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2nd International Film Festival Bangladesh

Creating ripples in the film industry

'Matir Moyna made me proud as a Bangalee'--Rituparno

Harun hr Rashid
INDIAN filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh was in the city yesterday on the occasion of the screening of his much acclaimed film Chokher Bali at the opening ceremony of the 2nd International Film Festival. However, the film could not be shown due to some techni cal problems. The film wo ul d be shown later, informed the festival committee. At a Meet the Press programme prior to the opening ceremony Rituparno talked to journalists.
Rituparno said he was very eager to learn people’s reaction after watching the "director’s cut" version of the film. 'Until now, you have mostly seen the pirated.copy of an abridged version of the film that we prepared for different festivals. But this is the complete film,'he said.
Based on Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore's novel of the same name, Chokher Bali has already earned appreciation from film critics and audience. However, the making of the film was not an easy task for Ritu. 'When I wrote the script of the film, Rabindranath was still under the copyright of Viswabharati. So, I had to take Viswabharati's permission. It was during the middle of our shooting
that the copyright was lifted,’ said Ritu.
'Thgore portrayed the spirit of his time in his novel. For the film 1 have had to think of making it contextual with the present time. For example, Buddhadev Basu strongly criticised Rabindranath for drawing such an end to the novel. The writer himself later regretted the ending of the novel. So, 1 had to think of the ending of my film in particular, ’ he explained.
Rituparno recollected a few aspects of his experience during the shooting of die film. 'Firstly, I am full of praise for Aishwarya Rai.
Being a non-Bcngali, she quickly immersed herself in tlic spirit of her character.'
A significant part of the film was shot in Varanasi. 'It is the place where shooting of Water, a story of a love affair of a widow, was stopped. Chokher Bali also depicts the love affair of a widow. Naturally, I was a little worried about the Varanasi part. But our Chief Minister Buddhadev Dasgupta gave full support to us,' said Rituparno.
Asked whether he has seen any Bangladeshi films, Rituparno said that he has seen a few mainstream commercial films and a few alter-
native films of Bangladesh. He especially mentioned Tareq Masud's MatirMoyna, T was one of the juries at the l¥i van dram festival where Matir Moyna was competing. When I sawthat the other juries liked the film too, I felt proud as a Bengalee,* he said.
Regarding obscenity, especially in commercial films, Ritupamo's opinion is rather positive. 'Obscenity is a relative idea depending on many aspects of a societal system. I don’t think any honest filmmaker wants to project obscenity in film,' he said. He, however, believes that commercial films need to be made.
Could alternative films ever become the mainstream? Rituparno thinks that it will take a long process to reach that end. 'Him study should be included in the curriculum at the school level Students will study films just as they study other subjects, not as an extracurricular activity. Only then, some day films of this trend may become the mainstream.'
Lately, Rituparno made his first Hindi film Raincoat, featuring Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan. At present he is busy making another Bangla movie tilled Antarmahai, based on a story of Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay. The film features Jackie Shroff, Rupa Ganguli, Abhishek Bachchan and Soha Ali Khan.