Translating for Rituparno : Songs Scripts Subtitles [Tr. Anjana Basu]

Rituparno Ghosh (1963-2013), one of India’s most eminent cinema directors, left behind a body of work—both finished and unfinished—which have continued to attract both general and scholarly attention. Yet, there is little or no access to the primary documentary sources of his work, such as screenplays, director’s notes, character sketches and so on. Translating for Rituparno attempts to fill this gap by bringing together translations of the screenplays and subtitles of some of his most important films, carried out by his longtime collaborator Anjana Basu, herself a novelist, poet and advertising professional. It was advertising which brought the duo together in the early years of the director’s career, and Anjana Basu’s translations of Rituparno’s written output till the end of his career constitute a fascinating example of artistic collaboration and the invisible labour behind cinema. While many of the early translations are lost, this collection brings together translations of screenplays of Chokher Bali, Raincoat, Antarmahal, Dosar, Last Lear, Khela, Parapar, Chitrangada, Satyanweshi, Sunglass, as well as unfinished projects such as ‘Guru’, and ‘The Princely Impostor’.