New Delhi:
Director and actor Rituparno Ghosh died in Kolkata today. He was three months shy of his 50th birthday.
(Life in pictures)Rituparno Ghosh was born in Kolkata on August 31, 1963. His father was a documentary filmmaker and he grew up in a world of movies. He went to Kolkata's South Point School and then studied economics at Jadavpur University.
(Tributes on Twitter)After a short stint in advertising, he directed his first film
Hirer Angti starring Moon Moon Sen. His second film
Unishe April, starring Aparna Sen and Debashree Roy, won the National Award for Best Feature Film.
(Special coverage)Rituparno Ghosh followed up the critical and commercial success of
Unishe April with a string of acclaimed films including
Dahan starring Rituparna Sengupta and Indrani Haldar,
Bariwali starring Kirron Kher,
Titli starring Konkona Sen Sharma and
Shubho Mahurat starring Raakhee and Sharmila Tagore.
(Pay your tribute)The blockbuster
Chokher Bali starred Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in one of her most acclaimed roles. She also starred in his Hindi language film
Raincoat with Ajay Devgn.
Rituparno Ghosh directed Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta in English film
The Last Lear. His swan song was
Chitrangada which won a special jury National Award this year. The film, which Rituparno Ghosh also starred in, was seen as semi-autobiographical and mirrored the director-actor's own struggle with gender and identity.
(Newspapers and websites on Rituparno Ghosh's death)Rituparno Ghosh also acted in the films
Arekti Premer Golpo and
Memories In March. He made a successful foray into television as the host of two celebrity chat shows.
Just two days before he died, Rituparno Ghosh tweeted in typically poetic manner about his 20th film,
Satyanewshi: Wrapped up the shoot of
Satyanewshi, a crime thriller in the molten glow of the pensive falling afternoon.