A filmmaker of the turbulent time 

Mrinal Sen was born hundred years ago, and his creation of that created wave is still making an impact in the sea of cinema, making an impression among moviegoers. Not chasing the box office like today, not caring about public satisfaction or state power, but nurturing indomitable courage, dangerous wonder, and compassion for people, he made art the perfect tool to present his arguments. It was a turbulent time when he took up art creation. From the fifties to the seventies, not just the subcontinent but the whole world was hot like a volcano, erupting to herald a new era. Artists of the time also freely matched the chorus with the sounds of that imminent change. Mrinal Sen is an artist of that time. An explosive filmmaker of that time. He has also made movies in the new century, which differs from the first three decades.

Born on May 14, 1923, in Faridupur, Mrinal spent his youth in Bangladesh. He then moved to Calcutta to study and became involved in left-wing politics, cultural activities and film production. He started making films with passion but got frustrated with the beginning filmographies: 'Ratbhoor' (1955) and 'Neel Akasher Niche' (1959). But he did not give up his passion; he continued. Becoming Mrinal Sen with some political and social commitment began with the third full-length film 'Baishe Shravan' (1960). Recognition comes at both national and international levels. Films like 'Poonsch' (1961) or 'Akash Kusum' (1965) deal with the struggle to survive in the city behind relationships, the hopes and aspirations of individuals, the desire to be big and its consequences. Then with 'Bhuvan Som' (1969), Mrinal took place in the new revival of Indian cinema. The story of the transformation of a government official is told here. One who deviates from the extremes of honesty and learns to tolerate corruption wanders from the village. This is like a metamorphosis.
After this film, Mrinal is more direct and specific. He seems to be following John-Luc Godard in this episode. Calcutta Trilogy made one by one. The trio of 'Interview' (1970), 'Kolkata 71' (1972) and 'Padatik' (1973) was completed by Chorus (1974). By digging into the political problems of contemporary India with these four films, he tried to show the colonial mentality, the revolution and the frustration of the youth to establish equality in society and the hypocrisy of the upper classes. In the next film, Mrinal Sen wanted to examine the revolution through the Santal rebellion and anti-British movement in the past. He made 'Mrigaya' (1976). A Santal hunter and Swadeshi activist remembered Sidhu and Kanu. However, he also tributed to the political activists hanged for the Naxal Bari movement covertly.

After the social revolution and rebellion period, Mrinal turned his eyes towards the middle class. He tried to examine the middle-class attitude. In 'Ekdin Pratidin' (1979), a girl could not return home overnight due to the pressure of the situation. But with that, the middle-class family and neighbours revealed their ugly faces. The film 'Kharij' (1982) also shows the nature of middle-class selfishness. The movie 'Khandahar' (1983) also has the middle class; we see the psychological distance between the village and the city. The urban middle class is not only selfish but also has an escapist mentality, as this film tries to convey in a starkly pathetic narrative.

If we talk about the last film of Mrinal Sen's 28 feature films — 'Amar Bhuvan; (2002)—there Mrinal Sen wrote a narrative of human relationships transcending love, jealousy and caste. He showed the story of two brothers and a woman. One cousin is a poor day labourer of the two brothers, and the other is a wealthy businessman returning from abroad. Their world revolves around an ordinary woman. But no contradiction appears there. Mutual respect and love are essential on their planet.

Mrinal Sen's entire work can be divided into three parts. In the beginning, he was trying to find his own language. In the second part, he found the words to say and the destiny of cinematic language. Mrinal uttered a mantra of rebellion in the middle period of his movie-making. Then he gradually entered the inner circle of the middle class. After completing the post-mortem of social relations, he settled on the tensions of human relations.

Mrinal Sen considered himself primarily a personal practitioner of Marxism, while he was an Eisensteinian and a fan of Brecht. Therefore, he tries to create a unique consciousness through the dialectic process in the entire work. He believes that in addition to seeing with their senses, the audience will keep the intellectual door open so that film consciousness can be discovered with their own consciousness. There is little difference between watching movies and reading poetry. Mrinal hoped that the audience would enter into 'dialectics' beyond the level of visual dialogue, combining the brain and the heart, to discover consciousness within them.

However, in today's free market economy, where big-budget films capture even the expected small markets, only some producers work with Mrinal's desired spirit. Because now there is no such thing as pure art or art for people. As "l'art pour l'art" has departed, so has the urge to create art for the masses. These notions were replaced by commercial and semi-commercial films. Where is the filmmaker now where the audience can discover 'Chaitanya', the Conscious, in the movie with the brain and heart? In fact, there was a time in the last century when there were Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, Zahir Raihan, Alamgir Kabir, and Subhash Dutta. They knew how to push the boat upstream. Lately, almost everyone has seen the oarsman of the downstream boat.