Legendary Bengali filmmaker Mrinal Sen passes away

Kolkata: The Padma Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee, Mrinal Sen (95), took his last breath at around 10:30 am today, at his home in Bhawanipore, Kolkata.

Born on May 14, 1923, to a Hindu family in Faridpur, now in Bangladesh, Mrinal moved to Kolkata to study physics, but turned to film-making after reading a book on film aesthetics.

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Mrinal Sen made his debut as a filmmaker with 'Raat Bhore' in 1955 and is well known for films like 'Neel Akasher Neechey', 'Baishey Sravan', 'Bhuvan Shome' and 'Akaler Sandhane'.

He, along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, was considered to be the greatest ambassador of Bengali parallel cinema and had given many masterpieces like ‘Ek Din Achanak’, ‘Bhuvan Shome’, ‘Padatik’, 'Calcutta 71' and ‘Mrigayaa’, and many others.

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He was awarded with India's third highest civilian award 'Padma Bhushan' in 1983.

He also received the country's highest film honour, the 'Dadasaheb Phalke' Award in 2005 and many National awards for his extra-ordinary work in film-making.

President Ram Nath Kovind called his death a loss to the world of cinema.

"Sad to learn of the passing of acclaimed film-maker Mrinal Sen. From Bhuvan Shome to the Calcutta trilogy, his penetrating and sensitive portrayal of social realities made him a fine chronicler of our times. A loss to Bengal, to India and to the world of cinema."

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also condoled his demise.

"Saddened at the passing away of Mrinal Sen. A great loss to the film industry. My condolences to his family."

CPI secretary general Sitaram Yechury also extended his deepest condolences and remembered the filmmaker for his humanistic narrative.

"Mrinal Sen’s passing away is a big loss not only to Cinema but to the world of Culture & India's civilization values. Mrinal da radicalized Cinematography by his people-centric humanistic narrative. Deepest condolences."

The Bengali film industry also mourned the loss of the illustrious director. Popular actor Parambrata Chatterjee tweeted, "End of an era... an epoch... legends never die... bhalo thakben (stay well)."