Mrinal Sen’s son remembers his Soumitra Kaka

It’s almost a month he has left us yet Soumitra Chattopadhyay’s absence can be felt everywhere, at least for those who had known him for years and were also close to the iconic figure. Mrinal Sen’s son Kunal Sen is no exception as well.
“I grew up calling him Soumitra kaka. In my childhood we were almost next-door neighbors when they moved to their flat in our narrow blind street in Monoharpukur Road, which my uncle found for them. They were a young couple then – Soumitra kaka and Deepa kakima. I saw them several times a week in our living room. I still remember when they bought their first car, a white Ambassador with a WBG license plate, I got my very first ride in a brand "new" car. That was in the early 1960s,” recalls Kunal.
He further adds with a heavy heart: “As they moved out of our neighborhood the contact between our families got less frequent, except during the polarizing struggles within the film industry in 1968-69, when the entire Calcutta film industry was split into two political factions, and Soumitra kaka was the most recognizable face on the left side of this split, while Uttam Kumar was the face of the establishment wing. Ours was the main gathering place of the movement, and I saw him again every single day.”
Kunal also remembers the last time he met Soumitra Chattopadhyay. “It was probably ten years ago. I was visiting Calcutta and I went to a film function with my father. Soumitra kaka was also there and came over to talk to my father. At one point I tried to remind him who I was, but he could not hear, and obviously could not connect the young boy he knew so well with this bald oldish man. It was a crowded place, and I quickly dropped the matter. That day I did not know I will not see him again, or else I would have tried a little harder to make the connection,” he regrets.
Soumitra who passed away on November 15 worked with the master filmmaker Mrinal Sen in critically acclaimed films like ‘Akash Kusum’, ‘Pratinidhi’ and ‘Punascha’.