Raincoat

Colour, 35 mm
India, 2004, 120 min
Section: Official Selection

Synopsis

Mannu leaves his native village for Calcutta. The young man claims that he is going to look for work but, in reality, he longs to see his childhood sweetheart Niru again, who was married off to a wealthy man, and broke Mannu’s heart. Mannu finds accommodation with his former classmate Alok and his wife Bhabi, who has a greater understanding for his desolate situation than her husband – a successful producer of television soap operas. One rainy afternoon, in a borrowed raincoat, Mannu goes to find his love’s house. An elegantly dressed Niru opens the door. The servants and husband are not at home and so, while the rain continues, the couple spend the afternoon together. Seeing the perfect life Niru now has, Mannu pretends that he, too, is successful, rich and loved. Afterward, he discovers that Niru’s life isn’t as idyllic as she had made it out to be. Set during the monsoon season, evoking a nostalgic and sentimental atmosphere, a story unfolds of lost love, structured around the motif of a borrowed raincoat.

About the director

Rituparno Ghosh (b. 1961, Calcutta) studied economics but was always drawn to film and literature. Possibly under the influence of his father – a documentary filmmaker – he finally decided to pursue the cinema. He began in advertising where he worked for ten years as a copywriter and director of commercials and short films. Over the course of twelve years he made ten features in which he focused chiefly on female leads and family problems. His work has already been shown twice in Karlovy Vary: in 1998 Crossfire (Dahan, 1997) was shown in competition, and in 2000 The Lady of the House (Bariwali, 1999) in the section Another View. He made his debut in 1992 with The Diamond Ring (Hirer Angti), which was followed by 19th April (Unishe April, 1994), Malaise (Asukh, 1999), Utsab (2000), The First Monsoon Day (Titli, 2002), Shubho Mahurat (2003) and Raincoat (2004). Chokher Bali is the second adaptation, following a film made in 1938, of the love story of the same name first published in 1903 by Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore; it will be presented this year at Karlovy Vary in the section Another View.