Mrinal Sen’s Phalke cert, rare stills, personal letters find permanent home in Kolkata

Kolkata: Mrinal Sen's Dadasaheb Phalke certificate and the original script of his aborted film ‘Bhubaneswari', along with Geeta Sen's voter ID card and even her vermilion box, have found a new home in the city. On Sunday, Sen's Chicago-based son and daughter-in-law donated the memorabilia along with some other treasure troves to the Jibansmriti Archive for preservation. The premises of Anya Theatre Bhaban in Karunamoyee, Salt Lake, have officially been offered to house a specialized archive. This development is an initiative by the Jibansmriti Archive, in close collaboration with Anya Theatre. "It is my privilege that the remnants of a life lived in art are finding a permanent home at ‘Mrinal-Manjusha' that we have created in this space," said Arindam Saha Sardar, the archive's curator. On Sunday, Sardar received these donations from Kunal Sen and Nisha Ruparel Sen. "I visited the Padmapukur residence where Mrinal Sen once lived and collected around 100 memorabilia. It is my privilege to receive these priceless items from Kunal-da and Nisha-di. Kunal-da is also an advisor to the archive," Sardar said.
The donated materials for the Geeta Sen Collection include domestic and personal belongings such as a traditional nutcracker (jati), her vermilion box (sindur-kouto), a vintage tobacco (zarda) container, a shawl, personal jewelry, and her voter ID card. The collection also contains her Lux Trophy for Best Supporting Actress for ‘Khandahar', along with a major body of writing: 34 notebooks and diaries filled with handwritten thoughts and letters.The Mrinal Sen donations include the original Dadasaheb Phalke certificate, corrected proof pages of his autobiography ‘Tritiyo Bhuban' with his edits, and original scripts for the unfinished film ‘Bhubaneswari'. Also included are a personal letter from Mrinal Sen to Geeta Sen about the international reception of ‘Calcutta 71', rare film stills, photographs taken by Mrinal Sen during his trip to China, and a letter from Surama Ghatak to Geeta Sen written for Mrinal Sen's birthday.Recently, Kunal had taken to the media to share photos of this old letter that the master filmmaker had written from Venice. In 1972, 'Calcutta 71' was part of the main selection at Venice Film Festival. Kunal's FB post had mentioned that the letter reveals "his newness to international attention, his vulnerabilities, his financial uncertainties, and him as a family person". "While all these items are special, my personal favourite are the diaries of Geetadi and this six-page letter Mrinal Sen wrote to her," Sardar said.