Director Rituparno Ghosh is the focus of this year's Habitat film festival that starts this Saturday

It is once again time for the Capital's film lovers to catch their dose of good films. After impressing film lovers in the city for over a decade, the Habitat Film Club has brought to the screen some of the best and critically acclaimed pan-Indian films from last year. The Habitat Film Festival festival will begin with Kaushik Ganguly's lauded Arekti Premer Galpo (Just Another Love Story) which has director Rituparno Ghosh playing a gay film director who has a stormy affair with his bisexual, married cinematographer.u00a0

For spotlight
What makes the festival unique is that it focuses on regional cinema lying hidden and undiscovered. Exuding a strong flavour of various states across the country, the festival makes it possible for audiences to experience at close quarters the cultures of our country. "Every year we focus on a person from the film industry who doesn't get the much-needed spotlight. The criteria for this space depends on merit and availability," says Vidyun Singh, Director,u00a0 Programmes, Old World Hospitality.

Ghosh's side of story
An important feature of the festival is the celebration of works of a director/actor/writer/technician for his contribution to cinema. So this year, they are holding a retrospective of films by actor-director Rituparno Ghosh. "It's a great honour that my works are been appreciated and I am thankful to Habitat for considering me," says Ghosh, who was raised in Kolkata, started out as an adman before switching to films.

His second film Unishe April won the National Film Award for best film in 1995. Since then, he's been a fixture on the international festival circuit with Bengali, Hindi and multi-lingual features, often using Bollywood stars like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Amitabh Bachchan. "All the movies were chosen with my consent but there are a few issues with the prints because of the National Award selections going on simultaneously. I will only be present for the closing ceremony due to my busy schedule," says Ghosh.