The landline telephone used by auteur Mrinal Sen, his favourite chair, the fountain pen he used to jot down scripts and film posters are prominently displayed at the exhibition 'Mrinal Sen: The Maverick' at the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) on his birth centenary year.
The exhibition having sections like 'Mirroring the Middle Class', Rebel Roots, filmography of Sen traces his journey as film maker from the 1955 film 'Raat bhore' (The Dawn), Neel Akasher Niche (Under the Blue Sky) till the last one 'Amar Bhuban' (This My Land).
The shooting stills and information during the days of making of Sen's cult Ek Din Pratidin in 1979 (And Quiet Rolls the Dawn), Akaler Shandhaney (In Search of Famine), Chalchitra (The Kaleidoscope), Kharij (The Case is Closed), Khandahar (The Ruins) of the internationally known director among others figure prominently in the exhibition which was inaugurated by Sen's favourite actor-director Anjan Dutt, his favourite actress Mamata Shankar and Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee on the second day of the festival on Wednesday.
The exhibition features the 1984 London Film Festival poster of Khandahar, the poster of Chalchitra, the poster of Ek Din Achanak and Antareen (The Confined - made in 1993) among others.
Film personality, KIFF organising committee member and exhibition curator Sudeshna Roy told PTI the materials were sourced from those directly associated with Sen including his son Kunal Sen, actor Ranjit Mallick, and Anjan Dutt.
"We have tried to explore different phases of his career, the time when he first made films on human emotions and relationships (in the 50s) and captured the socio-political turbulence in his later works (70s-80s), his later works. From several books on the stalwart like 'Mrinal Sen: Sixty Years in Search of Cinema' (Dipankar Mukhopadhyay), 'Bondhu: My Father My Friend' (Kunal Sen) to other published materials we got references from multiple sources," Roy said.
Dutt said, "I am so happy to see such an exhibition has been organised on the 100th birth anniversary year of Mrinal da, with whom I had a relationship for over four decades since my debut in Chalchitro in 1981. Certain photos of shooting scenes bring so many memories. The KIFF authorities have done a great service by organising such an exhibition focussing on the legendary director. I am happy my biopic on him - 'Chaalchitro Ekhon' - is also being screened in the competitive section of the festival and will have its world premiere in our favourite city." Filmmaker Ashoke Viswanathan, who had good relations with Sen, told PTI that "while the exhibition captured various moods" of the maverick filmmaker during film shoots, interviews and with his wife Gita Sen and friends at home, "it only partially recaptures the real Mrinal da as there should have been more materials for which people like us could have been approached." To this, Roy responded, "We had sourced materials and did extensive research from people who were close to Mrinal da. Of course, he can have his own views and we will always welcome any suggestions." Sen had died on December 30, 2018, at his south Kolkata residence.
The exhibition has also photos of his last journey.
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