Mrinal Sen: An inspiration for new-age directors

Creations of the maestro are working wonders years after they were conceptualized. Priyanka Dasgupta takes a look at how the Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner inspires the new-age directors...
Ten years ago when Dhritiman Chaterji sent Mrinal Sen an e-mail on the latter���������s 80th birthday, the actor of Interview and Padatik got a reply from the master director saying: ���������When you have crossed 50, don���������t mention your age.If people ask you, just say you are one year older than what you were last year. So on his 90th birthday on Monday, Sen remains quintessentially forever young. Ten years have passed since he last went behind the camera to direct Amar Bhuvan. Yet today, when one examines Indian cinema, especially contemporary movies made with an independent spirit, many feel that he is stylistically one of the major influences for those who are poised to change the language of visual narratives.
If Srijit Mukherjee shared Sen���������s title of Baishe Srabon for his movie, Mainak Bhaumik is more direct about expressing his stylistic Sen parallels. ���������One can call it a steal or a homage. He is the one who made me want to become a filmmaker. From Bhuvan Shome to Interview, from Ek Din Pratidin to Akaler Sandhaney - there is so much he has done that we directors are trying to incorporate in our cinema. Today what is being described as new-age Facebook generation of Indian filmmaking is directly inspired by his work. Way back in the 60s, the word cool didn���������t exist. But if it did, one would have to say that it's Sen who introduced the language of cool in Indian cinema,��������� Bhaumik says.
To explain his own influence, he points at how he has stolen from ���������AS��������� while making Bedroom. ���������There is this section where I have interviews of Rahul talking to the camera and then someone says cut, cut, cut and I just break out. That's a direct lift from ���������AS���������. Even the major fight scenes between Rahul and Parno are indirectly influenced by Sen, in the sense that I wanted to make fights very ugly, brutal and hence, very real. Sen is a true film scientist who truly experimented with style. Many of us are doing what he has done some 40 years ago. Even the way Anurag Kashyap presents a gritty reality of life as it is without romanticising reflects Sen's style. So is Dibakar Banerjees style of presenting Delhi in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, that���������s starkly different from Rang De Basanti or a Delhi-6's way of presenting the city. The way Amit Roy uses his unconventional camera angles are in Ram Gopal Varma���������s Sarkar seems to have a subconscious Sen inspiration,��������� Bhaumik adds.
Though Roy, himself, doesn���������t agree about any conscious Sen influences, he now wants to re-examine his own works and that of Sen's to find if there are any parallels.
Sreela Majumder, who acted in six of Sen movies, says that she noticed influences of ���������AS��������� in Peepli Live. ���������Directly or indirectly, one does see resonances of his cinema in contemporary Indian movies. The use of a famine as a backdrop in ���������PL���������, the treatment of satire, political questioning and the presence of villagers both simple and not-so-simple have echoes of our ���������AS���������,��������� Majumder says.
Mamata Shankar, another Sen favourite, also agrees. ���������Both Mrinal-da and my father, Uday Shankar, have been visionaries. Being far-sighted, whatever they did decades ago were much ahead of the times. People might not have understood their works when they did it but today, the world is discovering them. My only regret is that these people never flaunted their own achievements and maintained a low-keyed existence. Sometimes when today's directors try out techniques that Mrinal-da used some 40 years ago, there are people who say wow and also attribute these stylistic devices as discoveries of these filmmakers. I���������d be glad if these directors who are influenced by Mrinal-da acknowledged their inspiration in public.���������
Incidentally, director Debanik Kundu, whose Abhiman starring Aprita and Parambrata Chatterjee is all set for a June 8 release, has a direct reference to the story of Ek Din Pratidin. Kundu���������s movie deals with the plight of a married lady who doesn���������t return home one night.
���������Of course, there is a parallel with Ek Din Pratidin where a girl doesn���������t return home one night because she misses the last bus. The society hasn���������t changed much since Sen explored this issue in 1979. Today a woman can return home at midnight and again leave at four in the morning. But if she doesn't return home without informing anyone between midnight and dawn, questions will be raised just the way they were about the credibility of the lady who was raped in the recent Park Street incident.��������� Shankar, who played the role of the missing girl in ���������EP���������, is keen to watch Abhiman. ���������I am intrigued and want to watch the movie,��������� she says.
However, Dhritiman Chaterji says while coincidences may remain, there is a doubt over how many of today's directors actually watch Mrinal Sen's movies that closely to be inspired. ���������Certainly Mrinal-da was technically innovative and was the first in Indian cinema to use an unconventional narrative pattern. These devices (read hand held camera ) are products of technology. In his time, Mrinal Sen must have also been influenced by European films, especially the French new wave cinema. I don���������t think the stylistic devices used by today���������s makers are direct influences of Sen. If people are getting ecstatic about the use of certain devices in contemporary cinema, they must know that a lot of the stuff has already existed.���������
Suhasini Mulay, who made her debut in Bhuvan Shome, agrees with Chaterji saying, ���������Camera angles and using the city as a character in the film cant be attributed as Sen's influences. Rather, the way he approached cinema is something that many of today���������s filmmakers have. He was very organized and efficient and yet was open to suggestions. That's something I find in today���������s directors too.���������
Nandita Das, who acted in Amar Bhuvan with Sen, says more than exact stylistic elements, it is Sen's way of leading his life that has been an influence on her and her peers. ���������He is one of the last of the Mohicans. When he made movies, everything was about good cinema and bad cinema. That���������s what we see happening in today���������s cinema too. The way he looked at stories, told them and chose the characters brought a different sensitivity to cinema. He never takes himself seriously even while being seriously engaged enough with the world. His work, life and values are in complete sync with each other. This quality influences his works too. My Firaaq doesn���������t have any conscious influence of his style but as a director and a human being, I try to imbibe this philosophy. But what worries Das is that no DVD of Sen���������s last movie, Amar Bhuvan, is available. That���������s sad and I wish the film was re-released now. We can���������t even get a DVD. At his age, we can���������t expect him to ensure that it���������s available. But I wish something was done. Much like my father, Jatin Das, Mrinal-da too is a person who is interested in the journey more than the outcome. That's what keeps them going.��������� May the journey continue.