Always Being Born: A Memoir
Mrinal Sen, a towering presence in world cinema, opens up about his unlikely journey from accident to artistry. 'I became a filmmaker by chance and a writer out of necessity,' he reflects, recounting how he helped shape Bengali film alongside Ray and Ghatak during the pivotal 1950s and '60s. His work bristled with defiance. A fierce political conscience and socialist conviction fuelled every frame, turning his camera into an instrument of social critique. Across his prolific career, Sen's films grappled with human fragility and injustice in all its forms, wrestling with poverty, sectarian violence, and systemic cruelty. This memoir captures the reflections of an artist who transformed cinema into a language for speaking truth to power. He revisits encounters with cinema's great figures, traces his creative impulses, and returns repeatedly to Calcutta, a city that haunted and inspired him. What emerges is the portrait of an uncompromising visionary, forever pushing back against the forces that crushed others, yet refusing to surrender or fade away.
- Author: Mrinal Sen
- Publisher: Seagull Books
- Genre: Architecture
- ISBN: 978-1803091761
- Pages: 341 pages