Montage

Mrinal Sen is one of the leading figures to carry Indian cinema to an international audience, and he has always regarded his life and films as part of the social and political fabric of his time. He was seen as the enfant terrible of Indian cinema when he emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. He is now known for films that catch moments of truth in the lives of ordinary people. His subtle, nuanced portraits of urban class tension, leftist politics and Calcutta itself, which he has called his El Dorado, distinguish his work from that of his contemporaries.

Montage spans fifty years of his filmmaking and is the first anthology of its kind. It collects his own writings, including memoirs, letters, and reflections on politics, literature, theatre and cinema. It also contains his critiques of contemporaries such as Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, and of inspirations such as Charlie Chaplin and many international filmmakers, particularly from Latin America. In-depth interviews with scholars and critics complete the volume.

The resulting montage shows both the filmmaker and the man, maps his creative world and offers useful insight into his films.