A MASTER FILMMAKER WHO CHALLENGED SOCIAL SENSIBILITIES

Mrinal Sen is known as a film-maker who challenged prevailing social sensibilities and mores, holding a mirror up for society.

Sen (95), who died in Kolkata on 30 Dec 2018, was the last surviving member of the 'trinity' from Bengal - including master filmmakers Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak - who gave birth to the parallel (or new wave) cinema in the country.

The troika gave a new direction to the idea of filmmaking in India, with their intellect, spontaneity, knowledge of world cinema and deep understanding of the nuances of the medium that made the world look up in wonder and respect their creations.

A Marxist in belief, who, however, never took the membership of any communist party in India, Sen regaled in breaking age-old stereotypes, highlighting issues such as exploitation and erosion of values.

Take for instance the film Kharij (The Case is Closed), where the servant boy, a minor, working in a middle class family in Kolkata, dies by carbon-monoxide poisoning after being made to sleep in the kitchen. Fearful of facing retribution, police case, and weighed down by guilt, the young employer and his wife go all out to please the deceased's father. The bereaved man, however, displays great dignity, and returns to his village quietly, leaving the employers morally shattered.

Kharij shook the urban middle and upper classes so much that many changed their treatment of servants, particularly giving them better places to sleep.

Kharij was made in the 1970s - a time of great turmoil and political unrest in Calcutta with the Naxalite movement spewing blood on the streets - during which Sen’s films provoked urban society, subtly capturing the political upheaval.

The highlight of the genre was the trilogy Interview (1970), Calcutta 71 (1972) and Padatik (1973). All three films are regarded as masterpieces for their social messages and political overtones.

Born on May 14, 1923, at Faridpur (now in Bangladesh), Sen made his first Bengali film Rat Bhore (The Dawn) in 1953, but it was his second directorial effort Neel Akasher Niche (Under the Blue Sky) that received acclaim in the country for its lyricism and humane qualities.

His next, Baishey Shravan (Wedding Day), earned him plaudits from the critics beyond Indian shores.

In 1969 came Bhuvan Shome regarded as an important milestone in the new cinema movement in India.

And then there were the gems Ek Adhuri Kahani (1971), Chorus (1974), Mrigayaa (1976), Oka Oori Katha (1977), Ek Din Pratidin (1979), Akaler Sandhane (1980), Chalchitra (1981), Khandhar (1983), Genesis (1986) and Ek Din Achanak (1989).

His last film Aamaar Bhuvan came in 2002.

Sen leaves behind a rich repertoire of 27 feature films, 14 shorts and four documentaries during a career spanning six decades.

Widely feted, Sen received the Padma Bhushan in 1981, the Dadasaheb Phalke in 2005, the French government's Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et letters (Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters) in 2001, and Order of Friendship from the Russian government in the same year.

Sen served as a member of International Jury at various film festivals, including Cannes.

His autobiography Always Being Born was published in 2004.

There is no comparable figure in cinema anywhere in the world where a civil engineer juggled his writerly and actorly talents with such consummate ease in hundreds of movies for close to four decades. By Khan's own reckoning, he acted in 450 movies and wrote dialogues and scripts for 250 films. That is an astonishing output even by the generally prolific standards of Hindi cinema.

Since Khan made writing and even a certain type of performance look so effortless, he often does not get his due for his remarkable contribution to Hindi cinema. Although born in Kabul, Khan went on to capture the quintessence of India's everyday pluralism in his writings. It was under the tutelage of director Manmohan Desai, who commissioned Khan to write for his movies starting in the early 1970s, that he went on to powerfully capture Bombay's street swag as reflected in its language.

Desai said in 1986, "When I first met Kader Khan I told him, 'Tum miyabhai khali sher-o-shayri aur nawabi Urdu likhta hai. Hum ko kuchh gully ka chahiye. (You Muslim writers write only poetry and Urdu of the royal court. I need some street stuff.)'

It was under those promptings that in movies such as Roti (1974) and Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) Khan brought in the now famous Mumbai street patois into the Hindi cinema lexicon. Although his personal preference was high-minded and refined Indian and Russian literature, Khan perhaps subconsciously drew on his childhood memories to capture some of the street cool that audiences saw in movies such as Muqqadar ka Sikander (1978), Laawaris (1981), Coolie (1983) and somewhat later, Agneepath (1990).

At the time of the making of Agneepath Khan was at the peak of his craft and used to write and act so much that it was easy to discount his talent. The movie's default temperament was the kind of sauciness that one routinely experiences in Mumbai's streets, especially among the young population that has no option but to live by its wits. Social resentments of the dispossessed and disenfranchised in Mumbai often result in very distilled bitterness which gets articulated in the kind of lines that Khan wrote for the film. What made them particularly striking was that it was against his known literary tastes of someone who loved high-minded Urdu poetry of the calibre of Mirza Ghalib and others.

His passion for education, which he was to fondly recall as a gift of his mother Iqbal Begum's backbreaking struggles, stayed with him throughout his life. Khan loved mathematics, physics, engineering, machine drawing and well into his latter life, a serious study of Arabic. Those who knew him well said he was at heart always a teacher even on the movie set.

Soft-spoken, polite and unusually internally drawn, Khan had the gift of the gab and could converse across many subjects and themes. In his passing Indian cinema has lost someone who straddled the three distinct worlds of the written, spoken and performed with rare ease.

THRILLED WITH URI: VICKY KAUSHAL

Actor Vicky Kaushal, who plays the role of an Indian commando in the recently released Uri - The Surgical Strike, is thrilled at the success of his latest film, which collected Rs 8.20 crore at the boxoffice on the first day of its release.

The movie is based on the 2016 Indian Army's surgical strikes inside Pakistan as a retaliation for the Uri terrorist attack.

"I’m really happy for the entire team especially director Adtiya Dhar as it is his first film," he said. "In today's age, it is very difficult for a debutant director to get backing from producers for his story and then to get a huge release for his film. Ultimately, when audiences appreciate the film then, it's a special thing for the entire team."

The film unit hosted a special screening for Army personnel. Interestingly, members of the Sikh Regiment trained the actors who play the commandos in the film. Tough on the actors during the gruelling routine, they were pleased at the outcome on screen. “It was a special moment when they appreciated our performance,” Vicky said. “Our film is but a tribute for their work."

Bandit Drama

Sonchiriya, a dacoit drama, has been

BHUMI PEDNEKAR

WIN MOVIE TICKETS!

Vicky Kaushal

causing a bit of buzz since its gripping and power-packed trailer released recently.

The Sushant Singh Rajput and Bhumi Pednekar starrer takes us back to the stark and dusty ravines of Chambal in the 1970s, as dacoit groups fought to take control of central India.

The Abhishek Chaubey directorial also features Ashutosh Rana, Manoj Bajpayee and Ranvir Shorey.

After successes with Ishqiya and Udta Punjab, Abhishek Chaubey takes us into a simmering war raging at the fringe of society where what we see is not always pleasant but never uninteresting.

Talking about the film, Bhumi said, “The expectations are extremely high. It's hard-hitting but at the same time it's very relevant and important. I think it has some really great performances and a lot of craft.”

Brutal to the bone, Sonchiriya touches raw nerves in our socio-cultural DNA which has allowed inequality to foster for generations. Now it's too late to even try to rectify the economic imbalance.

The film shows fringe people accepting their place and fighting for what they believe to be their fundamental right to survive.

ELEPHANT TALES

We haven’t had an animal drama since… Haathi Mere Saathi? So now, let’s wait for… Haathi Mere Saathi.

Yes that’s the name of the new Rana back in 2009.

A trilingual, the film is being made simultaneously in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil with a different cast across languages.

The film also stars Pulkit Samrat, Vishnu Vishal, Zoya Hussein and Kalki Koechlin.

PITY ABOUT PAK BAN: SHABANA AZMI

What’s the chitchat between Virushka here? Send response

FARHAN’S

FIRST ACTING ROLE

Farhan Akhtar’s The Fakir of Venice finally hits the theatres on 18 Jan, a full decade after it was made. A comedy based on a story by Homi Adajania and set in Venice, it is directed by Anand Surapur and also stars Annu Kapoor and Kamal Siddhu.

In the film, Farhan’s character tries to pass off a Mumbai slum dweller (Annu Kapoor) as a holy man who can bury himself in sand as part of a live art performance.

In the lead up to its release, a song from the film was released recently. In the song Wako Naam Fakir, 15th century poet Kabir’s doha Had had so auliya is turned into a blues song by AR Rahman. With lyrics about the dichotomy of things, it seems a perfect introduction to the film.

Believed to be Farhan Akhtar’s first ever acting role, the film premiered at the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles way

WHO WORE IT BETTER?

ALIA BHATT OR SOFIA VERGARA IN ZIMMERMANN?

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Veteran actress Shabana Azmi has reacted to Pakistan Supreme Court's decision to ban Indian content in their country terming it as unfortunate, saying it is the decision of Pakistan's politicians and bureaucrats and not their audience. She was interacting with the media as she hosted a painting competition for children to celebrate 100th birth anniversary of acclaimed poet, lyricist and her father, Kaifi Azmi, in Mumbai earlier this month.

Pakistan's Chief Justice said recently the country's supreme court will not allow Indian content to be shown on Pakistani TV channels as it "damages our culture".

"It's an unfortunate decision because art connects and not divides people,” Azmi said. “The people of Pakistan don't want a ban on Indian content in their country; it is their politicians who want it. In our country too, politicians want to ban their art and artists."

"When we visit Pakistan, we get much respect from their citizens and when artists from that country visit our land, they say they feel like they’re in their own country. People-to-people connect is really necessary."

IANS ON TWITTER THIS WEEK

Match the following stars to the tweets below Anupam Kher, Karan Johar, Anushka Sharma

They came. They conquered. History written and created by this bunch. Huge congratulations to all players, coaching unit and support staff; it takes undying perseverance and solid conviction to focus on what's important and shut out the rest.

A first for koffee!! CRICKET!! With these young forces I had a blast!! They hit it out of the park!

While we are dealing with the trailer issues of #TheAccidentalPrimeMinister on @YouTube, here is a small request from our team with the link. Please retweet as much as you can. Thanks

SRK: “Yaar, Katrina, ye picture ka naam bhi Zero, aur box office collection bhi!”

Congratulations, Hetal Shah, Croydon NSW You win a movie ticket!

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