Mrinal Sen

Drawing the history of the Indian talkie, starting with Alam Ara in 1931, this documentary short provides a cross-section of viewpoints from luminaries of the film industry, which give some insight into the contemporary commercial cinema and the parallel stream.

While Northern India’s 100-year-old film industry is best known for flamboyant dance sequences and romantic plot lines, its directors have begun to step outside established formulas and explore grittier subject matter. This program surveys the world of Bollywood filmmaking, examining the personalities as well as the commercial and thematic concerns that drive central Asia’s answer to Tinseltown. Interviews with directors Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker, and Yash Chopra are included, along with commentary from choreographers, musical directors, and Cinemaya Magazine editor Aruna Vasudev. The industry’s newfound attention to poverty, homelessness, and other social concerns is examined. Several film excerpts are included.

A young man still to find a place in the sun puts up an innocent bluff to a young girl he chances upon. They meet frequently since then. Bluffs continue to pile up. There is no way out. In a desperate bid the young man tries to break the wealth barrier. His friend, well placed in life, cautions him. He turns a deaf ear. The inevitable happens. The young man grows wiser but pays heavily for it.

A farmer and a weaver who have both been liberated from enslavement struggle to survive in an arid, desert landscape. To secure basic necessities, they cast their lot with a merchant, who is a man of suspicious intent but provides for them nonetheless. Things change dramatically, however, when their camp is visited by a woman.

The mistress of a wealthy man, alone in her huge apartment and terribly lonely, phones strangers in the middle of the night. One night she phones a young writer, and as the days pass and the conversations continue a relationship forms between two people who've never seen each other.

A kaleidoscopic panorama of the world. A visual anthology of twelve short stories by twelve innovative directors from all over the world.

A young man still to find a place in the sun puts up an innocent bluff to a young girl he chances upon. They meet frequently since then. Bluffs continue to pile up. There is no way out. In a desperate bid the young man tries to break the wealth barrier. His friend, well placed in life, cautions him. He turns a deaf ear. The inevitable happens. The young man grows wiser but pays heavily for it.

A young man still to find a place in the sun puts up an innocent bluff to a young girl he chances upon. They meet frequently since then. Bluffs continue to pile up. There is no way out. In a desperate bid the young man tries to break the wealth barrier. His friend, well placed in life, cautions him. He turns a deaf ear. The inevitable happens. The young man grows wiser but pays heavily for it.

A farmer and a weaver who have both been liberated from enslavement struggle to survive in an arid, desert landscape. To secure basic necessities, they cast their lot with a merchant, who is a man of suspicious intent but provides for them nonetheless. Things change dramatically, however, when their camp is visited by a woman.

A farmer and a weaver who have both been liberated from enslavement struggle to survive in an arid, desert landscape. To secure basic necessities, they cast their lot with a merchant, who is a man of suspicious intent but provides for them nonetheless. Things change dramatically, however, when their camp is visited by a woman.

The mistress of a wealthy man, alone in her huge apartment and terribly lonely, phones strangers in the middle of the night. One night she phones a young writer, and as the days pass and the conversations continue a relationship forms between two people who've never seen each other.

The mistress of a wealthy man, alone in her huge apartment and terribly lonely, phones strangers in the middle of the night. One night she phones a young writer, and as the days pass and the conversations continue a relationship forms between two people who've never seen each other.

A kaleidoscopic panorama of the world. A visual anthology of twelve short stories by twelve innovative directors from all over the world.

The spirit of a condemned 20-year-old student wanders through time, linking together four stories of people struggling for survival in this gritty meditation on poverty, natural disaster and political strife in India. A middle-class family's home is no match for the monsoons, while another clan's morality is compromised when famine strikes. Young boys smuggle rice, and politicians pity the poor while living in the lap of luxury.

The spirit of a condemned 20-year-old student wanders through time, linking together four stories of people struggling for survival in this gritty meditation on poverty, natural disaster and political strife in India. A middle-class family's home is no match for the monsoons, while another clan's morality is compromised when famine strikes. Young boys smuggle rice, and politicians pity the poor while living in the lap of luxury.

Difficulties erupt between a couple when their relationship gets hit by societal pressures, norms, and deep-rooted patriarchy.

Difficulties erupt between a couple when their relationship gets hit by societal pressures, norms, and deep-rooted patriarchy.

Difficulties erupt between a couple when their relationship gets hit by societal pressures, norms, and deep-rooted patriarchy.

Bhuvan Shome is a lonely widower, a proud old man and a strict disciplinarian. Looking back on the trodden path, strewn with staunch determination and drab attitudes, Bhuvan Shome, a thoroughly unenchanted man, seeks escape in a holiday.

Bhuvan Shome is a lonely widower, a proud old man and a strict disciplinarian. Looking back on the trodden path, strewn with staunch determination and drab attitudes, Bhuvan Shome, a thoroughly unenchanted man, seeks escape in a holiday.

Bhuvan Shome is a lonely widower, a proud old man and a strict disciplinarian. Looking back on the trodden path, strewn with staunch determination and drab attitudes, Bhuvan Shome, a thoroughly unenchanted man, seeks escape in a holiday.

Shasanka is a retired teacher who lives with his wife and two daughters. The family is thrown into an uproar after he goes out for a walk and disappears from their lives. Each member of the family reviews her final hours and days with him to try and discover what, if anything led to his disappearance.

Shasanka is a retired teacher who lives with his wife and two daughters. The family is thrown into an uproar after he goes out for a walk and disappears from their lives. Each member of the family reviews her final hours and days with him to try and discover what, if anything led to his disappearance.

Subhash is a photographer from the city, who has come to take pictures of some old temples and ruins in a village. Ruins fascinate him. While in the village, he gets acquainted with a young woman, Jamini, who has had her heart broken in the past, by another visitor from the big city. Will history repeat itself, or will she find a way out of the ruins at last?

Subhash is a photographer from the city, who has come to take pictures of some old temples and ruins in a village. Ruins fascinate him. While in the village, he gets acquainted with a young woman, Jamini, who has had her heart broken in the past, by another visitor from the big city. Will history repeat itself, or will she find a way out of the ruins at last?

A young, idealistic director arrives in a village to make a picture set during the Great Bengal Famine. It’s a film that he hopes will reveal the problems and privations still current in rural India.

A young, idealistic director arrives in a village to make a picture set during the Great Bengal Famine. It’s a film that he hopes will reveal the problems and privations still current in rural India.

The bread-winning daughter in a middle-class family fails to return from work one evening. The saga begins with worries at home, followed by midnight searches and finally a deepening crisis arising out of economic and moral constraints prevalent in the society. Yet the film speaks of hope and of strength hidden behind despair.

The bread-winning daughter in a middle-class family fails to return from work one evening. The saga begins with worries at home, followed by midnight searches and finally a deepening crisis arising out of economic and moral constraints prevalent in the society. Yet the film speaks of hope and of strength hidden behind despair.

The 'Century of Cinema' is an 18-part series produced by the British Film Institute to celebrate 100 years of cinema. The series includes films directed by Scorsese, Oshima, Godard, among others. Mrinal Sen directed the Indian chapter of the series.

When the elderly mother of a Kolkata middle-class family commits suicide, no one has the courage to read the old woman's diary. When the eldest son returns from Germany, his anxious questioning brings to light the disorientation experienced by the family and the way world history penetrates into the fabric of individual lives.

When the elderly mother of a Kolkata middle-class family commits suicide, no one has the courage to read the old woman's diary. When the eldest son returns from Germany, his anxious questioning brings to light the disorientation experienced by the family and the way world history penetrates into the fabric of individual lives.

Deeply influenced by leftist ideology, this film dealt with social and political themes: A poor village boy's hazardous experience in a rich urban family.

Deeply influenced by leftist ideology, this film dealt with social and political themes: A poor village boy's hazardous experience in a rich urban family.

Subrata joins his father's business that he quits due to ideological differences. What awaits his fate now?

Set in the turbulent 1930s, this is the story of a poor Chinese hawker selling his merchandise, Chinese silk, in the streets of Calcutta. This was the time when China was repulsing a brutal attack of militarist Japan and when an outraged Rabindranath Tagore wrote to his friend in Japan, the great poet Noguchi: “I wish your countrymen, whom I love so much, not success but remorse”. This film holds the dubious distinction of being the first to be banned (though temporarily) in independent India.

Set in the turbulent 1930s, this is the story of a poor Chinese hawker selling his merchandise, Chinese silk, in the streets of Calcutta. This was the time when China was repulsing a brutal attack of militarist Japan and when an outraged Rabindranath Tagore wrote to his friend in Japan, the great poet Noguchi: “I wish your countrymen, whom I love so much, not success but remorse”. This film holds the dubious distinction of being the first to be banned (though temporarily) in independent India.

‘Joradighir Choudhury Paribar’ is the story of landlords, their ego, love and revenge. Despite ancestral differences, the Choudhury family’s landlord and Indrani, the landlady of Raktadaha decide to get married. But circumstances for him to marry Banamala to save her from Parantap Roy. Roy marries Indrani to take revenge against Jora Dighi. Misunderstanding turns lovers into enemies leading to their fatal end.

A British administrator with a flair for game hunting develops a friendship with a commoner who is an expert archer in an Indian village. The movie portrays the relationship between the British colonialists, and native villagers who were exploited by Indian landlords in 1920s India. This happens against the backdrop of the awakening of the Indian people against the British rule.

A small company advertises for 100 vacancies and 30,000 apply. The applicants are all from the ranks of the poor and there is a virtual riot. Everyone around is seeking for opportunities. Among them are the applicants who desperately need the job, the photographer who is busy seeking a scoop, the village moneylender who is busy exploiting the poor, the ineffective police, the employers who are advertising posts even while a six month old strike has nearly caused the workmen to become destitute. It is a story of society captured in a tiny framework of a small business. Ultimately, the workmen, the unemployed and the farmers all get to gether to protest against this exploitation.

A small company advertises for 100 vacancies and 30,000 apply. The applicants are all from the ranks of the poor and there is a virtual riot. Everyone around is seeking for opportunities. Among them are the applicants who desperately need the job, the photographer who is busy seeking a scoop, the village moneylender who is busy exploiting the poor, the ineffective police, the employers who are advertising posts even while a six month old strike has nearly caused the workmen to become destitute. It is a story of society captured in a tiny framework of a small business. Ultimately, the workmen, the unemployed and the farmers all get to gether to protest against this exploitation.

A British administrator with a flair for game hunting develops a friendship with a commoner who is an expert archer in an Indian village. The movie portrays the relationship between the British colonialists, and native villagers who were exploited by Indian landlords in 1920s India. This happens against the backdrop of the awakening of the Indian people against the British rule.

A small company advertises for 100 vacancies and 30,000 apply. The applicants are all from the ranks of the poor and there is a virtual riot. Everyone around is seeking for opportunities. Among them are the applicants who desperately need the job, the photographer who is busy seeking a scoop, the village moneylender who is busy exploiting the poor, the ineffective police, the employers who are advertising posts even while a six month old strike has nearly caused the workmen to become destitute. It is a story of society captured in a tiny framework of a small business. Ultimately, the workmen, the unemployed and the farmers all get to gether to protest against this exploitation.

A pre-teen servant boy dies of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning on a cold winter night in the kitchen. The household is suddenly plunged into psychological turmoil, torn between guilt and fear of a police investigation and the resulting scandal. As events unfold, the employer and his wife reveal their petty, hypocritical selves.

A pre-teen servant boy dies of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning on a cold winter night in the kitchen. The household is suddenly plunged into psychological turmoil, torn between guilt and fear of a police investigation and the resulting scandal. As events unfold, the employer and his wife reveal their petty, hypocritical selves.

A father living on the fringes of a village believes that working is a fool's errand, for the lord takes what little the workers make. When a young woman enters their home, tensions begin to rise and their idle life is threatened. The film is based on the story ‘Kafan’ by Munshi Premchand