It’s unfortunate that forty years on, Akaler Sandhane is as relevant and timely as it was, back when it released. The villagers have wider access to transportation, food and mobile phones. But the lack of awareness, cultural understanding and opportunities remains consistent. Films like these must get made today. We need more honest filmmakers like Mrinal Sen in these times to reveal our truth. Because if art doesn’t, no one will.
Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) introduced one of the most iconic characters of Cinema in the form of Travis Bickle, played brilliantly by the great Robert De Niro. An alienated anti-hero for…
Padatik (The Guerilla Fighter aka The Foot Soldier, 1973) is the final part in Mrinal Sen’s ‘Calcutta Trilogy’: movies that captured the tempestuous sociopolitical conflicts in a rapidly changing urban space. Though…
My introduction to the works of Mrinal Sen occurred late. Unlike the movies of Ray and Ghatak that I had grown up watching and revisiting, I started watching Sen’s movies like an…
Satyajit Ray’s oeuvre of works has focused primarily upon characters: strong, vulnerable protagonists, with traits that are relatable and universal. Yet, there is one aspect that has often been overlooked, with respect…