Chitrangada

This genre required as much a subtle love that only Ang Lee could as it required the dramatic turmoils that only Rituparno Ghosh could bring on screen. It's an all time best of the genre, at par with Brokeback Mountain if not beyond .

A contemporary transformation of Tagore's move dramatization of a similar name. Individuals charge this to be semi self-portraying as well, however I think this is the best moderate copy of his whole filmography. Ghosh acted here as lead; a theater chief with numerous interior and outer battles in his day to day existence, family and work. What's more, the two supporting leads - Anjan Dutt and Jishu Sengupta - did very well to fit in the story which is really about the lead. I recommend to peruse a little about Ghosh's life and the real play prior to watching this multi layered film.

A contemporary adaptation of Tagore's dance drama of the same name. People accuse this to be semi autobiographical too, but I think this is the best slow burn of his entire filmography. Ghosh acted here as lead; a theatre director with many internal and external struggles in his life, family and work. And the two supporting leads - Anjan Dutt and Jishu Sengupta - did very well to fit in the story which is actually about the lead. I suggest to read a little about Ghosh's life and the actual play before watching this multi layered film.

If you appreciate beautiful cinematography and don't care all that much about the screenplay or dialogue, you might like this movie. It's one of the last movies of director Rituporno Ghosh and he's also plays the main protagonist, Rudra, present in nearly every frame. One of the obvious problems with the film is that it's hard to relate to Rudra, who is an unpleasant tragedy queen, though we are told people think of him as vivacious. As a transgender person he imperiously rides roughshod over the other characters in the film, in a truly cringe-worthy way. He is, by turns, bitter, angry and whiny and quite a pain to watch for 140 minutes. One assumes Rituporno wanted viewers to empathize with the transgender cause, but it works in reverse. The dialogue is half in Bengali and half in English, which is rather jarring. On the good side, the film is visually very appealing, especially the scenes shot on the beach and the dance-drama being rehearsed on stage.

Chitrangada is a character of Indian mythology, who was born as a girl but raised as a man. She didn't know that she was a woman. Chitrangada met Arjun in the forest and seeing him, she 'wishes' to be a woman.

Rituporno Ghosh based his movie on this context. We see him playing the main role. I always find Rituporno's movies so distinct and beautiful. This one touched me even more.

A good movie is what you don't watch, you experience. And I did. The opening gave me a thrill with the dance play and the Tagore music playing on the background.

A bit of Tagore, a bit of mythology and Rituporno in his best- glued me to the screen.