Rituparno Ghosh defends Antarmahal

Rituparno Ghosh's Antarmahal created quite a furore across the country, especially in director's hometown of Kolkata for his blatant presentation of sex. Some even accused him of presenting pornography. rediff.com caught up with the director and asked him to voice his opinion.

I fail to understand why Indians cannot accept sexuality as a part of life. I heard that many people said I created pornography. This is sad coming from a country that adores the architectural excellence of Khajuraho and takes pride in the Kama Sutra.

A film is but a mirror of life and so is Antarmahal. It spoke of the life and times as they were in 19th century Bengal. The period witnessed the sexual exploitation of women and my job was to recreate that. Pornography is something that makes use of sex and sexuality to generate physical excitement. It's a pity that people are equating Antarmahal with cheap exhibitionism.

The intimate scenes were not meant to entertain. They were meant to stir the audience's minds. Antarmahal is about a zamindar (Jackie Shroff) who makes it a point to have sex with his wife (Soha Ali Khan) every night so she can bear him a child. Their sexual interaction

is a dry, mechanical process bereft of love and emotion. The wife is used and abused every night by her mindless husband. Through the oft-repeated  'intimate' scenes, my intent was not to focus on the sex, but on the way the woman in question was exploited by her husband. People in our country are used to sexual overtones in literature, but not in films. I wish they would get rid of such inhibitions.

We filmmakers are not allowed to do many things keeping the Censor Board in mind. For instance, the scene in which Soha, in her bid to escape mechanical lovemaking, runs out into the courtyard, she ought to have been naked, but could I portray her that way? Filmmakers are bound by too many constraints.

The crux of the matter is that people have become so used to seeing middle class ethos and life patterns in my films, that they just cannot accept Antarmahal, which is a conscious deviation from the known path. They are more irked as the film appears to be laden with sexual overtones. Why can't they understand that it is meant for adults, for whom sex is an indispensable part of life?

When Aparna Sen made Paroma in 1985, wherein the protagonist, a 40-year-old housemaker falls in love with a man almost half his age, the film raised a hue and cry. 20 years later, it is considered an important milestone. I hope Antarmahal will attain the same status a few years down the line.

As told to Indrani Roy Mitra