Remembering Mrinal Sen, the pioneer of parallel cinema in India, on his 1st death anniversary.

Remembering Mrinal Sen, the pioneer of parallel cinema in India, on his 1st death anniversary.

Mrinal Sen’s name has always been taken along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. The trio would enjoy a healthy competition and was a big fan of each other’s works.

Sen’s method of experimental filmmaking and his depiction of Indian society has remained unparalleled.

His films continue to inspire generations of directors and actors. From the middle-class social crisis in Ek Din Pratidin, to the social milieu in Kharij, the famine of 1943 in Akaler Sandhane, to the political and social unrest in Interview, Calcutta 71, Padatik and Bhuvan Shome, Mrinal Sen’s films initiated the new cinema movement in India. The living legend made his last film Aamaar Bhuvan in 2002. Through Sen, Indian cinema got actors such as Mithun Chakraborty, Anjan Dutt, Mamata Shankar, Sreela Majumdar and Madhabi Mukherjee to name a few. Also, Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri have worked in several of Sen’s films.

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 received the Padma Bhushan, and in 2005 he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour given to an Indian filmmaker, by the Government of India.