Dreams that lie trapped in cans

KOLKATA: As admirers of Rituparno Ghoh struggle to come to terms with his untimely death, topmost on their minds perhaps is the fate of his three works that are yet to see the light of day. One, of course, is 'Satyanweshi', the Byomkesh Bakshi film that he had just finished shooting. The others are 'Jeevan Smriti: Selective Memories' - his Rabindranath Tagore documentary made to mark the poet's 150th birth anniversary - and 'Sunglass', a film starring Naseeruddin Shah, Jaya Bachchan and Raima Sen, which is lying in the cans.
So what went wrong with 'Sunglass', shot about two years back? Sources said there were problems at the production house, which led to the release being pushed back indefinitely. Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee, CEO of Planman Motion Pictures, the producers, said: "We tried our best to get it released. We've always followed a model where we produced a film and then sold it to distributors. In fact, 'Sunglass' was brought by a distributor immediately after the shoot. But the distributors had some internal issues that couldn't be resolved and the film got stuck and then changed hands. So technically, we are not the owners of the film anymore."
He admits, however, that the film is the "moral responsibility" of the production house and people will hold them responsible if it doesn't release. "I recently had a talk with the distributors who assured me that the release will happen soon. But till a date is announced, let's not get very hopeful," Bhattacharjee added.
Almost a year has passed since Rituparno submitted 'Jeevan Smriti', which was commissioned by the central ministry of culture to NFDC. But far from announcing a release date, the film has not even passed through the censors yet! "Four projects - by Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Suman Mukhopadhyay and Ashoke Viswanathan - were approved under the 150th Tagore Commemoration Programme of the ministry of culture. The process of screening and censoring has started with all the projects now complete. Rituda's documentary will surely go for censoring and be released. But the process takes time and the delay is not deliberate. I think the film will be sent to the censor board this month. Buddhadeb Dasgupta's film was censored and released. The same will be done for all other projects," said Vikramjit Roy, general manager, NFDC.
Shree Venkatesh Films, which has produced 'Satyanweshi' - starring Sujoy Ghosh, Anindya Chattopadhyay, Arpita and Indraneil Sengupta - hopes to complete the post-production soon. "Shooting got over on May 26. Arghyakamal Mitra has already started editing the film and Rituda was present in some of the edit sessions. The dubbing and post-production are left. We had planned an August release, but with Rituda's sudden death, I don't know if that'll be possible. We're still in shock and have to decide who'll take charge of the project. Sujoy has shown the desire to complete it, but we'll take the final call after meeting the complete unit. But we'll release it in a gala way and fulfil Rituda's dream," said Shrikant Mohta of SVF.