Mrinal Kanti Das

An irreparable damage, in its truest sense. Mrinal Kanti Das? premature and tragic death has left a void in Assam?s cultural scenario ? a vacuum, which can never be filled up.

The worst affected is, of course, the film fraternity, which has lost one of the most talented cinematographers of not only the state, but the entire country.

A sensitive person with a penchant for healthy physical and intellectual activities since his schooldays, Mrinal spent a couple of years at the Kanaklata indoor stadium as a promising shuttler before taking to adventure sports ? mainly rock-climbing and mountaineering. His academic brilliance was the passport to the success in any field he had chosen. No wonder that he became an assistant conservator of forest in the very first attempt.

Suddenly, one fine morning he decided to leave the lucrative job. Immediately he enrolled himself in the cinematography course of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Filmmaker Bidyut Chakraborty of Rag-Birag fame says it was Bhaai?s (eminent filmmaker Brojen Barua?s son and a serious film activist Manjyoti Barua) death that brought Mrinal to cinema. Both of them were close pals since schooldays and Bhaai?s death was a major influencing factor for Mrinal?s entry into the new avenue.

Having spent a year or two doing some small camera works after passing out from the FTII, first major assignments he undertook were three significant films ? Rag-Birag, Adajya and Hastir Kanya ? in a single year, that is 1996. All three films brought five national awards. Mrinal, while operating a 16-mm camera, bagged the country?s best cinematographer?s award for his spectacular work in Rag-Birag and Adajya.

After this there was no looking back. Mrinal?s camera work had become an integral part of almost all sorts of serious cinematic work in Assam ? especially by the new generation filmmakers. Of these, mention must be made of Meemaanxa by Sanjiv Hazarika, Boibhav by Manju Bora, Nishiddha Nodi by Bidyut Chakraborty, Koihatir Dhulia by Hemnath Das and Panei Jonki by Dilip Dolei.

Interestingly, Mrinal was also a most-sought-after man to run the camera in case of the other kind of cinema in Assam. Experienced Munin Barua was the first to utilise his genius in popular cinema. Mrinal did three films with Munin Barua ? Hiya Diya Niya, Daag and Nayak ? and all three proved to be splendid outcomes of the joined venture of an experienced director and a young talented cameraman.

Mrinal?s ambition was to make a film in his own way and style. And having done a few television projects, he had just prepared himself for going great guns as a director. He even had managed a producer for his debut venture Aranyat Barasun, a film aimed at preservation of nature and bio-diversity and scripted by himself. But god willed otherwise.

With his death the cultural arena has lost not only an outstanding cinematographer, but also a young, energetic man with a sound original thinking. He was a vastly read man, but was never directly influenced by anything. His death was a loss to the greater art fraternity of the country, indeed.

Rong Sarmah