Aniruddha live (FB) -Tribute to the Legend Mrinal Sen
This is the subject matter of my FB live on 14th May, 2020.
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So, I am back -and today I pay my tribute to
one of the greatest filmmaker India has ever seen. Today is the birth
anniversary of the great Indian Filmmaker Mrinal Sen.
Sen was introduced to the world of
film-making through “Film as Art”, a book by famous German film theorist Rudolf
Arnheim. So in a way his career started in the National Library.
Sen’s first film Raat Bhor which failed at
the Box office starred Mahanayak Uttam Kumar. Interestingly the duo never
paired again.
It was Sen's second film Neel Akasher
Neechey (1959), that first earned him national recognition. While his third film
Baishe Srabon (1960) which was based on the tragic death of a child in a
stampede during the cremation of Rabindranath Tagore earned him international
acclaim. Both these films were produced by the legendary singer and composer
Hemanta Mukherjee also known as Hemant Kumar.
After making five more films, he made a film with a shoestring budget provided by the Government of India-Bhuvan Shome This film solidified his position as a major filmmaker, both nationally and internationally. Bhuvan Shome also initiated the "New Cinema" film movement in India.
The 1961 film Punascha earned Sen his first
award. The film received the National Award for the Best Film in Bengali and
starred Soumitra Chatterjee.
The 1980 film Akaler Sandhane had won the
most National Awards for Sen. It got the National Film Award for Best Feature
Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Editing. It also won the Silver
Bear - Special Jury Prize at the 31st Berlin International Film Festival.
Calcutta, now Kolkata has been depicted as a
character and an inspiration in Sen’s movies. He has beautifully woven the
people, value system, class difference and the roads of the city into his
movies and coming of age for Kolkata, his El-Dorado.
Calcutta-71, a 1972 film by Sen depicted the
social and political turmoil that Bengal had been going through from
pre-Independence to contemporary times.
Although his films show the development of
ideas from existentialism, surrealism, Marxism, German expressionism,
Postmodernism, Nouvelle Vague and Italian neorealism his cinema for the most
part does not provide a happy ending or even a definitive conclusion. This is
in sharp contrast to the works of his contemporaries like Satyajit Ray.
A trend that has been noticed in his later
films is that the audience becomes a participant in the process of the
development of the plot. The director invites and provokes the audience into a
shared process of forming multiple conclusions, that are at the same time
unique and different. The role of God is
transferred to the audience from the director.
In 1982 he was a member of the jury at the
32nd Berlin International Film Festival.
In 1983 he was a member of the jury at the
13th Moscow International Film Festival.
In 1997 Sen became the member of the jury at
the 20th Moscow International Film Festival
The great director’s experimentation
continued as he tried to move away from the narrative structure and worked with
very thin story-lines.
He made his last film, Aamaar Bhuvan
("My Land", 2002). At the age of 80, after a long gap of eight years.
During his career, Mrinal Sen's films have
received awards from almost all major film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin,
Venice, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Montreal, Chicago, and Cairo. Retrospectives of
his films have been shown in almost all major cities of the world. He was also
elected as the president of the International Federation of the Film Societies.
He received the Taj Enlighten Tareef Award which is given for a lifetime
contribution to the world of cinema in 2008. He also received the Lifetime
Achievement Award at the 10th edition of the Osian's Cinefest Film Festival
2008. His list of awards at national and international level just goes on and
on.
Renowned Norwegian Actress & Director
Liv Ullmann Once Said "Mrinal Sen's Films Convey a Cinematic Protest
Against Tyranny So Effectively".
Oscar winner director Martin Scorsese took
leading steps towards restoration of Mrinal Sen's films . He identified those
films as forgotten classics .
Legendary director Satyajit Ray said 'I am
feeling jealous , he probably overtakes us' ( Referring himself & Ritwik
Ghatak ) when praising after watching Mrinal Sen's 'Oka Oori Katha' .
He also introduced Mithun Chakrabarty in his
movie Mrigaya in 1976.
On December 30, 2018 , months before his 96th
birthday, Sen left his mortal body but his legacy continues and will continue
for as long as the word “cinema” exist in the mind of people. I pay my utmost
respect for the great filmmaker whose brilliant masterpieces shines in its own
glory and continues to enlighten the world of cinema.
You can also check out my list of books here.
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