He has left a great void: Aparna Sen

The passing of Mrinal Sen, whom I have known both as my parents’ friend, and as a filmmaker to be revered, has left a great void both in the arena of world cinema and on a much more personal level. One of the things I loved most about him, was the zest he had for life and the relish with which he made his films! The joy of the creator was so evident in films like

Bhuvan Shome

,

Akash Kusum

or even very serious subjects like

Ek Din Pratidin

,

Khandhar

, or Mahaprithibi, that it used to affect me as a spectator in ways that are difficult to explain. I think I have been influenced most of all by Mrinal Sen’s abitility and desire to continually reinvent himself. He was a serious filmmaker — the last of the greats — but like many great men, he never took himself too seriously. He infused everything he did with his lovely, warm sense of humour and had that rare quality — the ability to laugh at himself. His work was experimental and cinematic in the truest sense. Most importantly, his deep humanism expressed itself without ambiguity even in his most experimental works, and made him rank among the great international filmmakers. His passing has been an irretrievable loss but it is important, even as we mourn his passing, to celebrate his life and his work. That would be our greatest tribute to him.