E-Paper
When Supriya Pathak had an East-meets-West romance with Hugh Grant in controversial French film The Bengali Night
Directed by Nicholas Klotz, French film La Nuit Bengali also starred Soumitra Chatterjee and Shabana Azmi in supporting roles.
Did you know that Hollywood star Hugh Grant and Supriya Pathak, aka Hansa from Khichdi, starred in a movie together? The actor had a significant role in the French film La Nuit Bengali (The Bengali Night). Directed by Nicholas Klotz, the family drama was filmed in Kolkata in the winter of 1987, and also starred Soumitra Chatterjee and Shabana Azmi. The film was released in 1988. (Also read: Nana Patekar reacts to Naseeruddin Shah's remark against 'jingoist' films like Gadar 2, The Kerala Story)
About the film
On Thursday Reddit channel Bolly Blinds N Gossip posted a still from the movie, much to the surprise of fans and cinema lovers. Although many know Supriya as Hansa from the television show Khichdi, or from her diverse filmography in Indian films including Bazaar, Mirch Masala, Wake Up Sid, Ram Leela, here is an underrated performance by the actor that is massively underrated.
Supriya played the role of Gayatri in the film, which was based on Mircea Eliade’s Romanian-language novel Bengali Nights, published in 1933. In fact, Supriya even talked about starring opposite Hugh in an interview with DNA back in 2013. "My daughter gets very excited about the fact that I once starred opposite Hugh Grant, but I have to keep reminding her, he wasn’t ‘the’ Hugh Grant in 1988. He was just as charming even back then," she said.
The plot of the movie revolves around the arrival of Allan in 1930s Kolkata for work. He lives with Gayatri’s parents, Narendra (Soumitra Chatterjee) and Indira (Shabana Azmi), and soon a romance develops between them. When their romance is revealed to the household by Gayatri's sister, it turns the family upside down.
More details
Meanwhile, the release of the film was limited due to the controversy around the subject matter and the allegations surrounding the source material. Gayatri’s character was reportedly based on the Indian poet Maitreyi Devi, who was believed to have had an affair with the author of the book. Maitreyi Devi was reportedly unhappy with how the book’s depicted matters about her private life to meet the context of a East-meets-West romance.
In response, she even wrote the version of the story from her perspective, in the 1974 novel Na Hanyate (It Does Not Die). The novel then went on win the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award. Maitreyi Devi had also filed a court case against the producer, Philippe Diaz in Kolkata.
The Bengali Night is now available to watch on YouTube.
Get more updates from Bollywood, Taylor Swift, Hollywood, Music and Web Series along with Latest Entertainment News at Hindustan Times.
