Mrinal Sen – A director par excellence…
Mrinal Sen is one of India’s most politically
active filmmakers. Sen, who celebrated his 90th
birthday this year, has also completed six decades as
a director. After having studied physics at University
of Calcutta, Sen worked as a freelance journalist, a
salesman of patent medicines and a sound technician
in a film studio. In the mid-1940s, he joined the
Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) and
during this time he started studying about films and
the craft of filmmaking. The association had links
to the Communist Party of India and this heralded
the beginning of Sen’s involvement with Marxist
politics. In 1956, Mrinal Sen’s debut film Raat Bhor hit the theatres. His second film
Neel Akasher Neechey was banned by the Government for a certain period. Most
of his films dealt with problems like poverty, economic exploitation and political
repression- problems of the contemporary India of his time. It is Mrinal Sen who
started discussing these problems in a non-romantic manner, in a manner that
made Indian audiences sit up and take notice. He faced many obstacles- difficult
producers, reluctant distributors, and a disapproving Censor Board. Yet, he has
managed to take a stand and is today hailed as a director par excellence.