Debojyoti Mishra: Mrinal Sen’s words continue to haunt me

Debojyoti Mishra who composed for Mrinal Sen’s film ‘Amar Bhuvan’ (2002) says it was a great learning experience for him to work with the master filmmaker who passed away on December 30 in 2018.
“He was the first filmmaker, who told me that cinema was all about chronicling the ‘present’. He said, ‘You don’t sit for the time when ‘today’ will become ‘yesterday’. The idea is to capture ‘today’ through cinema.His words continue to haunt me,” recalls the acclaimed composer during an exclusive chat with ETimes.

While Srikanta Acharya rendered ‘Mamo Chitte’ in the film, Rupankar lent his vocals to the title composition. “Both of them did a great job and Mrinalda was happy with the way the music shaped up. Today, I may be involved in a great volume of work, but his film will always be special. It’s sad that Mrinalda’s city, the Kolkata he loved so much, has changed a lot over the years,” he rued.
Known for taking up non-conventional themes, Mrinal Sen once said that he sometimes departs from the usual beginning, middle and end approach to a narrative. With his films filled with social analysis and psychological drama, the Left-leaning director had bagged four National Film Awards as the best director and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1983.