Untimely demise of a creative titan

Intricacies of relationships were Rituparno's specialty: A scene from “Unishey April”.

Multiple national award-winning director Rituparno Ghosh, known for his deft exploration of human relationships with all its nuances and depth, passed away of a heart attack in his South Kolkata residence today.

The end for the 49-year-old filmmaker -- who had been suffering from problems relating to pancreas -- came in his sleep at his Anwar Shah residence in South Kolkata, doctors attending on him said.

After starting his career in advertising, Rituparno made his directional debut with “Hirer Angti” -- a film for children -- in 1994 and went on to make 18 feature films spanning a career of nearly two decades, out of which 12 won national awards in different categories.

Three years ago, his Bangla film “Abohoman” starring Jishu Sengupta, Ananya Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey and Mamata Shankar won the national award for best feature film in Bangla, best actress for Ananya and best directrion.

His feature film “Unishey April” -- starring Aparna Sen, Debosri Roy, Prasenjit and Dipankar Dey, had won the Best Feature film in 1995.

It was a very well-made film about the intricacies of relationships in a family between the daughter (played by Debosri) and her parents played by Aparna Sen and Dipankar Dey. Ghosh brought out human emotions and relationships through the interaction of the family members, as each of them went about their objects in life.

Ghosh's films delved in the depths of human relationships and emotions as he the characters interacted with each other through a range of events and circumstances in their lives. The two best examples are “Unishey April” and “Bariwali”, starring Kirron Kher and Chiranjeeb.

Ghosh made his first screen presence in an Oriya language film “Katha Deithili Ma Ku”, directed by Himanshu Parija and released in 2003.

Among Ghosh's other films are “Dahan” (1997), “Bariwali” and “Asukh”(1999) , “Utsab” (2000), “Titli”(2002), “Shubho Muhurat” and “Chokher Bali” ( 2003), “Antarmahal” (2004), “Dosar” (2006), “The Last Lear” (2007) “Sob Choritro Kalponik” (2008), “Abohoman”, “Noukadubi” (2010) and “Chitrangada” (2012).

He also directed two films in Hindi -- “Raincoat” and “Sunglass”, and one in English -- “The Last Lear”, starring Amitabh Bachchan -- among others.

Rituparno Ghosh also hosted two celebrity chat shows on TV, “Ebong Rituparno” and “Star Jalsha”.

The director left unfinished his last work “Satyanweshi”, the shooting of which was completed recently.

The sudden demise of Ghosh came as a shock to the film world in West Bengal, as leading filmmakers, actors and actresses thronged the house of Ghosh and paid their last respects to him.

Thespian Soumitra Chatterjee deeply mourned Ghosh's death, saying, “I cannot believe that Rituparno is no more. We have lost a very promising film director at a very early age.”