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Rituparna Sengupta met Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami at the Munich Film Festival

Even in her wildest dreams, Rituparna Sengupta hadn’t imagined that she would be meeting Iranian film-maker Abbas Kiarostami and also, getting the oportunity to tell him to watch her movies. Yet, that’s exactly what happened at the Munich Film Festival. Back in Kolkata after her Munich trip with Suman Mukhopadhyay and Chandan Roy Sanyal, Rituparna says: “It’s a dream-come-true for me.”

Says the actor, “Mahanagar@Kolkata and Chaturanga were screened at the Festival along with Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Ishqiya, Natrang and Rita. At the Festival, I was floored by Kiarostami’s Copie Conforme (Certified Copy) that stars Juliette Binoche and William Shimell. What an emotional landscaping the film has when it deals with the relationship between a woman and her irresponsible author husband! Kiarostami got a standing ovation and his film was a complete sell-out.”

Rituparna treasures the moment when she was introduced to Kiarostami by the Festival director as ‘one of the popular actors of Indian cinema’. “Juliette is my favourite actor. I told Kiarostami that I love her as an instinctive actor. Though Kiarostami left before the screening of my films, I requested him to watch my films later. Right now, it might be difficult for our cinema to make his kind of movies. But I’m hopeful. The audience should be receptive for us to explore such real issues,” she adds. She also met German director Reinhard Hauff who had made a documentary titled Ten Days in Calcutta — A Portrait of Mrinal Sen. Hauff’s Stammhein had won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. “When I had told Hauff that I wasn’t prepared to do Chaturanga since I hadn’t read the book, he told me that I needn’t have read it since I had created Damini myself!”

She is now leaving for the US to attend the Bongo Sammelan where three of her films are being screened. As a parting shot, she says, “In August, I’ll be going to the Montreal Film Festival where Pinaki Chaudhuri’s Aarohan will be screened.