Unishe April

Unishe April
Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Rituparno Ghosh
Written by	Rituparno Ghosh
Produced by	Renu Roy
Starring	Aparna Sen Debashree Roy Prosenjit Chatterjee Deepankar De
Cinematography	Sunirmal Mazumdar
Music by	Jyotishka Dasgupta
Production company	Spandan Films[1]
Release date	1994 (1994)
Running time	138 mins
Country	India
Language	Bengali
Budget	est. ₹20 lakhs[2]

Unishe April (Bengali pronunciation: [u̯niʃe epril], transl. April 19) is a 1994 Indian Bengali-language drama film directed by Rituparno Ghosh and produced by Renu Roy under the banner of Spandan Films. It stars Aparna Sen and Debashree Roy while Prosenjit Chatterjee and Deepankar De appear in supporting roles. The music of the film was composed by Jyotishka Dasgupta.

Unishe April marked Ghosh's second directorial venture after Hirer Angti (1992). A loose remake of Ingmar Bergman's film Autumn Sonata (1978),^[3] it opened to widespread acclaim, with critical praise drawn towards the screenplay and performances by the lead actors—especially that of Sen and Ray, the latter eventually winning the National film Award for Best Actress. Ghosh, besides directing the film, also wrote the screenplay while the cinematography was handled by Sunirmal Mazumdar.

The film's narrative revolves around the tensed relationship between a woman who is an uninvolved parent and her daughter, depicting how their inter-personal matters lead to a bitter aspect of life.^[4] Considered way ahead of its time, the huge success of the film was instrumental in ending the era of action films in Bengali film industry and rejuvenating the genre of art films. Ray's award-winning performance further consolidated her position as the 'undisputed queen of Bengali cinema'. At the 42nd National Film Awards, it won Best Feature Film and was nominated for the New Currents Award at the Busan International Film Festival of 1996.