The Outstanding Bengali Auteur Director Goutam Ghose On 17 Years Of Yatra

the outstanding bengali auteur director goutam ghose on 17 years of yatra

The incredibly talented Goutam Ghose, acclaimed for modern masterpieces such as Paar, Antarjali Jatra, Maa Bhoomi, and Padma Nadir Majhi, made a Hindi film with Rekha in the lead titled Yatra in the lead.

Looking back, Goutam Ghose says, “I think Yatra is still relevant. It dwells on the dichotomy of fact and fiction. Plus, everything is up for sale, including human relationships.”

Goutam Ghose was most unhappy about the shooting and release of Yatra.

During the film’s release, he sardonically revealed, “It’s been quite a yatra for me. The film was completed in September 2005. The first copy came out at the end of August 2006. Then, for some reason, the film was submitted late for censorship. There, the film got stuck with the animal board. They objected to three shots of a caged bird. It was an inconsequential shot. However, the reason given for the objection was weird. I was told I could show any other species of bird, but not this one because it was an endangered species. Very strange. I’m just the creator. I really don’t understand the intricacies of marketing.”

Yatra, said Goutam, was a major film for all four principal players: Nana Patekar, Nakul Vaid, Rekha, and Deepti Naval. “They should have come forward to support it. Yatra needed nurturing. Which it didn’t get. I was really upset. But what to do? I guess every film has its own destiny.”

Cutting down the widely held opinion that Rekha had a cameo in Yatra, Ghose asserted, “She had a major role. She was the protagonist Dashrath’s muse. She was joking with me about how her role would be perceived. I told her to take it easy. The trouble with our actors is that they want to do so many things in one film. They want to sing, jump, dance, and fly. Rekha has done a beautiful mujra and a beautiful item song, Babujee dheere chalna, not to mention some Kathak dancing. Yatra is trapped between fantasy and fiction, between being and non-being. And Rekha represents that surreal quality.”

Unluckily, Ghose isn’t Mumbai-based. “I stay in Kolkata. So I can never be your typical Bollywood wallah.I have finished a multilingual film in Hindi, English, and Italian titled Parikrama. I’ll update you about the Indian and Italian releases.”