''Abohomaan'' () is a 2010 Bengali-language

romantic drama Romance films involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their ...

film by

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 h ...

, which explores the nuances of relationships through a married film director who falls in love with an actress who is the same age as his son. The film stars

Deepankar De Dipankar Dey is an Indian actor in the Bengali film industry. He has worked in movies as a hero, villain and character artist. He starred in Ray's ''Seemabaddha'' (''Company Limited, 1971''), '' Jana Aranya'' (''The Middleman'', 1976), '' G ...

Mamata Shankar Mamata Shankar (born 7 January 1955) is an Indian actress and dancer. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has acted in films by directors including Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Gautam Ghosh. ...

Ananya Chatterjee Ananya Chatterjee is an Indian actress who works in Bengali films. Known for her role in '' Abahoman'' which won her a National Award. She started her career as a TV actress. She acted in several TV serials and films, including three directe ...

Jisshu Sengupta Jisshu Sengupta (born Biswaroop Sengupta; 15 March 1977) is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter, who predominantly works in Bengali, Hindi and Telugu films alongside a few Kannada films. Sengupta made his debut through a Bengali TV ...

Riya Sen Riya Sen (born Riya Dev Varma; 24 January 1981) is an Indian actress and model born into the royal family of Tripura to Bharat Dev Varma and Moon Moon Sen Sen predominantly appears in Hindi, Bengali, English, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam fi ...

and is produced by Mahesh Ramanathan,

Reliance Big Pictures Reliance Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian media and entertainment company. It is a division of Reliance Group, handling its media and entertainment business, across content and distribution platforms. The company was founded on 15 February ...

. Rituparno Ghosh, Arghyakamal Mitra, Mahesh Ramanathan and Ananya Chatterjee won

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

in 2010 for

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * As ...

, Best Editor Best Bengali Film and Best Actress respectively. The film was screened in the

Marché du Film The ''Marché du Film'' (), also called Cannes Film Market, is an annual marketplace for films and one of the world's largest film markets. Established in 1959, it is held annually in conjunction with the Cannes Film Festival. In the 2020s, mor ...

section of the

2009 Cannes Film Festival The 62nd Cannes Film Festival took place from 13 May to 24 May 2009. French actress Isabelle Huppert served as jury president for the main competition. Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the dram ...

. Earlier, Rituparno Ghosh had planned to make the film in Hindi as ''Kya Haseen Sitam'', with

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He was notable in Indian parallel cinema and has starred in various international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfa ...

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi cinema, Hindi film industry has spanned Shabana Azmi filmography, over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist paral ...

and

Vidya Balan Vidya Balan (pronounced ; born 1 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National Fil ...

, later decided to make it in Bengali, as ''Abahoman''.

Plot

Aniket (

) is one of the finest filmmakers of Bengal, Deepti (

) is an actress, with whom he had fallen in love while casting in one of his films, who had sacrificed her career for love and marriage. Apratim (

) is their only son. They had been a perfect family. The plot thickens when Aniket auditions a young actress, Shikha (

), who bears an uncanny resemblance to his wife when she was younger. Deepti enthusiastically begins to coach Shikha for her husband's film — so much so that Shikha becomes even more like the young woman Deepti once was and, as a result, the aging Aniket falls in love with Shikha, a woman as young as his son, despite the sadness and trouble it brings to his family. However, although portrayed as an apparent love between Aniket and Shikha, Shikha was a

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

for Aniket. Her acting skills and her spontaneity mesmerized him. To him, she was Sreemoti, the name which he had first given to Deepti. Deepti later gave this name to Shikha. Even when Sikha became popular in the acting world by the name Sreemoti, Aniket always referred to her as Sikha. For him, Deepti - his wife was the real Sreemoti. This is revealed towards the end of the movie, when a dying Aniket desires to see Sreemoti, because he has to take a shot, and Deepti comes in front of him. This leaves a lot to be explained but the storyline suggests that Aniket was in love with Sreemoti, more than Deepti or Shikha. The storyline connects the relationship between Aniket and Shikha to that between the noted theater director (

Girish Chandra Ghosh Girish Chandra Ghosh (28 February 1844 – 8 February 1912) was a Bengali actor, director, and writer. He was largely responsible for the golden age of Bengali theatre.Kundu, Pranay K. ''Development of Stage and Theatre Music in Bengal.'' Publi ...

) and the noted actress (

Binodini Dasi Binodini Dasi (1863–1941), widely known by her stage name Noti Binodini, was a pioneering Indian Bengali language, Bengali actress, writer, and theatre personality of the 19th century. She began her acting career at the age of twelve in ...

). Later on when Apratim lies to his wife the same way as his father lied to his wife while spending time with Shikha, it is suggested that this relationship is "Abohomaan" meaning carried over.

Cast

as Aniket *

as Deepti *

as Apratim *

as Shikha Sarkar/ Shrimati Sarkar *

as Chandrika/ Tiya * Saswati Guhathakurta as Hashi * Sumanta Mukherjee as Girish Chandra Ghosh *

Laboni Sarkar Laboni Sarkar is an Indian actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She is the recipient of three BFJA Awards. She began her acting career in a Bengali TV series by Jochon Dastidar. She made her Big screen debut in Aparna Sen's '' ...

as Shikha's sister *

Shobha Sen Shobha Sen (17 September 1923 – 13 August 2017; also known as Sova Sen) was an Indian theatre and film actress in Bengali theatre and Bengali cinema.Anit Mukerjea (28 June 2004)"A Woman of Grit"Asia Africa Intelligence Wire (From The Statesm ...

as Aniket's mother *Debjani Chattopadhyay as Sangeeta * Rishi Kaushik

Awards

The film has won the following awards since its release:

(

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

) *Won - Golden Lotus Award -

*Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Actress -

*Won - Silver Lotus Award - Best Editing -

Arghyakamal Mitra Arghyakamal Mitra is an Indian film editor who primarily works in Bengali films. He collaborated with some acclaimed directors like Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Anjan Dutta, Anik Dutta, Soukarya Gho ...

*Won - Silver Lotus Award -

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali The National Film Award for Best Bengali Feature Film is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the National Film Development Corporation of India. It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with Rajat Ka ...

- Mahesh Ramanathan

References

External links

* {{Rituparno Ghosh 2010 films 2010s Bengali-language films Bengali-language Indian films Films featuring a Best Actress National Award–winning performance Films set in Kolkata Films whose director won the Best Director National Film Award Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing National Award Films directed by Rituparno Ghosh Best Bengali Feature Film National Film Award winners Reliance Entertainment films