Didi, subject of Paar director's documentary

NEW DELHI: Mamata Banerjee's interesting life and political journey — from an ordinary lower middle-class girl to becoming the first woman chief minister of West Bengal — will be the subject of filmmaker Gautam Ghosh’s latest documentary.
Mamata has been the most enduring symbol of winds of change sweeping through Bengal’s political landscape that blew away the Left Front to smithereens after 34 years of uninterrupted rule.
Ghosh is excited about the subject, and accepted the offer the moment it came his way.
Though, he hasn’t hit upon a title for his latest project, he is toying with the opening sequences. It could be Ghosh’s interactions with poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay around 1998. Mukhopadhyay, a disillusioned Marxist who had left the party in disgust a few years before he died, had a soft corner for Mamata. And, he had predicted to Ghosh that "this ordinary girl will go a long way in politics".
Mamata has struck a big chord with Mamata since she has broken several barriers. "Coming from a very ordinary background she has been able to shatter the class divide. It is not easy to break into a class-conscious Bengali bhadralok mindset, and she has done it through a long struggle," Ghosh told TOI.
Ghosh, who had been helping a TV channel to compile and format their footage on the Trinamool chief, felt a fresh approach is de rigueur than stale shots.
"I will shoot the entire film, and only use a little bit of old footage. It may take a while because I will need time with her. But, she will be very busy after taking over as chief minister," Ghosh said.
Ghosh, who shot to prominence for his award-winning feature films like Paar, is no stranger to documentary though.
Hungry Autumn, Mohor (on Rabindrasangeet exponent Kanika Bandopadhyay), Ray (on auteur Satyajit Ray) along with documenting the lives of shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, thespian Utpal Dutta and Marxist leader Jyoti Basu — all dead — are a part of his oeuvre.