Rituparno Ghosh was an actor's delight: Big B

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who worked with late filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh in "The Last Lear", says he always gave "immense liberty" to his actors, and that he was "never rigid in his directions to the artists".

"Challenging, gently pushing for a correction, giving immense liberty to the actor on set without any interference, and readily accommodating any peculiar demands that most actors often tend to make when they are facing the camera," Amitabh wrote in his lengthy blog post about "Ritu da" after the filmmaker's sudden death Thursday.

Winner of 12 National Awards and several international honours during a two-decade journey spanning 19 movies, Ghosh died following a heart attack. He was 49.

Amitabh, whose family - wife Jaya, son Abhishek and even daughter-in-law Aishwarya had worked with the master filmmaker on different projects individually, has fond memories of Ghosh.

"49 years is no age to die, but Ritu da as we affectionately called him has gone, and left a huge void in the world of some of the most progressive work done in recent times," added Big B.

"The Last Lear" was Ghosh's first English movie, and it even won a National Award.

Sharing the experince, Amitabh posted: "I did 'The Last Lear' with him. And this came about after years of meetings and mutual desire to work together."

"Ritu da was well planned and understanding of the needs of actors on set. He was never rigid in his directions to the artists and rather enjoyed the impromptu additions that actors tend to make at times."

"The unit spoke in Bengali, which was a joy, for it gave us all an opportunity to pick up the second most sweetest language in the world. The first being French... he was essentially a delight to work with," he further posted.

Amitabh also said the filmmaker had spoken to him about doing another film together.

"I had wished him on his birthday some months back. He had wished Jaya on hers last month, and they spoke of doing a film together, as did he with me too some weeks ago, of a story he was constructing for us to work together in," he posted.

The maker of acclaimed and award-winning Bengali films like "Bariwali", "Asukh", "Utsab", "Shubho Mahurat", "Chokher Bali", "Dosar", "Shob Charitro Kalponik" and "Abohoman", Ghosh would have turned 50 in August.

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