“To the well-organised
mind, death is but the next great adventure.” – JK Rowling, Harry Potter and
The Sorcerer’s Stone
May 30, 2013. I was at office busy attending a meeting, most
of which I felt was not in my interest. I came down and opening to check my
messages on email and chat, and find this horrifying message from a friend, “Heard
a bad news, Rituparno Ghosh is no more.” True to his previous prank messages, I
chose not to respond but check the news once for a sanity check. And I was
greeted with news in all publications, flashing, “Bengal’s maverick director no
more”, “Rituparno Ghosh breathes his last”, etc. I was taken aback for he was
directing a movie on a genre I enjoy watching, he was supposed to direct many
more good movies on the epics written by the famous writers or something that
he will write on. Still not willing to believe, my mother also answered
affirmative and spoke about how entire Kolkata was waiting for a last glance of
this immensely talented director outside his home. I had no choice but to
believe, yes, he’s no more.
While I don’t wish to write on his works and his take on his
sexuality or mannerisms that he confidently portrayed, I wish to write on how
this unknown person’s death felt like a personal loss. I never met him, knew
him personally, but I know him like everyone else, through his work, his
cinema, his vision of story-telling. I have not seen all of his movies, for
reasons being, it sounds too intellectual, his take on relationships and their
portrayal on screen are not something I would be able to watch with family,
etc. However, out of the movies that I watched and liked, Shubho Mahurat tops the list followed by Utsab and Abohoman. Unishe April starred my school friend as
the young Debasree Ray, so I made it a point to watch it for her sake at first
and then for the director’s story telling sake.
Having brought up in a family where media content (apart
from cartoons) was closely scrutinized by family members, I had made up
assumptions that Rituparno only likes making adult films. And as I grew up and
started watching movies of any kind independently, I discovered how wrong I
was! The content of his movies were always meant for people who understands
relationships and how relationships evolve with time and situations. His films
are a medium to understand cinematic excellence through the props that he used,
the interiors to suit a particular scene and the mannerisms of a Bengali household.
I have been fascinated by the type of effort he takes in researching about a
story as for him, no detail can go wrong and his eye for detail for every situation
that his characters are based.
I wish to stay mesmerized
throughout about his work, and feel the same whenever I watch a movie he’s made,
salute him for the work he’s done and respect for the intellect he was. May you
live in our hearts in peace, and continue directing movie for the God up there.