Ek Din Pratidin
A film by Mirnal Sen
1979 / Bengali / Col
/ 91 mins
3rd August
2014; 5.45pm ; Prks Mini Theater
http://konangalfilmsociety.blogspot.in/
The opening shot of Ek Din Pratidin is of a rickshaw passing
through the narrow alley of a deserted residential street, framed between the
discolored, weather-beaten walls of a pair of dilapidated boarding houses. This
curious image of decaying structure and narrowed field of view proves to be an
incisive preface to the claustrophobia, entrenched social class, and
inescapable scrutiny that befalls a middle-class family when the family's sole
wage earner, the eldest daughter Chinu (Mamata Shankar), fails to come home
from work at the usual hour.
When late afternoon turns to evening and Chinu has still not
returned home, the parents' reactions to Chinu's unexplained absence begin to
betray the underlying social rigidity and cultural myopia that has trapped them
in their present circumstances.
Despite the family's attempt to keep Chinu's
absence a private matter, her disappearance soon becomes the main topic of
conversation (and conjectural gossip) among the prying neighbors, polarizing
their opinions within the spectrum of those who see the situation as the
intrinsic folly and lamentable consequence of women's independence and others
who recognize the hypocrisy innate in the family's financial dependency on the
young, unmarried woman and their ingrained, patriarchal expectations of her
continued subservience.
The mise en scène and camerawork of the film reinforce this
hierarchical relationship. The film’s
plot covers only one night. Though only 91 minutes in length Ek Din Pratidin is
a powerful film, developing a melodramatic situation, fraught with perils for
the characters.
Yet it also encourages the audience to step back and consider
the economic and cultural forces that develop the melodrama in a particular
way. Sen beautifully subverts this type of story and situation, but allows the
audience to both involve themselves in that story whilst [possibly] considering
and understanding its position in the larger social scheme.
(Source : Internet – excerpts from Strictly Film School and
other reviews)
MIRNAL SEN
Mrinal Sen was born on May 14, 1923, in the town of
Faridpur, now in Bangladesh. His interest in films started after he stumbled
upon a book on film aesthetics. He eventually took a job of an audio technician
in a Calcutta film studio, which was the beginning of his film carrier.
Mrinal Sen made his first feature film in 1953. His third
film, Baishey Shravan (Wedding Day) was his first film that gave him
international exposure. Mrinal Sen never stopped experimenting with his medium.
In his later films he tried to move away from the narrative structure and
worked with very thin story lines.
Mrinal Sen’s film have received awards from almost all major
film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Moscow, Karlovy Vary,
Montreal, Chicago, and Cairo. Retrospectives of his films have been shown in
almost all major cities of the world. Apart from his films, he has also
received a number of personal honors. He
received the Padma Bhushan, and in 2005 he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke
Award, the highest honor given to an Indian filmmaker, by the Government of
India. He was also an honorary Member of the Indian Parliament from 1998 to
2003. The French government awarded him the Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et
letters (Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters), the highest honor
conferred by the country. In 2001 The Russian government honored him with the
Order of Friendship. He has also received a number of honorary Doctorate
degrees from various universities.
No comments:
Post a Comment