Mrinal Sen: 10 things to know about legendary filmmaker who died today

Dadasaheb Phalke award-winning film director Mrinal Sen, the last of the triumvirate of directing icons, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, passed away on Sunday.

Mrinal Sen received the Padma Bhushan in 1981, the Dadasaheb Phalke -- the highest award in Indian cinema -- in 2005. Photo: AFP

NEW DELHI: Dadasaheb Phalke award-winning film director Mrinal Sen, the last of the triumvirate of directing icons, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, passed away on Sunday. He was 95. Sen, who was ailing for a long time, breathed his last at his Bhowanipore home around 10 a.m. after a cardiac arrest. His demise brings the curtains down on one of the most glorious chapters of filmmaking in India, where Sen and late directors Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak are revered as the 'trinity' for giving birth to the parallel (or new) cinema movement in the country. The "trinity" gave a new direction to the idea of filmmaking in India, displaying spontaneity, aesthetic sense and deep knowledge of the medium, that made the world look up in wonder and respect at their creations. 10 Things To Know About Mrinal Sen 1: Born on May 14, 1923, at Faridpur (now in Bangladesh), Sen made his first Bengali film "Rat Bhore" (The Dawn) in 1953, but it was his second directorial effort "Neel Akasher Niche" (Under the Blue Sky) that received acclaim in the country for its lyricism and humane qualities. 2: The iconic director who started the "new wave of Indian cinema" with "Bhuvan Shome", was one of the most acclaimed filmmakers to bring recognition to country's film industry on international platforms. His 1982 Bengali film "Kharij" won the jury prize at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival. 3: In a tribute to Sen, the Cannes Festival in 2010 screened his restored masterpiece "Kandahar" ("The Ruins") in their 'Cannes Classic' section, after it was restored frame by frame at the National Film Archives at Pune. 4: In a career spanning for more than six decades, Sen was one of the greatest ambassadors of parallel cinema directing films in both Bengali and Hindi. His trilogy - "Interview", "Calcutta 71" and "Padatik" - is considered to be a masterpiece for depicting the social and political upheaval in Kolkata in the '70s. 5: A lifelong Leftist, who, however, never took the membership of any communist party in India, Sen has left behind a rich repertoire of 27 feature films, 14 shorts and four documentaries during his career. 6: Among his other venerated films are "Interview" (1971), "Ek Adhuri Kahani" (An Unfinished Story, 1971), "Calcutta 71" (1972), "Chorus" (1974), "Mrigayaa" (in Hindi - The Royal Hunt, 1976), "Oka Oori Katha" (in Telugu - The Outsiders, 1977), "Ek Din Pratidin" (And Quiet Rolls the Dawn, 1979), "Akaler Sandhane" (In Search of Famine, 1980), "Chalchitra" (The Kaleidoscope, 1981), "Kharij" (The Case Is Closed, 1982), "Khandhar" (The Ruins, 1983), "Genesis" (1986), "Ek Din Achanak" (Suddenly, One Day, 1989). His last film "Aamaar Bhuvan" (This, My Land) came in 2002. 7: Widely feted, Sen received the Padma Bhushan in 1981, the Dadasaheb Phalke -- the highest award in Indian cinema -- in 2005, the French government's Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et letters (Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters) in 2001, and Order of Friendship from the Russian government in the same year. 8: He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1997 to 2003, and president of the International Federation of the Film Societies for some time. 9: Sen was a member of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and was chairman of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). 10: Respected across the globe, Sen served as a member of International Jury at various film festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Tokyo, Tehran, Mannheim, Nyon, Chicago, Ghent, Tunis and Oberhausen.