Kaushik Ganguly


Kaushik Ganguly is an Indian director, screenwriter and actor in Bengali cinema. He is known for his works that explore sexuality, like Ushnatar Janye, which deals with a lesbian relationship, and Arekti Premer Golpo, which examines transgender identity.
His other films explore various social issues.

Life and career

Ganguly was born in Kolkata on 4 August 1968 to noted instrumentalist Sunil Ganguly. He attended Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Narendrapur and then South Point School later Jadavpur University where he worked on a degree in Bengali literature. While at university he started a theatre troupe with Suman Mukhopadhyay and the actress Churni Ganguly. Later he got married with Churni Ganguly and has a son – Ujaan Ganguly.
In 1987, Ganguly began working as a screenwriter for Tollywood films. In 1995, he moved to ETV Bangla to direct telefilms like Ushnatar Janye, Ulka and Aatithi. These telefilms incorporated elements like lesbianism and sex determination that had not been depicted in Bengali television productions before.
In 2004 Ganguly directed his first feature film Waarish starring Debashree Roy and Sabyasachi Chakrabarty. It was a commercial failure, but he continued in cinema with Shunyo E Buke starring Kaushik Sen, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Churni Ganguly. It tells the story of an artist's unrealistic expectations regarding his wife's personal appearance. It was screened at London's Tongues on Fire Film Festival in February 2004 and at Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema. In 2009 he released the low-budget comedy Brake Fail inspired by Hrishikesh Mukherjee films. His next film Jackpot starring Koel Mallick and Hiran did very well at the box office. He cast director Rituparno Ghosh as the lead in his 2010 film Arekti Premer Golpo about a gay documentary filmmaker and a transgender Jatra actor. It won awards at the I-View Film Festival and the International Film Festival of India. On 9 September 2011 his latest film Rang Milanti released to positive reviews. Ganguly's next film Laptop starring Rahul Bose, Ananya Chatterjee, Rajesh Sharma, Saswata Chatterjee, Churni Ganguly and Gaurav Chakrabarty was selected for screening at the 42nd International Film Festival of India.
Ganguly's Shabdo won the 60th National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Bengali. He won the best director award at the 44th International Film Festival of India in November 2013 for Apur Panchali. At the 64th National Film Awards 2017, Kaushik Ganguly's Bishorjan bagged the Best Bengali Film award.

Filmography

Director

YearFilmNotes-
2004Waarish-
2005Shunyo E Buke-
2005Ek Mutho ChabiCo-director-
2009Brake Fail-
2009Jackpot-
2010Arekti Premer GolpoSilver Peacock in IFFI 2010, Goa, Berlin Film Festival,2010, Best Film Award in NY Film Festival, 2010-
2011Rang Milanti-
2012LaptopNational Award in 2011 for Background Music, IFFI 2011, Goa, Indian Panorama, Dubai Film Festival 2011-
2012ShabdoBest Feature Film in Bengali and Best Audiography in 2012, KFF 2011, IFFI 2012, Goa, Dubai Film Festival, Singapore Film festival 2012. Released in Kolkata on 2013.-
2013C/O SirSingapore Film Festival 2013-
2013Apur PanchaliAdaptation based on the real-life story of the actor acted as protagonist Apu in Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali-
2014ShabdoA Anurag Basu Production, Under pre-production-
2014KhaadGargi Roy Choudhury, Kaushik Ganguly, Mimi Chakraborty, Saheb, Tanushree, Pallavi Chatterjee, Ardhendu Banerjee, Lily Chakravarty-
2015Chotoder ChobiDulal Sarkar, Deblina Roy in lead role-
2016Bastu-ShaapAbir Chatterjee, Churni Ganguly, Kaushik Ganguly, Parambrata Chatterjee, Raima Sen in lead role-
2016Cinemawala'ICFT-Unesco Fellini Prize'at IFFI-2015. Star Cast : Paran Bandopadhyay, Arun Guhathakurta, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Sohini Sarkar, Lama, Bimal Chakraborty, Aloknanda Roy, Debaloy Bhattacharya-
2017BishorjanJaya Ahsan, Abir Chatterjee, Kaushik Ganguly, Lama-
2017Chaya O ChobiAbir Chatterjee, Koyel Mallick, Priyanka Sarkar-
2018DrishtikoneProsenjit Chatterjee, Rituparna Sengupta, Churni Ganguly in lead role-
2018Kishore Kumar JuniorProsenjit Chatterjee, Aparajita Auddy, Rwitobroto Mukherjee in lead role-
2019Nagarkirtan2017: National Film Awards
Special Jury Award : Nagarkirtan - Acropoliis Entertainment, Kaushik Ganguly
Best Actor: Riddhi Sen
Best Costume Design: Gobinda Mandal
Best Make-up Artist: Ram Rajak		-
2019BijoyaJaya Ahsan, Abir Chatterjee, Kaushik Ganguly-
2019JyeshthoputroProsenjit Chatterjee and Ritwick Chakraborty in lead role
2020ArdhanginiJaya Ahsan, Churni Ganguly, Kaushik sen in lead role-
2020Lokkhi CheleUjaan ganguly in lead role-
2021DhumketuDev, Subhashree Ganguly in lead role-

Notable Acting Roles

Awards