I am not a 'man-man': Rituparno

There���������s a certain sense of calm that shrouds the living room of Rituparno Ghosh���������s South Kolkata residence. No flurry of activity that one would expect at the residence of a director whose film has won four National Awards this year.
But then, one doesn���������t expect things to be too conventional when it���������s Rituparno in question.Not a single award on display. Some cassettes (not CDs), a library of books that range from ���������The Alchemy of Desire��������� to ���������The Encyclopaedia of Indian Music���������, rare artifacts, posters and Shakti Burman prints, among others. Soon, Rituparno walks into the room that���������s bathed in the morning light. As he gets talking about all things contextual, controversial and sensitive, there emerges a person whom, as he admits, his city can ���������neither ignore nor handle���������. Excerpts from an interview with the director-actor:
You���������ve acted in two films. Do you take the actor in you very seriously?
Acting is a form of self-expression for me. Both my parents were painters and I did paint reasonably well. If I am a director, it doesn���������t mean that I can���������t choose acting or writing the script of a megaserial (���������Gaaner Opare���������) as a form of self-expression. I would take it as seriously as editing a magazine (which I do), occasionally painting, writing and my passion for The Mahabharata. Just because my primary occupation is that of a film-maker and I���������ve been labelled a semi-arthouse film-maker, doesn���������t mean that I will be restricted by any form of self-expression that includes acting as well.
There is a lot of expectation from your acting debut, ���������Just Another Love Story��������� and your performance in ���������Memories in March���������...
I seriously don���������t know whether that���������s an expectation or just speculation. The films have been done very earnestly and sincerely. I gave them the same seriousness that I give my direction. I won���������t like them to be subject to unwanted sensationalism.
At the 15th Pusan International Film Festival where ���������Memories in March��������� will have its world premiere, the film has been tagged as ���������homosexual���������...
I find it surprising. When ���������Just Another Love Story��������� was screened in Berlin, it was defined as drama. ���������Brokeback Mountain��������� too is described as drama. It is an emotional drama. The festival authorities might be trying to accord a legitimacy to this human phenomenon by using this tagline. ���������Memories in March��������� is a story of love and loss. Why should film festivals create a bias by using such taglines? Cinema lovers should be allowed to explore. I can still understand if DVDs use such taglines to make the movies easily identifiable to the cine lover. But film festivals should have a different space beyond cinema censorship.
Are you going to Pusan for the screening on October 8, 10 and 12?
No. I have an eye pressure problem and hence, I can���������t fly now. I���������ll have to give the Festival a miss.
What are the negative qualities of Rituparno Ghosh?
I���������m impatient, highly temperamental, sometimes inhumanely forthright and almost always expect the world to be perfect. I am capable of extreme eccentricity and can be almost unbearable.
So, how do people suffer you?
(Laughs) It���������s either sheer luck or I must have rare virtues that endear me to people. At the end of the day, people notice my genuine qualities too. Otherwise, I could have become a completely ostracized person. I have a feeling that my city can neither ignore nor handle me. There is a forbidden curiosity about me. There are certain stereotypes associated with serious film-makers. That is contrary to the idea of me wearing kajal and attending a programme along with Mrinal Sen or me agreeing to walk the ramp. Initially, I was criticized for making films about women. Then, it was criticism about my fetish for Bollywood stars. And now, it���������s about the way I dress. I���������ve always taken spontaneously conscious decisions. I know I���������m constantly being judged. People question my decisions before they learn to respect them. May be, that comes out of a sense of protectiveness. Today, I���������ve come to terms with it. I���������m asked if I���������m going to wear a sari next
So much is said about the way you advocate the third gender...
Yes. I enjoy being in the third gender. I am not a ���������man-man���������. Neither am I a woman. I���������ve heard people asking if I���������m now going to wear a sari. My answer is no. The whole concept of being unisex has been usurped by women. If a woman wears a pair of jeans, nobody questions her. But if a man wears a necklace, he is never called regal. I have not worn anything that Indian men have never worn traditionally. Indian men have neither worn a sari nor a ghagra choli. Hence, I don���������t see myself doing that either. There was so much speculation over whether I had a sex-change operation. I haven���������t done that. To reduce my waistline, I have only done an abdominoplasty for ���������Just Another Love Story���������. I don���������t want to be a woman. If I ever consider it, I would not be secretive about it. After all, there is no shame in it.
Are you answerable to your readers/viewers if you ever opt for this operation?
No, I am not. I owe an answer only if there is a change of entity that results in me becoming a different person. However, let me say this, I don���������t think the identity of a person is gender-based.
Recently, actor Yuvraaj Parasher���������s family has disowned him for playing a gay character in ���������Dunno Y... Na Jaane Kyun���������...Hai thakur! I would want to know how would the family have reacted if the man had played a rapist or murderer? Would that have made them proud?
What about your next film?
Making a film on Draupadi has interested me for a very long time. I���������m working on a script that explores Draupadi���������s serialised monoandry.