Bollywood director Sujoy Ghosh has converted his fascination for Ramayana epic tales into a short 14-minute fascinating thriller.
Ghosh has showcased a unique reinterpretation of Indra’s (the god of thunder) affair with the Ahalya, the wife of maharishi Goutam. According to the fable, the besotted god disguised himself as the sage and seduced Ahalya, the most beautiful woman in the world, and a creation of Brahma. The couple was caught, and cursed. Lord Ram eventually freed Ahalya many years later.
Ghosh, who has called the film Ahalya said that "the entire experience of making Ahalya was very challenging yet interesting. For me, both Ramayan and Mahabharat are the greatest books ever and the unending wealth of stories in these two books is undisputed. The story of Ahalya always remained with me because in my younger days I found it very funny what happened with Indra. The curse of Goutam Sadhu has always stayed in my mind but in an amusing way,” he said.
The movie that is placed in a contemporary setting in Kolkata, stars Radhika Apte who plays the beautiful young wife, and Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee (Goutam Sadhu, the artist), along with Tota Roy Chowdhury whose name is Indra Sen. He plays a cop who eventually gives in to temptation like several others before him, and is cursed for it. The movie has been released by Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, an organisation that provides a platform for film makers to showcase their short films (With inputs from IANS).
Ahalya can be watched here:
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