Veteran Indian(Bengali) filmmaker and leading personality of Indian parallel cinema Mrinal Sen (1923-2018) passed away in Kolkata on Sunday morning. He was 95.
A Padma Bhushan and Dadasaheb Phalke awardee, Mrinal Sen’s name remains etched in the history of Indian cinema with his titles Ek Din Achanak, Padatik and Mrigaya. Though Sen debuted in 1955 itself with Raat Bhore, it took nearly five years to strike roots as director with difference.
Baishe Shravana made in 1960 established as a director. He directed a Telugu movie Oka Oori Katha in 1977. Oka Oori Katha was based on popular novel Kafan by legendary Hindi writer Munshi Prem Chand. The movie, which was one of the entries at Hong Kong International film festival, won many awards including that year’s National Best Feature Film Award from Telugu.
All his films were known for questioning the established values in the contemporary society. Bhuvan Shome (1969), Mrigayaa (1976) are some of his best movies. Incidentally, Mithun Chakravarthy debuted with Mrigayaa. In 1986 Sen made Genesis which featured Om Puri and Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah. Sen received as many as 12 International Film awards and he was also a member of Indian People Theatre Association.