Rituparno Ghosh | Queer figure of Indian Cinema

Rituparno Ghosh was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist working in industry since 1992. he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. His directions won several awards and recognitions.

Early Life

Born on August 31, 1963, Rituparno Ghosh is the son of Sunil Ghosh, a documentary film maker and painter. Belonging to Kolkata, He did his schooling at South Point School. After which for graduation in economics he attended Jadavpur University. Following which Rituparno also earned masters degree for the same.

Career

Rituparno Ghosh’s debut direction was seen in the feature film Hirer Angti in 1992. It was a family-friendly film based on a novel by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. His second film ought to be Unishe April, which starred Aparna Sen, Debashree Roy, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Dipankar Dey. The film portrayed the story of an award-winning dancer and her emotionally abandoned daughter, who aspires to be a doctor.
The film was a big critical and commercial success.

His next release, Dahan, was in 1997. It was a true story of a woman, molested on a street in Kolkata, and another woman who witnessed it came forward to bring legal action against the perpetrators. It was a big success and won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay.

Following this, In 2000, He directed Bariwali, Kirron Kher, Rupa Ganguly and Chiranjeet Chakraborty. This film also turned out to be a successful venture and Kirron won the National Film Award for Best Actress. Later, His film Ustab again made him win National Award for Best Direction in 2000. It dealt with the decadence of a large family whose members now live away from the ancestral home, and meet only during the traditional Durga puja held on the premises.

Acting

Rituparno’s acting debut was Katha Deithilli Ma Ku, an Oriya film. Released in 2003, It was directed by Himanshu Parija. After a long break, In 2011, Rituparno appeared in two Bengali films- Arekti Premer Golpo and Memories in March. The first of them premiered at the 60th Berlin Film Festival in 2010.
His last appearance was in the 2012 film chittrangada. Loosely based on the work of Rabindranath Tagore, the film got a special jury award at the 60th National Film Awards.

Death

Rituparno Ghosh suffered for a long time five years from pancreatitis and ten years with diabetes mellitus type 2. He also experienced insomnia and has taken medications for the same. This wasn’t enough, Rituparno suffered hormonal complications because of the breast implant operation. He did that for playing the role of a transgender in the film Arekti Premer Golpo.
He died on May 30, 2013, at his residence in Kolkata due to a massive heart attack.

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