The Bong Connection

Rituparna Sengupta on Sharmila Tagore's return to Bengali cinema and more

- Kabir Singh Bhandari

itika (Rituparna Sengupta) and Rajeev (Indraneil Sengupta) visit her ancestral home in Konnagar (West Bengal's Hooghly district) to attend Ritika's mother's (Sharmila Tagore) 80th birthday celebration, only to discover her mother's deteriorating mental state. Many truths come to the fore along the way. They steadily grapple with these realities and the current situation as they unravel the truths of their lives.

This is the story of Puratawn (The Ancient), written and directed by Suman Ghosh. The film premiered at the recently concluded MAMI Film Festival, after winning accolades at the Washington DC South Asian Film Festival, where it got the Best Film award and Sharmila Tagore got the award for Best Actress. What makes the film special is that it marks Tagore's return to Bengali cinema after 14 years.

National Award-winner Rituparna, who is also the producer of the film, admits that it was her decision to cast the original Bengali Tigress.

Rituparna says Sharmila Tagore has always loved and adored her. Tagore had once during a phone conversation told her, 'You know what? I've not done a Bengali film for a while, and if you come across a good subject, then maybe we can do a film together.'