Archive · 31 Aug 2026
Five Rituparno Ghosh Films That Challenged Gender and Patriarchy
Rituparno Ghosh made films about people whose lives did not fit traditional expectations.
Unishe April shows that a mother can love her child and still care deeply about her career.
Dahan shows how difficult life can become for a woman after she is assaulted.
It also shows how families and society may blame victims instead of supporting them.
Chokher Bali says that a widow can still want love and intimacy.
Antarmahal shows how powerful men can treat women’s bodies as tools for family status.
Chitrangada follows a person trying to understand their gender and decide who they want to be.
These films were unusual because they treated women and queer people as complicated human beings.
Unishe April portrays a successful working mother and her daughter without casting either woman as a villain.
Dahan examines sexual assault, victim-blaming, social stigma and the costs of seeking justice.
Chokher Bali gives a young widow emotional and sexual desires without reducing her to a tragic figure.
Antarmahal exposes how patriarchal ambitions can control women’s bodies, sexuality and reproductive choices.
Chitrangada explores gender identity and self-definition through a queer protagonist questioning conventional ideas of gender.
- Who
- Filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh and the characters in five of his films, including women confronting social expectations and Rudra questioning gender identity.
- What
- A retrospective identifies Unishe April, Dahan, Chokher Bali, Antarmahal and Chitrangada as films that challenged conventional ideas about motherhood, sexual violence, widowhood, patriarchy and gender.
- When
- The films were released between 1994 and 2012; Ghosh died in 2013 at age 49 and would have turned 64 on the occasion discussed.
- Where
- The stories are set largely in Indian social and historical contexts, including Bengal and a feudal household.
- Why
- The films gave complicated emotional, sexual and gender identities space in mainstream Indian cinema, which was often reluctant to move beyond conventional romance.
- Filmmaker
- Rituparno Ghosh
- Number of films discussed
- Five
- Release period
- 1994–2012
- First film discussed
- Unishe April (1994)
- Final film discussed
- Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish (2012)
- Central themes
- Women’s autonomy, sexual violence, widowhood, patriarchy and gender identity
- Ghosh’s age at death
- 49, in 2013