Rituparno Ghosh

Rituparno Ghosh was born in Kolkata in 1963. After studying economics and working in advertising, he moved into filmmaking.

“Unishe April” (1994) brought national recognition through its examination of a mother and daughter. Later films returned to families, women’s choices and the emotional pressures beneath respectable middle-class life. His work drew on Bengali literary and cinematic traditions while developing a distinctive interest in what people struggled to say to one another.

Ghosh’s public appearance increasingly challenged expectations about masculine dress and behaviour. He spoke about sexuality and responded to ridicule rather than withdrawing from view. Acting roles in “Arekti Premer Golpo” and “Memories in March” made queer experience central, while his own “Chitrangada” (2012) explored gender, bodily change and the desire to build a family.

Ghosh died in Kolkata on 30 May 2013, aged forty-nine. His importance lies in both the films’ emotional detail and the space his public presence opened for discussion of sexuality and gender in Indian cinema.