Rituparno Ghosh's death: A big loss for LGBT community

KOLKATA: Film director Onir is bang on: Rituparno Ghosh’s untimely death has not only left a gaping void in the tinsel world, but also in the LGBT community. Rituparno was perhaps the most effective ambassador for the LGBT community, one whose works served to create a social discourse on alternate sexuality issues. A discourse that, say LGBT rights activists, has started transforming the way society views and treats sexual minorities.
Onir, of ‘My Brother Nikhil’ fame, says: “The fact that his films were so well accepted was the best form of activism. He was a silent activist. He spoke through his films.” Gay rights activist Ashok Row Kavi agrees. “Rituparno created a space in cinema were alternate sexuality was discussed. He was one of the most brilliant LGBT activists in India. You don’t have to scream from the streets to be an activist. He put LGBT issues on society’s table through his films. His work was his activism,” he told TOI from Mumbai.
Onir and Kavi cite Ghosh’s later works like ‘Memories In March’, ‘Arekti Premer Golpo’ and his last film, ‘Chitrangada’, which dealt with alternate sexuality issues in a very sensitive manner. “Rituparno was very comfortable with his sexuality and, over the last two years, became more assertive about it. These three films made over the last two years are evidence of this assertiveness. These films forced society to look at alternate sexuality in a new light,” said Onir.
Souvik Mitra, who worked as Ghosh’s assistant in many films and was close to the award-winning director, told TOI that through his films Rituparno tried to make people understand that alternate sexuality is normal. “He tried to tell society that members of the LGBT community could not be blamed for their sexual preferences, that they were as ‘normal’ as heterosexuals and there was nothing wrong about alternate sex,” said Mitra. “And when he conveys this strong message to society, he’s also saying that when society treats a member of the LGBT community as a deviant, that person is deeply hurt. The message also was that society should understand such a person’s pain and desist from causing any more pain,” he added.
Mitra, who has known Rituparno for nearly 30 years, said he had to face cruel taunts for his “effeminate” ways from many around him while he was growing up. “All that accumulated trauma found reflection in his movies. Many people hail Rituparno for his boldness in making and acting in films like ‘Chitrangada’ and ‘Arekti Premer Golpo’. To me, it was his accumulated grief that found expression in this boldness. It is actually not boldness but an expression of his deep sense of hurt at how he had been treated by society,” Mitra said.
Fashion designer Nil, who was close to Rituparno, said the “loved the fluidity of sexuality”. “He was the boldest and bravest and dealt with sexuality in his films very beautifully. He did what he wanted to and played by his own rules. His stand was simple: accept me as I am. And people accepted that and loved him for it,” Nil told TOI.
Award-winning filmmaker Jhanu Barua credits Rituparno with breaking new ground in Indian cinema by making alternate sexuality the central discourse in them and thus triggering a broad discussion on this important issue.
Actor Paoli Dam says that Rituparno was never hypocritical about anything, including his life, and lived life the way he wanted to. “Few people have such guts. Cinema was an extension of his own life and views,” said Paoli.
It was perhaps this — about cinema being an honest extension of his own life and views — that made his films an effective platform for portraying alternate sexuality as nothing abhorrent or deviate. And, apart from the brilliant movies that he made, this would also remain Rituparno Ghosh’s lasting legacy.