On late Rituparno Ghosh's fifth death anniversary on Wednesday (30 May), author-filmmaker Ram Kamal Mukherjee will launch the first teaser poster of his new short film Season's Greetings, which is his ode to the acclaimed Bengali filmmaker.
Mukherjee, who earlier helmed the short film Cakewalk, starring Esha Deol Takhtani, is directing the mother-daughter story along with Abhra Chakraborty.
The short film is being made under the banner of Assorted Motion Pictures and SS1 Entertainments. It is based on a story penned by Ranjib Mazumdar, with screenplay and dialogues by Chandrodoy Pal.
Producer Aritra Das from Assorted Motion Pictures said in a statement, "It's an honour to give tribute to someone who single-handedly revived the dying film industry in Kolkata.
"He got sensible audience back to the theatres. Rituda is a legend, and I know that people will have a lot of expectation from us after Cakewalk. I think Ram Kamal and Abhra make a lovely team and we are really looking forward to start the film at the earliest."
The project is not a biopic, but will reflect the "sense and sensibility" of the multiple National Award winner, who was known for his simple yet socially relevant content.
Mukherjee said, "I have interacted with Rituda on several occasions, in Kolkata and in Mumbai. Later, we worked closely on his bilingual film Noukadubi (2011). As a journalist, I shared a love and hate relationship with him, but whenever we met we connected immediately, purely on cinema.
"His sense of humour and eye for detailing would inspire me. I always wanted to tell a story on screen, and after Cakewalk, I decided to make a film that would reflect Rituda's sense and sensibility."
The film will be shot across various parts of Kolkata.
"Rituda is an enigma. He was no less than a star. He was so inspired by Satyajit Ray that he would just follow his way of storytelling. When we decided to work on this project after Cakewalk, I was very excited and nervous at the same time, simply because people will have huge expectation the moment you call it a tribute," Chakraborty said.
Summing it up, Mukherjee added, "This film will be a tribute to Rituda, not in terms of his body of work, but the soul of his entire repertoire."