| Kaushik Ganguly | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 4, 1968 Kolkata, India |
| Occupation | Director, actor, screenwriter |
| Spouse | Churni Ganguly |
| Children | Ujaan Ganguly[1] |
Kaushik Ganguly is an Indian director, screenwriter and actor in Bengali cinema. He is known for his works that explore sexuality like Ushnatar Janye (2003) which deals with a lesbian relationship and Arekti Premer Golpo (2010) that examines transgendered identity.[2]
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Ganguly was born in Kolkata on August 4, 1968. He attended Jadavpur University where he worked on a degree in Bengali literature.[3] While at university he started a theatre troupe with his future wife actress Churni Ganguly and Suman Mukhopadhyay (who would later become a film director). In 1987, Ganguly began working as a screenwriter for Tollywood films. In 1995, he moved to ETV Bangla to direct telefilms like Ushnatar Janye, Ulka and Aatithi.[4] These telefilms incorporated elements like lesbianism and sex determination that had not been depicted in Bengali television productions before.[2]
In 2004 Ganguly directed his first feature film Waarish starring Debasree Roy and Sabyasachi Chakraborty.[4] It was a commercial failure,[5] but he continued in cinema with Shunyo E Bukey (2005) starring Kaushik Sen, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Churni Ganguly. It tells the story of an artist's unrealistic expectations regarding his wife's personal appearance.[6] It was screened at London's Tongues on Fire Film Festival in February 2004 and at Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.[7][8] In 2009 he released the low budget comedy Brake Fail inspired by Hrishikesh Mukherjee films.[9] His next film Jackpot starring Koel Mallick and Hiran did very well at the box office. He cast director Rituparno Ghosh as the lead in his 2010 film Arekti Premer Golpo about a gay documentary filmmaker and a transgendered Jatra actor. It won awards at the I-View Film Festival and the International Film Festival of India.[10][3] On September 9, 2011 his latest film Rang Milanti released to positive reviews. Ganguly's upcoming projects include Laptop with Rahul Bose, Ananya Chatterjee, Rajesh Sharma, Saswata Chatterjee, Churni Ganguly and Gaurav Chakrabarty. Laptop has been selected for screening at the 42nd International Film Festival of India to be held at Goa from Nov. 23rd - Dec. 3rd, 2011.[11] It is also having an international premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival 2011, where it part of the Muhr AsiaAfrica Features section. He is also in the pre-production stage of a film titled Shobdo, which will explore the life of a folio artiste whose life becomes inextricably intertwined with the sounds that he has to produce for a living. A film on Taslima Nasreen's cat is in the works as well.
2011 Laptop