Kunal Sen: I can’t control what people say about my father

Mrinal Sen’s son Kunal Sen shares his take on the three films that are being made to celebrate the maverick filmmaker

Three films are being made on Mrinal Sen by three filmmakers who have very different sensibilities. What is your take on it?
I agree, and I expect each to be distinctly different in tone. Kaushik’s film is not really about my father. It has an oblique reference to a film (Kharij) he made many decades ago, and he is using the same set of actors. Therefore, it is a tribute of sorts, but not about my father. Srijit’s film is a biographical film and is expected to tell his life story. As with any biopic, it will have a lot of fictionalisation. No one can know what people actually say behind closed doors to their family members, and therefore a filmmaker is forced to imagine these situations and dialogues. If properly researched, these fictionalised parts become more believable. I hope Srijit will be sensitive to that. Anjan and my father had a very interesting relationship, and I think he is trying to make a film about that relationship rather than a film about my father. That allows him to take a lot more liberty to drift away from actual events.

Did they contact you for material, research and rights? Is there any aspect of his life and work that you are not comfortable on being explored in these films?
Kaushik did not have to get my permission. All he needed was to get permission from the rights owners of Kharij. I am sure he has done what was necessary. Srijit took official permission from me so that he could use their actual names if he chooses to. I don’t believe in any ownership of my father. He chose a profession where he is a public figure, and therefore he chose to share his life with everyone. I don’t think I have the right to control what people have to say about his life in any medium. I will still have the right to be critical of the end product, but I don’t want to act as if my father is a property I inherited. Anjan does not need to get any details from me since his film will be directly based on his interactions with my father. I am not uncomfortable about sharing any aspects of his life as long as it stays close to the truth. Once again, I don’t own his life. Every human being is a mix of good and bad. In fact, I’d not feel very good if any of these films tries to lionize him and portray a picture of a perfect human being. That is the problem I have with so many biopics made worldwide. After watching them, you come out with the impression that there is a perfect person with a perfect life trajectory. We all know that is not possible, and the contradictions are what make a person interesting.

Have you contributed to any of these projects?
I had nothing to add to Kaushik’s or Anjan’s films. For Srijit, we had several long conversations where
I shared my memories. I also shared with him the manuscript of a book I had just finished on my
experience growing up in our household.
What are your expectations from these films?
It is too early for me to have specific expectations. I haven’t had any conversations about their scripts, and even if I did, screenplays do not define a film adequately. I do believe all three are exceptionally intelligent and skilled filmmakers, and I can only hope they will do a good job. I prefer not to have explicit expectations until the films are completed and I get to watch them.