Mahishasur Marddini is an apology letter to the women we have wronged, says Ranjan Ghosh

Ranjan Ghosh is happy with the casting for his upcoming film Mahishasur Marddini. Starring Rituparna Sengupta, Saswata Chatterjee and Parambrata Chatterjee, the film has been conceptualised as an apology letter to women from all sections of society, who have faced discrimination as well as have been victimized by both men and women in the patriarchal system. Ghosh is currently busy shooting for the film which unfolds over a single night.

“Often, class division, economic crises and many other contexts can be identified as the reason behind the perpetual victimisation of women. Even on a personal level, in a family where the sister might be a PhD student at a university and the brother is working on a similar prestigious level, in the absence of maid at home, the sister is expected to do the household chores. These discriminations are there in the basic foundation of our system,” said Ghosh.

In the film, the characters are confronted by the truth at a certain point in their life and through recalling memories, they realise how they have wronged women. “After I read out the script to my cast, I told them that they must acknowledge that this is an apology letter from all of us, and all of them agreed,” said the filmmaker.

Ghosh started writing the story in 2019. Once it began to take shape, Ghosh could visualise the actors portraying their respective characters in the film. “They were my first choice and I must say that I have been extremely lucky to get Parambrata, Ritudi and Saswata Da on board,” said the director.

The maker of Hrid Majharey (2014), Rong Beronger Korhi (2018) and Ahaa Re (2019) also mentioned that Mahishasur Marddini is not a plot-driven film, unlike all his previous films. “It’s a cluster of memories and moments of a night. Ritu di plays the owner of a house and she has a few college students as her paying guests. On that particular night, she is visited by a few people and through her interactions with them, the concept of the film is gradually established,” elaborated the director. Saswata plays a politician who is charged with corruption in the film while Parambrata will be seen as an election strategist.

So far Ghosh has been happy with the shooting process with Parambrata and is delighted to experience Saswata’s impeccable technical acting. Mahishasur Marddini is Ghosh’s third film with Sengupta and he is happy to create a body of work with the actress.