Our Kolkata correspondent Saugar Sengupta spoke to Kaushik Ganguly and Soumitra Chatterji
It was pouring heavily in Kolkata when the news came that the creator of the Raincoat and Sunglass was no more. Filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh passed away in sleep early on Thursday morning at his lake Gardens residence in South Kolkata after suffering a massive heart attack.
A pall of gloom descended on Tollygunge film studios. A befuddled thespian and hero of many a Satyajit Ray classics Soumitra Chatterjee said, “He was perhaps the best director of his generation. I have no words to condole his death.”
“A director, a painter, a writer, an artist and not the least an actor, Ghosh was known for his cool temper, lucid style of storytelling and ability to work with the biggest of names like the legendary Amitabh Bachchan in the English movie The last lear. His penchant for experimentation brought the moribund Bengali cinema back to life and restored it to its lost golden age of sorts,” said Kaushik Ganguly, a Bengali film personality.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who rushed in early and arranged for his body to be laid at Nandan cine complex for the masses to show their last respect looked completely shocked. “He was like a friend. I am shocked. He is incomparable. In fact Ritu can be compared with Ritu only,” was her reaction.