Mrinal Sen: An observer of ordinary life like no one else

Doing justice to Mrinal Sen's works in an article is similar to grasping an ocean with a vessel. However, it was better to avoid that impossible task and consider what comes to mind when watching and rewatching Mrinal Sen's films. 

At the surface level, it just comes to my mind that all of Sen's films are not always easy to watch, but after watching the movie, it never makes us feel that the watch time was wasted behind a story that was not profound in its meaning. 

But isn't it also true that every image and sequence of life is not over the top or gripping, but when observed as a whole, every ordinary life is profound in its meaning? 

No one has achieved the goal of presenting Calcutta's everyday life widely to the international audience like him in Indian cinema except Satyajit Ray. 

On May 14, 1923, Mrinal Sen was born in the Faridpur district of the then Bengal. After finishing his primary and high secondary education in Faridpur, he shifted to Calcutta and studied Physics at Calcutta Scottish Church. As his father was a member of the Congress Party, he had the companies of many people who contributed to the independence of India from British rule. Therefore, it could be claimed that he grew up in a political environment that later helped him to have his political position. While studying Physics, he was involved in Communist politics. He was a member of the Indian People's Theatre Association. Later, he worked in different studios in Calcutta as an audio technician. 

Mrinal Sen's first film, Raat Bhor, was released in 1955 and starred Uttam Kumar in the lead role. The film didn't work. But, instead of getting demotivated, he kept on working. 

From 1955 to 1968, he made films like Baishe Srabon (1960), Punashcha (1961), Obosheshe (1964), and Akash Kushum (1965), which introduced Sen as a rising filmmaker. In 1969, Mrinal Sen directed a film called Bhuban Shome. 

This film became popular with national and international audiences. Utpal Dutt's acting in it is still unforgettable. Amitabh Bachchan also contributed his voice to this film. 

Then came his famous Calcutta trilogy, which consisted of Interview (1971), Calcutta 71 (1972), and Padatik (1973). This trilogy reflected Calcutta's political condition, making the film relatable to the audience. 

Then we have to mention films like Chorus (1974), the national award-winning film Parshuram (1978), Ek Din Pratidin (1980), the Berlin film festival award-winning film Akaler Sondhane (1980), Chalchitra (1981), the Cannes film festival award-winning film Kharij (1982), Mahaprithibi (1991), Antareen (1991), Amar Bhuban (2002), and many others. 

He also directed many Hindi films, including Eh Adhuri Kahini (1971), Mrigoya (1976), Ek Din Achanak (1989), and Genesis (1986). 

In the case of awards, this should be asked which international film festival award he didn't get except an Oscar. From Cannes and Berlin to Venice, Moscow, and Chicago film festivals, nothing escaped from Sen's bag of awards. He also worked as the president of the International Federation of Film Societies.

Looking at the specific features of Sen's films, the first thing that gets noticed is the influence of Italian New realism on his movies. The portrayal of the ordinary lives of Calcutta using actors who had never acted before, especially in Interview (1971), could be an example. 

Another reflection of that influence could be Sen's focus on detailing every scene in his film, making the story as realistic as possible, like his contemporary Satyajit Ray. 

However, Sen differs from Roy by breaking forth in his films Interview (1971) and Calcutta 71 (1972). German playwright Bertolt Brecht used to get the audience involved in a character in the theatre, and when the character communicates with the audience, the world of illusion gets broken. The same thing is prevalent in Sen's film Interview (1971) when the character breaks the character in the bus sequence and communicates with the audience by introducing his mother as an actress playing his mother's role in the film. The usage of still images in Sen's films is a unique feature of his own, which separated him even from his contemporaries in the parallel cinema movement. 

The other distinctive feature might be the shifting of film reality to a theatrical reality in his films, especially if we consider his 1974 classic 'Chorus.' The music used in the Calcutta trilogy grasped the revolutionary spirit of the Naxalite movement in the late 1960s to early 1970s and still needs to be remembered. 

Mrinal Sen's films were not just about storytelling but also a medium for social and political commentary. His Calcutta trilogy, for instance, depicted how the nationalist upper class of India villainized the people involved in the Naxalite radical movement in the 1960s and 1970s, thereby suppressing the fact about the social and economic exploitation of the working class and the farmers of Calcutta at that time. 

If Mahasweta Devi's Hajar Chiurashir Ma (1974) is a literary classic representing the Naxalite movement, Sen's Calcutta trilogy is the equivalent in films. 

His films continued to portray the everyday lives of Calcutta, with works like Akaler Sondhane (1980), Ek Din Pratidin (1980), and Kharij (1982), which highlighted the reality of class struggle and its impact on individual experiences in society. 

On December 30, 2018, Mrinal Sen passed away at 95 in Bhavanipur, Calcutta. In his personal life, Mrinal Sen was very disciplined. But he is only sometimes serious in regular conversation like his contemporary Satyajit Ray. 

He was once asked why he takes a long break after each film. He answered that one day, the price of a film camera would be the same as that of a pen and paper, and he would make one film every day. 

Mrinal was joking then, but we could say very seriously that every true film lover of Bangla cinema remembers him every day when they observe an incident of real life and think about making a film.  

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