Filmmaker Mrinal Sen's masterpieces in very poor condition
Kolkata, March 15: A mini retrospective of iconic film-maker Mrinal Sen at the prestigious Cannes film festival has fallen through after it was found that most of his masterpieces were in extremely bad shape.
"The festival authorities had zeroed in on my Calcutta trilogy films on the situation in the 70s – namely Interview, Calcutta 71 and Padatik - for a mini retrospective, but the negatives were found to be in very bad shape," the Dadasaheb Phalke winning veteran director told reporters.

With one month to go before the festival, he said, there was little chance to salvage them.

"I am not going to Cannes this time," a disappointed Sen said. "Almost all my films are in bad or very bad condition as they were not preserved properly. What can I do? Perhaps my films will also fade away when I leave," he said.

Though he was informed about the situation six to seven months ago, nothing came about despite efforts by the director`s Chicago-based son Kunal and himself.

"We have selected a 12 film package which needs immediate attention for preservation. Talks are at a preliminary stage with premier foundations the world over for restoring them," Sen, a Padma Bhushan awardee in 1981, said.

In reply to a question, Sen said he did not feel the state-run archives would be able to incur the total expenses to fully restore all the damaged films.

The prints of Baishe Shraban , Akash Kusum, Bhuban Som, Mrigaya (debut film of Mithun Chakraborty), Oka Uri Katha (Telugu), Ekdin Pratidin, Akaler Sandhane, Kharij and Khandahar, made in the `60s and `70s were in an advanced state of decay and needed immediate attention, Sen said.

The prints of Chalchitra (Kaleidoscope), made in 1982, was untraceable. It was the debut film of Sen`s favourite actor Anjan Dutta and fetched an international award.

He had been told that internationally known film-maker and producer Martin Scorsese was interested in restoring Khandahar (Ruined Palace) which was named as one of the best 10 films in the world in the Annual International Film Guide, one of the foremost chroniclers of leading films.

Speaking about his association with Cannes, the legendary director recalled he had been a regular visitor to the festival for 10 years since 1980 and was the first Indian to be on the jury in 1980.

Bureau Report