Contribution of Mrinal Sen in Indian Socio – Political Cinema; A Study of Sen’s Major Socio- Political Films
Pages : 32-37Download PDF
Film is a device that gives platform for reflecting contemporary social issues and it also works as watchdog for political system. Indian cinema has been, since long, a strong medium to portray and comment on social issues of its respective times. Although politics and social issues go hand in hand, Indian Cinema has been, though not as a rule, seen to ignore the politics largely. History of Indian politics has always been dramatic in nature and it seems to be following the same path in present too. In spite of this, there’s a strong disconnect between the filmmakers and the continuously ongoing political drama. Mrinal Sen was one filmmaker among very few others, who has fearlessly addressed social issues and their entanglement with the contemporary politics. This paper, mainly, will study the socio-political approach of Mrinal Sen’s filmmaking with some of his films like Calcutta Trilogy (1970 to 1973), Chorus (1974), Ek Din Pratidin (1979) and their relation with contemporary socio-political situations in Bengal. This study will not be limited for his subjects but it will go in deep for his characterization and situations chosen to comment on contemporary socio political issues. It also explains the connections of Mrinal Sen’s social and political ideologies with his cinema. Indian Cinema has seen a number of renowned filmmakers who have addressed social issues in their films under the tag of ‘art cinema’ but they rarely seem to make any comment on the political aspect. Mrinal Sen stands out in the league of his contemporaries as far as his approach towards the concept and style of film making is concerned and therefore, it becomes important to study his contribution to what we can call-‘Indian socio-political cinema’.
Keywords: Indian Socio – Political Cinema, Mrinal Sen, Indian Cinema etc.