Mrinal’s magic at work

Ranjan Das Gupta chats up the ace filmmaker whose Khandahar will be screened at the Cannes 

Mrinal Sen’s classic Khandahar has been selected for the classic section of the Cannes Film Festival. Dressed in casual white, Mrinal Sen sips a cup of black coffee at his modest South Kolkata residence and says, "Last year, the retrospective of my Calcutta Trilogy, Calcutta 71, Interview and Padatik at Cannes had to be cancelled as film prints were too poor. Cannes does not accept such low quality prints and video prints are not permitted at the festival. After the Prime Minister’s office ordered the I & B Ministry to restore prints of my films, a number of these have been successfully digitalised and dolbised. Khandahar is one of them and it will be shown at Cannes this time."

Jill Jacob, chairman of the Cannes Film Festival, has officially said it will be a pleasure to have Mrinal Sen at the auspicious film gathering after a long gap. In 1983, Khandahar was screened at the Cannes and received a standing ovation.

Remembers Mrinal Sen, "I wanted to move away from my usual political cinema to experiment with humanitarian values and emotions. Premendra Mitra’s Telena Pota Abishkar appealed very much to me for its straightforward theme with depths and emotions. I scripted and directed it as a cinematic challenge deviating from my usual line of filmmaking. I decided to direct it in Hindi as the story had strong potential to be filmed in the national language."

Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Pankaj Kapoor, Anu Kapoor, Geeta Dey and Sreela Majumdar were the main performers of Khandahar. Says Mrinal Sen, "Khandahar (The Ruins) was quite difficult a theme to be translated on to celluloid. The highlight of the film was the brilliant lighting by light wizard, Tapas Sen who created wonders during the shot of the bullock cart reaching the village and the lantern tied to it speaking for itself through various lights. Cinematographer K.K. Mahajan also conducted a brilliant job with his camera."

Khandahar is also remembered for some of the best close-up shots of Shabana Azmi by Naseeruddin Shah, who plays a professional photographer in the film. Says Mrinal Sen, "Naseer and Shabana are internationally acclaimed performers. I highly compliment Pankaj Kapoor for his brilliant cameo in Khandahar. Here is an actor who is a volcano never utilised properly in Hindi films."

With Khandahar, Mrinal Sen moved away from traditional forms of filmmaking like he did earlier with Bhuvan Shome and his Calcutta Trilogy. A bold and non-compromising director who dared to document the turbulent 1970s, by literally taking to the streets and lanes of Kolkata with his camera, shows his amazing versatility in Khandahar. Shyam Benegal and Govind Nihalani both describe the film as poetry on celluloid.

One cannot but ask Mrinal Sen about Naseeruddin Shah terming Khandahar as the most boring film he worked in.

Mrinal Sen smiles, "I think you should ask him why he felt so. Recently, he called me for some close-ups of Suhasini Mulay in Bhuvan Shome to be blown up for his maiden directional venture, Yun Hota To Kya Hota. I affectionately permitted him to do so and he was really apologetic about his earlier comments about my films."

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