Ranjan Ghosh

Ranjan K Ghosh (Bengali: রঞ্জন ঘোষ Rônjôn Ghosh) is a Bengali filmmaker based out of Kolkata, India. He made his directorial debut in 2014 with the critically acclaimed Hrid Majharey, a Bengali feature film starring Abir Chatterjee and Raima Sen.[1][2]

Ranjan Ghosh
Ranjan Ghosh at the Hrid Majharey premiere in Calcutta, 11 July 2014.
Born	Calcutta, India
Occupation	Screenwriter / Director
Years active	2011 - present

Inspired by certain iconic plays of William Shakespeare, it was the first film in the Bengali language based on the works of the Bard and was presented as a tribute on his 450th Birth Anniversary.[3][4]

The movie was screened at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts in 2015, and was included in their Ph.D. in Cinema Studies (Shakespeare and Indian Cinema).[5][6] Earlier in 2014, it had earned a rare recommendation from Film London in its list of world cinema based on Shakespearean plays.[7] In another major achievement, the film and its screenplay were included in the UGC Literature Archive through the Shakespeare in Bengal project conducted by Jadavpur University.[8][9][10]

Ghosh had risen to prominence in 2011, by becoming the first and the only screenwriter, acclaimed director Aparna Sen had collaborated with in her illustrious career till date.[11] Ghosh had made his screenwriting debut co-authoring Iti Mrinalini, the 2011 film that had also marked the acclaimed director's return to Bengali cinema after more than a decade.

Early life

Brought up in a Bengali family in a satellite township in West Bengal, Ranjan K Ghosh studied at St. Xavier's School, Durgapur and at BC Institution. Thereafter, he moved to Calcutta to take up Physics at Jadavpur University. Very soon he left his higher studies to become a mariner, and embarked on a career that would take him almost all around the world for the next four years. He holds a Degree in Nautical Sciences from The University of Mumbai.[12] In 2007, Ranjan bid adieu to his sea-life and joined Mumbai based film school Whistling Woods International to study filmmaking. He graduated in 2009 with a major in screenwriting.

Career

While still in his film school, Ranjan worked as a script assistant on the National Film Award winning 2009 Bengali film Antaheen. He later assisted the director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury on the shoot of the same film.

After graduating in 2009, Ghosh made his screenwriting debut co-authoring the story and screenplay of Iti Mrinalini, a 2011 Bengali film directed by Aparna Sen.[13] The screenplay was a professional assignment in the film school course syllabus. Ifft was the first instance in Indian Screenwriting that any screenplay emerging from any Indian film institute was actually filmed. With this, Ranjan Ghosh went on to become Aparna Sen's first and only co-author till date.[14]

Considered a high-profile project, Iti Mrinalini - Aparna Sen's return to Bengali Cinema after a decade - also stars the director-actor along with her daughter Konkona Sen Sharma in the title role. Apart from co-writing the film, Ghosh assisted Aparna Sen in direction and on the production design. Reportedly, the entire memorabilia of the actress Mrinalini in the film has been designed and created by him, with some help from the art department.[15]

Post Iti Mrinalini, Ghosh collaborated with Prakash Jha, who is supposed to make his debut as a producer for Bengali films. The film is a loose adaptation of Jha's National Film Award winning 2003 Hindi film Gangaajal. The adapted story and screenplay has been penned by Ranjan. The yet untitled film is a comment on contemporary Bengal politics with the 1980 Bhagalpur blindings as the backdrop. Scheduled to go on floors in end 2010, the film has been facing delay owing to the stormy political scene in West Bengal.[11]

Ranjan Ghosh made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed Abir Chatterjee-Raima Sen starrer Hrid Majharey in July, 2014.[16][17] The movie had earned a rare recommendation from Film London in its list of world cinema based on Shakespearean plays.[7] In another major achievement, the film and its screenplay went on to be included in the UGC Literature Archive through the Shakespeare in Bengal project conducted by Jadavpur University.[8][9]

Earlier in 2013, Hrid Majharey had already created history by becoming the first Bengali film to be shot in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands after a gap of almost 33 years. It was shot in 2013 in the Archipelagos. The last time was in 1979 when veteran filmmaker Tapan Sinha partly shot his Children's adventure film Sabuj Dwiper Raja in Port Blair.[18][19][20][21]

Filmography

• Antaheen (2009) (scripting assistant and directorial assistant)
• Iti Mrinalini (2011) (screenwriter and assistant director)
• Hrid Majharey (2014) (screenwriter and director)
• Rongberonger Korhi (2018) (screenwriter, production designer, director)
• Ahaa Re (2019) (screenwriter, production designer, director)

Notes

1. "Love, and jealousy, 450 years after the Bard - The Times of India".
2. "Many Bengali films are said to be inspired by Bard's works".
3. "Abir-Raima to pair up for the first time". Indiatimes. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
4. "Celebrating Shakespeare in Style".
5. "Hrid Majharey screened at NYU".
6. "NYU মাঝারে".
7. "Film London launches Shakespeare India".
8. "Hrid Majharey part of JU project".
9. "আর্কাইভে 'হৃদ্‌মাঝারে'".
10. "Shakespeare in Bengal".
11. "Script is King in any film". The Asian Age (via archive.org). Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
12. "University of Mumbai: Alumni".
13. "There's no luck without hard work". dnaindia. Retrieved 31 May 2010.
14. "In the Big League". wordpress.com. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
15. "Iti Mrinalini". IMDb. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
16. "Hrid Majharey (Bengali) / Dark but honest".
17. "Hrid Majhare (2014) - Cinema Forensic".
18. "Ranjan Ghosh to shoot in Andamans with Abir and Raima".
19. "Andaman album Hrid Majharey maker Ranjan Ghosh shares his andaman album with t2".
20. "Actress Raima Sen in city :::: Shooting of Bengali Film 'Hrid Majharay' in AFC".
21. "I was awe-struck on visiting Cellular Jail: Abir".

External links

• Ranjan Ghosh on IMDb