BSA celebrates 100th birth anniversary of Mrinal Sen

Commemorating the 100th birth anniversary of the legendary filmmaker, Mrinal Sen, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) and Chalachitram Film Society organised the six-day long event titled "Mrinal Sen Retrospective" at BSA.

The event kicked off yesterday, May 14, and will run till May 19. Each day, the celebration will remember the legendary director by screening some of his most noted films. On the day of the inauguration, the audience got to enjoy Mrinal Sen's "Bhuvan Shome".

Noted film director Morshedul Islam attended the event as the chief guest. Moreover, noted filmmakers Manzare Hassin Murad and Salauddin Zaki were invited as special guests.

Representing BSA, Mashud Sumon of the Department of Drama and Film, shared, "We could not celebrate Satyajit Ray's birth centenary due to COVID-19 situation. However, we are quite overjoyed to celebrate Mrinal Sen's birth centenary. Murad bhai has told me just how much they have toiled to gather these twelve films for this event."

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Afterwards, noted filmmaker Manzare Hassin Murad took the stage, sharing his insight into the life and work of the legendary director. He shared, "Mrinal Sen might be counted amongst the three legendary directors alongside Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, but individually they were very different from each other. Coincidentally, these three great filmmakers were born in the same era and all worked in Kolkata."

Manzare Hassin Murad during his speech at the event.

He continued, "To me it seemed that Mrinal Sen used his films as a medium to bring forth social change. He truly thought and believed in this cause, which is a big part of his strength. Moreover, if you look at the female characters in Mrinal Sen's projects, you will notice a subtle balance between vulnerability and strength. No, he was not a feminist, but his respect for women came from his instinct."

Adding to this, Morshedul Islam said, "I have had the opportunity develop a close friendship with Mrinal Sen. It happened after meeting in an international film society event. Whenever he came to Bangladesh, he would always come over had eat my wife's homemade cooking."

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"Mrinal Sen is a son of this land, just like all of us. We have put in much effort to celebrate Mrinal Sen's 100th birth anniversary through his films. It was a difficult task to gather them, as the rights over the films were spread amongst various entities," finished Morshedul Islam.

Finally, noted filmmaker Syed Salahuddin Zaki added, "I interviewed Mrinal Sen once. Everyone knows that he was a student of physics. However, he always said that there is more to physics then just the scientific formulas. Do not use the postmodern approach to cut apart and then make something out of the remains—bring your creativity out from within yourself."

According to the organisers of the event, the audience will get to see Mrinal Sen's "Calcutta 71" and "Interview" tomorrow. Also, the audience will get to enjoy the first episode a documentary film on the legendary director tilted, "Celebrating Mrinal Sen".