Rituparno Ghosh's latest offering - 'Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish' - is all set to release on the 31st of this month.
The film sees Rituparno facing the limelight again as an actor as well, after his successful acting forays in films like 'Memories in March' and 'Arekti Premer Galpo'. This time, he essays the role of a choreographer who plans to stage Rabindranath Tagore's cult musical named Chitrangada on the occasion of the bard's 150th birth centenary.
Incidentally, the conflict in his life runs parallel to the story of Tagore's creation in which the protagonist had not been eager to comply with her father's wish to transform into the prince of Manipur as her father, the king, did not have a male heir. Rituparno's character too refuses to conform to the conventions that include even the sexual identity that he tries to hold on to. The film also has Dipankar De, Raima Sen, Anasua Majumdar, Anjan Dutt and Jishhu Sengupta. The film has been produced by Shree Venkatesh Films.
The film sees Rituparno facing the limelight again as an actor as well, after his successful acting forays in films like 'Memories in March' and 'Arekti Premer Galpo'. This time, he essays the role of a choreographer who plans to stage Rabindranath Tagore's cult musical named Chitrangada on the occasion of the bard's 150th birth centenary.
Incidentally, the conflict in his life runs parallel to the story of Tagore's creation in which the protagonist had not been eager to comply with her father's wish to transform into the prince of Manipur as her father, the king, did not have a male heir. Rituparno's character too refuses to conform to the conventions that include even the sexual identity that he tries to hold on to. The film also has Dipankar De, Raima Sen, Anasua Majumdar, Anjan Dutt and Jishhu Sengupta. The film has been produced by Shree Venkatesh Films.
Is the film bilingual? From the promo it seems so..... the dialogues are in English with some snatches of conversation in Bangla too.
ReplyDeleteI am too fond of Rituparno's early works and I must say that I respect his scholarly depths, maybe that makes me a bit more demanding each time I see a new film of his. Sensitivity, deft handling of complexities, and finer nuances of relationships are the highlights of a Rituparno Ghosh film, and those are handsomely present in this film too.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on the whole, I found the film to be a tad tedious, repetitive, and morbid. As much as I liked the use of Kaushiki Desikan's voice in the Tagore musical within the film, I did not appreciate the use of the same musical - which shares with the film its title and the key conflict - in the scheme of things. The narrative's underlying elements are often muted or obscured by the gender dilemma. I failed to perceive the texture of relationship between Rudra and Partha, unlike that in the same-sex bondings in 'Arekti Premer Galpo'.
Certain scenes, however, do stand out on their own; the bit between Mala and Rudra where the former asks if Partha would be able to appreciate/realize the true worth of Rudra, and Rudra's response thereafter is a personal favorite.