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Bengali filmmaker Mrinal Sen dies at 95
Noted Bengali filmmaker and Padma Bhushan awardee Mrinal Sen has died at 95. He was known for movies like Bhuvan Shome and Mrigaya.
Legendary Bengali filmmaker and Padmabhushan awardee, Mrinal Sen has died in Kolkata; he was 95.
Sen breathed his last at his home in Bhawanipur, Kolkata on Sunday. His body will not be cremated until Sen’s son, Kunal Sen who lives in Chicago, arrives in Kolkata. Mrinal Sen told his family that after his death people should not place flowers and wreaths on his body and it should not be kept in a public place for people to pay their respects.
Eminent actors such as Saumitra Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee and Aparna Sen, director Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Anjan Dutta, all of whom worked with the director, expressed their grief. “I lost my guiding star today,” said Dhritiman Chatterjee. “An era came to an end,” said Saumitra Chatterjee.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted about his death. “Saddened at the passing away of Mrinal Sen. A great loss to the film industry. My condolences to his family,” she wrote in her tweet.
He was a noted moviemaker with several National Film Awards to his credit. He was known for movies like Baishe Sraban (Bengali, 1960), Bhuban Shome (Hindi, 1969), Mrigaya (Hindi, 1976), Oka Oori Katha (Tamil, 1977), Akaler Sandhane (Bengali, 1980), Kharij (Bengali, 1982) and Khandahar (Hindi, 1983).
A part of the famous trio of Bengali master auteurs that by large represented Indian New Wave cinema between 1950s and the 1970s – the two other being Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak – Sen is best known for the aesthetic and technical quality of films that generally delved on socio-political issues and often carried a political overtone.
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