The New Nation - Internet Edition

Entertainment Desk

Award winning filmmaker Mrinal Sen of Bhuvan Shome, Ek Din Achanak and Mrigaya fame turned 85 on Tuesday, an event marked by a special screening of a documentary on him by his protégé, but the director says "birthdays are nothing special". "I am one year younger than what I will be next year," Sen said. "Birthdays are nothing special except that I am very busy at the moment. And I haven't really planned anything. "Today's nothing important. It has been happening every year."

A documentary on the filmmaker, With Mrinal Sen, made by one of his students, cinematographer Sanjay Bhattacharya, will be screened at the Gorky Sadan in Kolkata as part of his birthday celebrations, along with his national award winning movie Ek Din Achanak. The filmmaker will be present at the screening with a host of Bengali theatre and screen personalities and senior Left Front leaders.

Mrinal Sen was born in 1923 in Faridpur district of what is now Bangladesh. After finishing his school there, he went to Kolkata to study physics. As a student, he joined the cultural wing of the Communist Party. Though he never dabbled in active Left politics, his association with the Indian People's Theatre Association brought him close to the Left top brass.

Sen made his first feature film in 1953. It was soon forgotten. His next film, Neel Akasher Nichey (Under The Blue Sky), earned him countrywide acclaim and his third venture, Baishey Shravan (22nd day in the month of Shravan) saw Sen on the global cinemascope.