''Arekti Premer Golpo'' ( bn, আরেকটি প্রেমের গল্প; en, Just Another Love Story) is a 2010 Indian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

filmmaker

Kaushik Ganguly Kaushik Ganguly (born 4 August 2012) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor in Bengali cinema. Multiple National Award winner Actor-Director, Kaushik Ganguly is known for making films that explore various aspects sexuality, like ' ...

, written by Kaushik Ganguly. It stars

Rituparno Ghosh Rituparno Ghosh (31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his ...

and

Indraneil Sengupta Indraneil Sengupta is an Indian film and television actor, and a model living in Kolkata since 2004. Career Sengupta was a finalist of the 1999 Gladrags Manhunt Contest in which John Abraham was the winner. He modelled for designer Rohit Ba ...

, with Ghosh playing a transgender filmmaker. It is the first film on queerness to be shot after the Delhi High Court struck down portions of

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code Section 377 of the British colonial penal code criminalized all sexual acts "against the order of nature". The law was used to prosecute people engaging in oral and anal sex along with homosexual activity. The penal code remains in many former col ...

in July 2009 as unconstitutional with respect to gay sex (in a decision overturned by the Supreme Court of India in 2013). The film premiered at the

60th Berlin Film Festival The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama '' Apart Together'', in com ...

in 2010.

Plot

The film is about Abhiroop Sen (

), a Delhi-based non-binary documentary filmmaker, whose bisexual lover is the cinematographer (

) of the film. They visit

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

to make a documentary on the life of the real-life legendary ''jatra'' actor

Chapal Bhaduri Chapal Bhaduri is the last living female impersonator in Bengali theatre and perhaps even in Indian theatre. He did female impersonation in Jatra, a form of Bengali folk theatre. In 2010, he starred in a Bengali Film ''Arekti Premer Golpo'' ...

, who in his heyday was known as 'Chapal Rani', noted for his portrayal of female roles on the stage at a time when women did not perform on stage. Initially Abhiroop Sen has to face some difficulties to start the documentary, as she is transgender. But with Chapal Bhaduri's support Abhiroop starts the shoot. During the course of the shoot, Abhiroop feels herself in the position of Chapal Bhaduri. The film goes on with a comparison between Abhiroop's intimate relation with Indraneil Sengupta, who is married to Rani (

Churni Ganguly Churni Ganguly (née Banerjee) is a Bengali actress and director. After spending her childhood in Kurseong, she came to Kolkata and got admitted at the Jadavpur University. While studying at Jadavpur University, she joined a theatre group as a ...

) and Chapal Bhaduri's (Rituparno Ghosh) relation with Kumar (Indraneil Sengupta), who is married to Gopa (Churni Ganguly). In the course of the film Abhiroop gets attached to Uday and Chapal Bhaduri to Tushar, both played by Jisshu Sengupta. The film takes the viewers through the present life of Abhiroop Sen and past life of Chapal Bhaduri with the same actors. The film focuses on the mental trauma faced by transgender people and their ostracization by society.

Cast

Jisshu Sengupta Jisshu Ujjwal Sengupta (born 15 March 1977) is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter. who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV series, '' Mahaprabhu'' where he portraye ...

as Uday / Tushar (

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

) *

as Abhiroop Sen / Chapal Bhaduri (

) *

as Basu / Kumar (

) *

as Rani / Gopa (

) *

Raima Sen Raima Sen (born Raima Dev Varma on 7 November 1979) is an Indian actress who is known for her work in the Hindi and Bengali films. Early life Raima Sen was born on 7 November 1979 in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Moon Moon Sen and Bharat Dev Varma ...

as Momo / Sheela (

) *

as Himself *Taranga Sarkar

Awards

* Won- I-View 2010 Engendered Award for Outstanding Cinema It also won Silver Peacock in IFFI 2010, Goa, Berlin Film Festival, 2010, Best Film Award in NY Film Festival, 2010.

References

External links

*
Bangla Premer Golpo
{{LGBT in India 2010 films 2010s Bengali-language films 2010 LGBT-related films Bengali-language Indian films Indian LGBT-related films Films set in Kolkata Films directed by Kaushik Ganguly Transgender-related films