{"id":7557,"date":"2023-06-10T10:31:05","date_gmt":"2023-06-10T05:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=7557"},"modified":"2023-06-10T10:31:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-10T05:01:05","slug":"mrinal-sen-a-journey-through-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/mrinal-sen-a-journey-through-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Mrinal Sen \u2014 A Journey Through Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9ZF_ptYt-3U\" width=\"100%\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Even though Mrinal Sen&#8217;s film career started with\u00a0<i>Raatbhore\u00a0<\/i>in 1955 and ended with\u00a0<i>Amaar Bhuvan<\/i>\u00a0in 2002, his creative excellence reached its zenith in the first three and a half decades, from the mid-&#8217;50s till the &#8217;80s. Inspecting closely, this career can be analysed into four phases, not based on decades but based on the genre and the moot temper of his films in these phases.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Phase 1 \u2013 Linear Narrative Phase (1955 \u2013 1964)<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>This coincides with the golden phase of Bengali cinema \u2013 the mid-\u201850s to late-\u201860s. However, while most of the prominent films of the times were based on literary sources, for Sen the lookout was always for a new language. Even if he was making films within the narrative structure during this phase, his sources were mostly minor writings. Two films that stand out in this phase are\u00a0<i>Baishe Sravana\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0<i>Punascha<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>The former was looking at the devastating Bengal famine of 1942-43 through the prism of decaying relation of a couple. Decay and ruin continued to be Sen\u2019s recurring motif in cinema, the seed of which was first planted in\u00a0<i>Baishe Sravana.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The latter was about an unmarried woman going out to work because her fianc\u00e9 was not earning sufficiently for the both of them &#8211; another first of its kind in Bengali cinema.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Phase 2 \u2013 Experimental beginnings (1965 \u2013 69)<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>This is the phase which first showed Sen\u2019s tryst with experimentation with form.\u00a0<i>Akash Kusum<\/i>\u00a0had a number of freeze frames and jump cuts \u2013 this is when he was visually been influenced by the French New Wave directors, mainly Godard. It was also Sen\u2019s first attempt at a polemical angle in criticizing how a young man\u2019s dreams were crushed by unemployment and inflation in the mid-60s.<\/p>\n<p>In 1969 three films \u2013\u00a0<i>Bhuvan Shome\u00a0<\/i>by Sen,\u00a0<i>Uski Roti\u00a0<\/i>by Mani Kaul and\u00a0<i>Sara Akash<\/i>\u00a0by Basu Chatterjee were considered the New Wave of Indian cinema.\u00a0<i>Bhuvan Shome<\/i>\u00a0is a satirical take on India\u2019s democracy. It has two very interesting aspects of Sen\u2019s later films \u2013 open-endedness and merging documentary shots within feature film narratives.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Phase 3 \u2013 Polemical Phase (Macro) (1970 \u2013 78)<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Sen\u2019s\u00a0<i>Calcutta Trilogy<\/i>\u00a0(<i>Interview, Calcutta 71<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i>Padatik<\/i>) is the highlight of this phase and here Sen had been harping time and again on the concept of poverty and how it degrades human beings \u2013 not only in the urban space but also in the rural villages.<\/p>\n<p>It is then that in a sense Sen was trying a new agitprop style akin to Third Cinema of Latin America. He was neither interested in the linear narrative style of his first phase, nor was he then bothered by a sort of authorship in cinema. Here filmmaking became chaotic, but inclusive. In <em>Interview<\/em> for example the distinction between reel and real is blurred purposefully with Ranjit Mallik speaking to the audience time and again.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Phase 4 \u2013 Introspection of the middle-class (Micro) (1979 \u2013 93)<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>The last one is Mrinal Sen\u2019s most interesting phase. The gimmicks of the third phase, the attempt at fusing documentary with fiction made way for the films made in this last phase of his creative life. In these films he looked deeper into the hypocrisies of the educated middleclass educated class. Unlike in\u00a0<i>Akash Kusum<\/i>\u00a0or\u00a0<i>Bhuvan Shome<\/i>\u00a0or even\u00a0<i>Padatik<\/i>, here Sen was whipping the middleclass for their pretense and double standards.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/retrospective\/mrinal-sen100\/\">Click\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/retrospective\/mrinal-sen100\/\">Mrinal Sen@100<\/a><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">for Critiques, Reviews, Interviews<\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2014 The Centenary Tribute Series<\/h2>\n<p><strong>More Must Reads in Silhouette<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/moviemaking-in-calcutta\/\"><strong>Moviemaking in Calcutta<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/neel-akasher-neeche-a-tale-of-humanism-amid-the-freedom-struggle\/\">Neel Akasher Neeche: A Tale of Humanism Amid the Freedom Struggle<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/big-city-and-the-middle-class-predicaments-in-mrinal-sens-films\/\">Big City and the Middle Class: Predicaments in Mrinal Sen\u2019s Films<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"'Kabhi Door Kabhi Paas': Exploring Distances\" href=\"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/kabhi-door-kabhi-paas-exploring-distances\/\"><strong>&#8216;Kabhi Door Kabhi Paas&#8217;: Exploring Distances<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"frame_area\"><iframe src=\"\/\/ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=IN&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=learcrea-21&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=IN&amp;placement=8193955501&amp;asins=8193955501&amp;linkId=9bc0354d0c0658b9eefefc7468bb6367&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe> <iframe src=\"\/\/ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=IN&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=learcrea-21&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=IN&amp;placement=8193955528&amp;asins=8193955528&amp;linkId=bb22301c0bdc58dd9bc15324bb8365b7&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe> <iframe src=\"\/\/ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=IN&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=learcrea-21&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=IN&amp;placement=8193955536&amp;asins=8193955536&amp;linkId=70f5f1faa64f7b7b0ef3e82383078aed&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe> <iframe src=\"\/\/ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=IN&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=learcrea-21&amp;language=en_IN&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=IN&amp;placement=819439211X&amp;asins=819439211X&amp;linkId=bd8edae9d99d2d46ad55b4a1c7086fba&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin\"><\/iframe> <iframe src=\"\/\/ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=IN&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=learcrea-21&amp;language=en_IN&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=IN&amp;placement=8195297846&amp;asins=8195297846&amp;linkId=9795e1f088c016a3ac211e5bce62c5ea&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin\"><\/iframe> <iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-in.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=IN&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=learcrea-21&amp;language=en_IN&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=IN&amp;placement=8195297838&amp;asins=8195297838&amp;linkId=5af7347a226a0360956563d74039d421&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" sandbox=\"allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><em>Silhouette<\/em> editor Amitava Nag talked about the different phases of Mrinal Sen&#8217;s journey through cinema in a discussion with Dr Neha Tiwari and Dr Vijay Sharma at the 125th symposium of Srijan Samvad, organised virtually on Sunday, 25 May 2023. <\/p>\n<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":944,"featured_media":7558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2416],"tags":[2417,893,2418,994,991],"class_list":["post-7557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mrinal-sen100","tag-moviemaking-by-mrinal-sen","tag-mrinal-sen","tag-mrinal-sen-centenary","tag-mrinal-sen-filmmaker","tag-mrinal-sens-films"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/944"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7557"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7562,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7557\/revisions\/7562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}