Rituparno Ghosh (31 August 1963 – 30 May 2013) was an Indian film director, actor, writer and lyricist. After pursuing a degree in economics, he started his career as a creative artist at an advertising agency. He received recognition for his second feature film Unishe April which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film. Having won 19 National Awards, along with his contemporaries Aparna Sen and Goutam Ghose, Rituparno heralded contemporary Bengali cinema to greater heights. Ghosh died on 30 May 2013 in Kolkata after a heart attack. Ghosh was also one of the openly homosexual personalities in Indian cinema. Ghosh was influenced by the works of Satyajit Ray and was an avid reader of Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore's works are frequently referenced to in his films. He also made a documentary titled Jeevan Smriti on the life of Tagore. In his career spanning almost two decades, he won 12 National and numerous International awards. His unreleased Bengali movie Sunglass (also known as Taak Jhaank) was honoured and released at the 19th Kolkata International Film Festival. His Filmmaking influenced by Aparna Sen, Tapan Sinha, Satyajit Ray, Sanjay leela Bhanshali. Personal life Rituparno Ghosh was born in a Bengali family on 31 August 1963 in Kolkata. His father, Sunil Ghosh, was a documentary film maker and painter. He completed his schooling at South Point School, and earned a degree in economics from the Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He also had a master's degree in economics from the same university. He was one of the few openly LGBT figures in Indian cinema and is considered an icon of the queer community of India. Advertising Before his career in film, Rituparno Ghosh worked at the Response India advertising agency and became known as an especially effective copywriter in Kolkata. He was particularly noted for composing succinct, appealing one-liners and slogans for ad campaigns in Bengali during the 1980s. At the time, the trend in Kolkata was to translate all-India advertisement campaigns originally composed in English and Hindi into Bengali. Ghosh won recognition for his ability to initiate campaigns in Bengali. Among his noted ad campaigns were Sharad Samman and Bongo Jiboner Ango for the antiseptic ointment, Boroline, and others for Frooti, the largest-selling mango drink in India. Some commentators noted that his power to appeal to consumers through ad campaigns helped make his films appealing to wider audiences, particularly to middle class Bengalis.