Celebrating birth centenary of auteur Mrinal Sen: Expo on

kolkata: A champion of low-budget films, Mrinal Sen had a penchant to depict social reality through his films, using new techniques and formats. Kunal Sen believed his father would have adapted to the technological advancements to make low-budget films.

From ‘Mrigayaa’, ‘Calcutta 71’, ‘Kharij’, ‘Ek Din Pratidin’, to ‘Bhuvan Shome’, Sen, who gave birth to a new cinema movement in India, highlighted the middle-class lives in the city through most of his films.

However, as Anjan Dutt rightly pointed out, Sen’s films threw questions at the audience, actors and even himself. However, he never sought solutions.

Kolkata is celebrating the birth centenary of the master filmmaker. On Monday, an eight-day birth centenary celebration, titled ‘Sentenary’ kicked off at Gorky Sadan. Beginning Monday, (May 15), the celebrations which comprise exhibitions, talk shows and film screenings, will continue till May 22.

Madhabi Mukherjee, who stole our hearts forever with her performance in ‘Baishe Srabon’, Bangladesh filmmaker Tanvir Mokammel, Goutam Ghose, Mamata Shankar, Ashoke Viswanathan and Kunal were present at the inauguration at Gorky Sadan.

An exhibition of his photographs, posters, journals, books on and by Sen, letters and mementoes is on at Gorky Sadan for all film buffs from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm, except May 17 and May 21.

The inauguration ceremony was followed by the screening of the documentary titled ‘With Mrinal Sen’ directed by Sanjay and Subrata Bhattacharya. For the next five days, his cult films like ‘Baishe Srabon’, ‘Matira Manisha’, ‘Oka Oori Katha’ and ‘Genesis’ would be screened along with adda sessions on the maestro.

“My father always made low-budget films. Today, technology has made huge advancements and I am sure, Bondhu (as he would call his father) would have adapted to this changing technology and made films within a restricted budget,” said Kunal, who has written a book, ‘Bondhu — My Father, My Friend?’ on the master filmmaker.