Looking at Society, through the Lens of Rituparno Ghosh

Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh: An amazing film maker and 12 times National Film award winner.
Rituparno Ghosh
Rituparno Ghosh: An amazing film maker and 12 times National Film award winner.

There was an era in Bengali cinema, characterized by Mrinal Sen, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak’s films inspired from ‘Italian Neorealism’ right after World War II, followed by French and Japanese New Wave cinema. But, over a period of time, that sublimity in Bengali cinema somehow got dissolved with the rise of absurd modus operandi of mainstream cinema – songs and dance and conventional story lines – which provoked the Bengali’s very own substantial parallel cinema. And that transition led elite Bengalis or so called ‘bhodrolok’ to distance themselves from the world of bioscope.

Then came the era of Rituparno Ghosh like a breath of fresh air. This avant-garde director helped not only Bengali but Indian cinema as a whole get back in the reckoning on the global map. Ritu da (as he was widely known), transitioned from a copywriter in advertising to films with all his heart and soul, putting aesthetic and human sensibilities into his craft. And that reflects from his very first film ‘Hirer Angti‘ (diamond ring) in 1992, continuing to his last film ‘Satyanweshi‘ in 2013.

In his lifetime, Ghosh touched upon diverse subjects. However, all his films were tied together through some kind of similarity like an intricate thread.

Ghosh breathed his last on May 30, 2013, of cardiac arrest. His sudden demised came as a shock not only to the Bengali film industry but the film fraternity globally.

As a tribute to this maestro, let’s look at his best films which make you perceive cinema, and society, differently.

(please click Next > to know the names of films)