitat Centre’s film club,in collaboration with the Calcutta Presidency College Alumni Association and Directorate of Film Festivals,is paying a tribute to the director with a special screening and retrospective of his choicest works this month at India Habitat Centre.

“Remembering Rituparno”,the on-going series of screenings that began on July 1,showcases eight movies by the late filmmaker. The movies to be screened include Chitrangada,Shob Charitro Kalponik (All Characters Are Imaginary),and Abohomaan (The Eternal). “The sudden death of Rituparno Ghosh has been the reason for these film screenings. We wanted to show his first film Hirer Angti (The Diamond Ring),which was a children’s feature,but since it was not available in the archive,we could not show it”,says Monica Chattopadhyay,one of the organisers of the event.

Ghosh’s last film,Chitrangada,in 2012 that narrated the story of a choreographer struggling with his gender identity,will be the concluding film of the series on July 17. It premiered at the New York Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award at the 60th National Film Awards. Among the other films that will be screened is Memories in March (2010),directed by Sanjoy Nag. Starring Deepti Naval and Ghosh,the film explores the complexities of a grieving mother,who has to come to terms with her deceased son’s sexual identity. “We chose to screen this film to show Ghosh’s range of acting to the audience ,” says Chattopadhyay. Talking about the audience response,she says,“It has been fantastic as I had not expected such a response from the Delhi audience to a Bengali filmmaker.”

The films will be screened at India Habitat Centre,at 7pm,till July 17.

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