Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Mrinal SenMrinal Sen

Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee and a noted Bengali filmmaker,  Mrinal Sen passed away on Sunday at the age of 95, at his home in Bhawanipore, Kolkata. He was one of the greatest ambassadors of the Bengali parallel cinema.

He was contemporary to filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, and although sharing a healthy rivalry all of them were huge admirers of each other’s work. Sen’s work was noted for the artistic depiction of social reality.

Mrinal made his directorial debut with ‘Raat Bhore’ in 1955 starring famous Uttam Kumar. It film turned out to be a disappointment. He earned local recognition with his second film Neel Akasher Neechey (Under the Blue Sky) in 1959. But his third film ‘Baishey Shravan’ changed the course of his life and gave him international exposure.

His film ‘Bhuvan Shome’ was made on a very small budget provided by the government of India. It was a huge success and introduced Mrinal Sen as a major filmmaker both nationally and internationally.

Sen was known as featuring Kolkata in his film as a character and as an inspiration. He won several international awards for his work.

His cinema showed the development of ideas but mostly he did not give them a happy ending like Satyajit Ray.

The Internet is streaming with heartfelt messages since the news of his demise came out.

 

Sen was a member of the jury in 1982 at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival, in 1983 at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival and in 1997 at the 20th Moscow International Film Festival.

His film earned awards at almost all major film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Montreal, Chicago, and Cairo. For his lifetime contribution to the cinema world, he received the Taj Enlighten Tareef Award in 2008.

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