''Chitrangada: The Crowning Wish'' is a 2012

Bengali-language Bengali, also known by its endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is native to the Bengal region (Bangladesh, India's West Bengal and Tripura) of South ...

film written and directed 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 ...

. The film premiered on 25 May 2012 at the

New York Indian Film Festival The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in New York City, and screens films relating to India, the Indian Diaspora, and the work of Indian filmmakers. The festival began in November 2001 and was foun ...

. The film tells the story of a choreographer who is struggling with his gender identity. It is loosely based on

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

's play ''Chitra''; which is

Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

's take on the story of

Chitrāngadā Chitrangada () is a character in the ancient Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. She is introduced as the princess of region named Manipura or Manalura, and the only heir of King Chitravahana. During his exile, the Pandava prince Arjuna fell in love w ...

, a character from the ''

Mahābhārata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succe ...

''.

Plot

Rudra Chatterjee (

) has spent his life going against social convention. As a young man he defied his father's wishes, and became a choreographer instead of an engineer. As he prepares with his team to stage

's '' Chitrangada'', he meets Partho (

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 ...

) who is a drug-addict percussionist introduced to the team by the main dancer Kasturi (

Raima Sen Raima Sen (born Raima Dev Varma) is an Indian actress and model, born into the royal family of Tripura to Bharat Dev Varma and Moon Moon Sen. Sen is known for her work in Hindi and Bengali films. Early life Raima Sen was born on 7 November ...

). Soon, Rudra develops chemistry with Partho and they fall deep into a passionate love affair. During the course of their relationship, they decide to adopt a child. But there is one problem: same-sex couples are not permitted to adopt children. So Rudra decides to go through a gender change treatment to embrace the womanhood he longs for. But will this surgery change his life and fulfill all his long-cherished dreams? The story ends with the line "Be What You Wish To Be".

Cast

as Rudra "Khokon" Chatterjee *

as Partho, the percussionist *

Anjan Dutt Anjan Dutt (born 19 January 1953) is an Indian film director, actor, and singer-songwriter known for his work in the Bengali alternative music genre ''anyodharar gaan''. As an actor, Dutta began his career in Bengali cinema in the Mrinal Se ...

as Subho *

Anashua Majumdar Anashua Majumdar is an Indian actress who works in Bengali-language films, TV shows and theater. Filmography * '' Shontaan'' (2024) * '' Raktabeej'' (2023) * '' Byadh'' (2022) * '' Aparajito'' (2022) * '' Gotro'' (2019) * '' Mukherjee Dar ...

as Rudra's mother *

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 ...

as Rudra's father *

as Kasturi in a guest appearance *

Aparajita Auddy Aparajita Adhya (born ) is an Indian actress who works primarily in the Bengali film and television industry.She achieved popularity after starring in the film Praktan. She has been an actress for many years. In 1997 she met her husband, Atanu ...

as Mala in a guest appearance *

Kaushik Banerjee Kaushik Banerjee is an Indian actor who is known for his work in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He has appeared in more than a 100 films throughout his career of four decades. Born to the ace actor Haradhan Bannerjee, he made his actin ...

as Manish *

Sanjoy Nag Sanjoy Nag (born 18 March) is a film director/actor. He won the National Film Award in 2011 for his debut feature film ''Memories in March''. Early life and background Sanjoy Nag was born and brought up in Kolkata. He completed his schooling fro ...

(cameo appearance) as Rahul (Rudra's ex-boyfriend)

Awards

Special Jury Award at the

60th National Film Awards The 60th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2012 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2013 and was host ...

References

External links

* {{Shree Venkatesh Films 2012 films Indian drama films Films based on the Mahabharata Indian LGBTQ-related films Films directed by Rituparno Ghosh Bengali-language Indian films 2010s Bengali-language films Transgender-related films 2012 LGBTQ-related films 2012 drama films Films about trans women