So it is no surprise that I immediately grabbed the latest Ghosh available on DVD- Antarmahal-View from the inner chamber(2006) at a local Indian DVD store. And as I said before he never disappointed me. Antarmahal is the story set in 19th century Bengal. Bhubaneshwar Chowdhary (Jackie Shroff) a power obsessed patriarch, who has abandoned his first wife (Mahomaya) of 12 years for a younger, youthful Yashomati(Soha Ali Khan), in the hope of having a a male heir. His other desire is the title of Rai Bahadur, which can get only if he appeases the local British Government. In order to do so, he decides to give the effigy of Goddess Durga the face of Queen Victoria during the Durga Pooja celebration, much to the displeasure of the local Brahmins.

As his attempts to impregnate his wife fail, he decides to perform intercourse according to Vedas, that will ensure a male child. Traumatised and humiliated Yashomati contemplates suicide the morning after the first night of this intercourse. Mayomati, the first wife, reaches out to console her. Meanwhile, Brij Bhushan (Abhishek Bachchan), the artist who is to sculpt the face of queen Victoria, is silent, perplexed, observer.

As the day of the Pooja arrives the pressure to acquire a social sanction for erecting a Durga with the face of Queen Victoria increases. The Brahmins, taking advantage of the situation make the most presposterous of demands to which Chowhury agrees after much consternation. Ultimately, the day of Pooja arrives and the statue of the Durga is unveiled. The crowd is scandalised, and Chowdhury is devastated by what he sees.

Throughout the film one can's help but think of this contradiction that on one hand the idol of a goddess is being made to worship and honour the feminine, while in reality, the women are leading a life of hell inside the house. While Brij Bhushan gently sculpts the female giving it a power and meaning of its own, the Chowdhury uses and abuses the feminine to meet his own selfish ends. Ultimately, the silent, the suffering and the beautiful conquers and destroys.

At a larger level, the film highlights the anixieties of a patriarchal male zamindars who are anxious about their authority in the times of British domination. The former simply take out their frustrations on their women.

Ghosh is the only one who understands life, in the Indian way and particularly the feminine way - his protagonists are almost always women and a diverse variety of them with their own dynamics and politics. Perhaps the most diverse and fascinating set of women was in Shubho Mahurat (The Auspicious Time, 2003), who were the story, substance and drama and, of course, the beauty of the film. The film starred among many other interesting actors Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee Gulzar in lead roles and was a brilliant Indian Agatha Christique detective story.
Of course, Ghosh has grown over the years from Dahan(1991) to Titli(Butterfly) in 2002, wherein a post pubescent Konkana Sen Sharma played a besotted fan of a popular Bengali film star, to Raincoat (2004) wherein a poor, lonely and bored housewife (Aishwarya Rai) lies to her former lover (Ajay Devgan) about the lavish lifestyle she is has after marriage. Probably one should say he comes a full circle again in Dosar(2007) where he works with Konkana again.

Ghosh is one of those directors who have not only transcended the boders of his region to reach out to the whole of India and the world, literally, by casting from the Mumbai film industry but also metaphorically, through his deep understanding of human nature, emotions, and the play of life.