Rituparno Ghosh opened doors for LGBT community through his films: Sangeeta Datta

Director Sangeeta Datta says her documentary feature "Bird of Dusk", is an attempt to showcase filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh's pioneering work on gender neutrality and the representation of alternate sex through his cinema.

Dutta, who collaborated with Ghosh on many films, says "Bird of Dusk", which had it's India premiere at the 20th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival on October 28, is an extremely personal film.

"He will continue to remain relevant. He has a huge filmography of great work. He spoke about gender neutrality and that opened the door for the next generation. Whether it is London or New York or Chicago or here in MAMI, audiences gave a standing ovation to the film and wanted to revisit his work," Datta told PTI.

"If the film is engaging and making younger people involved in his life and work, then the purpose is solved. For instance, Satyajit Ray is still remembered fondly. So there is a need for a retrospective on their work at film festivals," she says.

Ghosh was considered as an icon in the LGBT community and Datta says, she had to handle this aspect in a sensitive way in her film.

"There was so much gossip and speculation about him. In the last three films, he started putting himself on the screen as an actor. I feel he invested in his body, in his physical form to carry out this debate of gender neutrality, about the third gender and alternate sexuality. It was a very courageous thing to do.

"I have seen him early on, and there was prejudice at that time. There was no social acceptance and I have seen people suffer because of that. Ritu remained positive in his life. He opened the door for the next generation," she adds.

Hailing Ghosh's work for the LGBT community, Datta says he has done pioneering work which has been acknowledged.

"We did not plan to do this film, with this judgement of section 377, it happened and it happened at a time when the film is around. It is going to give more political significance to the film."
"The films in which he brought Mumbai talent (Bollywood actors) to Kolakata and made big films, that gave him pan India recognition."
"He had an important body of work that needed to be archived and spoken about. The documentary will also highlight the relationship between an artiste and a city, it is a city (Kolkata) where he lived and died and the city also nurtured his work."