Scandal concerning the making of Ray's CHARULATA. Madhabi Mukherjee, who plays Charu, fell in love with Ray. What actually happened (it is said that in India one can have an affair without physical contact) I don't know, but Madhabi's husband forbade her to work with Ray again. This story, according to my friend Mr. Nair, has become an obsession in Bengali cinema ever since. including Ritoparno Ghosh;s ABOHONOM (2010).
Now, in the first film by Pratim D. Gupta, PAANCH ADHYAY (aka AFTERGLOW, 2012), film director Rajat is so distracted by a beautiful teacher who passes by that he forgets he is making a TV commercial. They marry and she becomes pregnant, but loses the child. Rajat in turn falls in love with the actress in his next film, whom he even refers to as Charu. So he has his secret and his wife has one also. They decide to tell each other their secrets against the glowing background of beautiful Howrah Bridge at night,Min very expensive clothes, she in a blue (get the symbolism?) sari.
Rajat convinces her to tell her secret first: she is to die of ovarian cancer in two months, and that's why she lost the child. On hearing this, Rajat says that his secret is no longer important. The last days of the couple together are spent making the best of their situation -- vacations, dinners in fancy restaurants, etc. After the wife's death, Rajat and Charu have coffee together, and Rajat tells his Charu that in those last days he had learned to love his wife more than ever, and that there is no longer a future for this new romance. After he leaves, the actress picks up his coffee cup with trembling hands and drinks its dredges. As a further indication that this is an ode to the CHARULATA backstory, Soumitra Chatterjee appears in a bit part as a character named Harish-da, from whom Rajat seeks advice.
