Mrinal Sen: Interlocutor of Working Class Maladies

Saadat Hassan Manto was a writer whose stories were often disregarded as obscene and dark. Manto would defend himself and say that he writes what he sees, so perhaps it’s the society that’s obscene and dark. Mrinal Sen, an Indian film director was often criticised along the same lines and can perhaps be called the Manto of Indian Parallel Cinema.

Throughout his career, Mrinal Sen took his role as the mediator of social maladies quite seriously; Image Source: Mint Lounge

Born in 1923, in Faridpur, in modern-day Bangladesh, Mrinal Sen was a celebrated Indian filmmaker who was known for his work in Bengali, Hindi, Telugu, and Odia cinema. He was one of the pioneers of the New Wave cinema movement in India, along with Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. For Sen, films were a medium to critique contemporary political and social realities via a Marxist lens.

Parallel cinema was a term used to describe a group of films that emerged in India in the 1950s and 1960s and challenged the conventions and formulas of mainstream cinema. These films were marked by their realism, experimentation, social commentary, and artistic vision. The trio, Mrinal Sen, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak are the most sought-after names of parallel or independent cinema to date.

However, where Ray’s movies were based around hope, love and closure, Sen’s trajectory of emotions differed and explored the dark, provocative, and abrupt side of life. Influenced by the neorealist and La Nouvelle Vague movements in Europe, as well as the Indian traditions of theatre and literature, Sen started New Cinema Movement in Bengal.

Mrinal Sen was a visionary filmmaker who dared to explore new themes and forms in his cinema. He was never afraid to question the status quo and expose the contradictions and injustices of society. Sen was also a versatile filmmaker who adapted to different languages and cultures without compromising his artistic integrity. He was a true master of the medium, who used sound, image, editing and narrative to create powerful cinematic expressions.

Mrinal's wife Gita often acted in his movies but was also a collaborator in Sen's project and his biggest critic; Image source: One India One People

Sen won accolades and praises for his untraditional and controversial movies, and many of his movies were screened in international festivals as well. Inspired by Charlie Chaplin since his childhood, Sen has contributed much to Indian cinema for which he received a Padma Bhushan, multiple national awards, the Nehru Soviet Land Award, the Commandeur de Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, multiple honorary degrees, and was even inducted into the Oscar Academy as a member.

Mrinal Sen's narratives circle around the mundane lives of common folks. However, being the interlocutor of the common man's maladies, he brings out not-so-mundane stories that are not meant for the weak-spirited. His Important works include Ek Din Pratidin, Bhuvan Shome, Calcutta 71, Mrigayaa,Akaler Sandhane, and Kharij. The subject of his movies delves into the anxieties of the middle-class, gender issues,  colonial oppression, Bengal famine, unethical exploitation of the working class and stories of poverty, violence and corruption in Calcutta (Kolkata).

However, one could also argue that Mrinal Sen was a flawed filmmaker who sometimes sacrificed coherence and clarity for experimentation and innovation. He was often accused of being too didactic and preachy in his films, which alienated some viewers and critics. He was also criticized for being too influenced by foreign cinema, especially by Satyajit Ray, who once called his film Akash Kusum (1965) a “pathetic imitation” of François Truffaut’s Jules et Jim (1962).

He was also inconsistent in his quality and output, especially in his later years, when he made fewer films and lost touch with the changing times. Despite this, Mrinal Sen's work will continue to survive and stay relevant because they are born out of the common man's frayed sensibilities. Although Sen died in 2018, his works will live on and inspire the future of cinema.