Rituparno Ghosh interview: I am seen as a woman-sympathetic director’

It’s hard to miss him. In designer kurta and matching churidar, Rituparno Ghosh stands out in the crowded foyer of Fame Adlabs. The Tollygunge whizkid is a bundle of nervous energy at the preview of his latest film, Chokher Bali. “I am seen as a woman-sympathetic director,” he says. Which is probably why Bollywood actresses, tired of running around trees, are making a beeline to do his Bengali films. “I don’t know,” he smiles. “I suppose they think I possess some kind of magic.”

If Bariwali brought him fame outside Kolkata, Chokher Bali has the star power of Aishwarya Rai to give his work more visibility across the country.
“Casting her certainly helped my film,” admits Ghosh, though he is quick to dismiss the Bollywood quotient in his films as a business strategy. “Kiron Kher was cast in Bariwali because Anupam produced it,” he says. “As for Chokher Bali, Aishwarya suited the role best. She’s a classical, ageless beauty.”

The former Miss World plays a widow caught in a love quadrangle in this adaptation of a 100-year old Rabindranath Tagore
novel. Ghosh is all set to roll his next film in Hindi — with Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan. “Kareena was originally approached but she’s got date problems,” he says. A film in Hindi does put him in a fix. “I usually write my own screenplay and dialogues,” he points out. “In fact, a lot of the acting is embedded in my writing. And I can’t do it anymore.”

Ghosh, whose grounding in filmmaking comes from his early days in advertising, confesses to being an ardent Satyajit Ray fan. “The economy of style and brevity comes from Ray,” admits Ghosh. “And I like poetry in my films, as opposed to lyricism.” But his speciality is relationships and a deep understanding of a woman’s
psyche. “But I am not partial to women in my films,” he reasons. “Vulnerability as a subject attracts me and it’s most easily identifiable in women than men.”

However, Rituparno Ghosh is not averse to Bollywood’s larger-than-life fare. “I liked Koi Mil Gaya,” he says. “I also like Ram Gopal Varma’s films. But I can’t make such films. I am better at portraying complexities in relationships in a simple way."

Tags: Satyajit Ray, Rituparno Ghosh, Chokher Bali, Tollygunge, Bariwali, Koi Mil Gaya