Why Was Srijit's Film Excluded from Indian Panorama at IFFI?

Mukherjee is among the top-ranking directors in contemporary Bengali cinema. He shoots different films almost simultaneously so that there are several releases under his directorial baton released within the same calendar year. He is also an extremely versatile director whose spans many genres ranging from historical fiction, re-interpreted and re-written remakes, thrillers, romances and so on.

He began his directorial journey in 2010 with Autograph, a reinterpreted version of Satyajit Ray’s Nayak still remembered not only for the masterful performance of Prosenjit but more importantly, for the magical songs and mood music the film was enriched with.

Though he has individually won five National Awards for his different contributions to Bengali cinema, Padatik till today, will be considered his best filmover his directorial career spanning 14 years. For the unitiated, Padatik is the name of a classic feature film made by Mrinal Sen himself in 1974. Srijit’s film has no link whatsoever with Mrinal Sen’s film though their titles are identical.

Srijit’s film traces the life of Mrinal Sen from boyhood till his death. The film opens with a partly fictionalised, Black-and-White clipping reiterating the huge processions following the passing away of Rabindranath Tagore when among the thronging crowds, a young man carrying the dead body of his infant baby, loses the baby in the stampede.

Tagore has no link with the film but it focusses on how the life of an ordinary man can get destroyed in a stampede gathered to pay their last respects to a great man.

Padatik means “foot soldier” a metaphorical title that suggests the unstable life of the runaway political rebel in Mrinal Sen’s original film forced to hide to escape police arrest. What kind of “foot soldier is he? Is he forced to keep running? Or has he chosen to keep running?

The answer to this is suggested towards the end of the film which leaves the question open for the audience to draw conclusions from. Srijit’s Padatik is a tribute to this great man who, in terms of his work as a filmmaker, had been a foot soldier all his life, never ever compromising to commercial demands even when there was no rice in the kitchen, with his wife, Gita, offering a strong pillar of support. Says Srijit of this film, “Actually interweaving the various aspects of Mrinal Sen’s life — his personal life, his upheavals, his work, his politics, Mrinal Sen as a father, as a husband, his relationship with his peers, his filmmaking style — all of it has been cooked together in the perfect proportion in Padatik. People are calling it my best film ever. It is very overwhelming.”

The latest news is that Srijit Mukherjee’s Padatik has been selected for special screening as Indian Panorama Feature Jury Recommends at the 55th International Film Festival of India, which will be held in Goa from Nov 20 to 28. The selection resolves the controversy regarding the film’s initial exclusion allegedly due to its Mrinal Sen association.

What “association”?

The firm belief that Mrinal Sen was a believer in Leftist ideology which goes against the Hindu Right evident from Goa IFFI’s choice of the film on Veer Savarkar as the inaugural film. But no one has ever expressed this in so many words.

Whilst discussing the exclusion of ‘Padatik’ from the Indian Panorama and its subsequent inclusion for special screening, Mukherji referenced Prasun Chatterjee’s ‘Dostojee’. The film initially wasn’t included but was subsequently added upon jury recommendation. I’m delighted this occurred with ‘Padatik’ as well,” Mukherji said.

Director Chandraprakash Dwivedi, jury chairperson, said, “Mrinal Sen was and remains an icon of Bharat and an inspiration for countless cinema enthusiasts worldwide who cherished his storytelling and admired his approach to social issues through films. I’m exceedingly pleased to see Padatik at the 55th IFFI through the jury’s collective wisdom and endeavour.”

(The author is a veteran film writer based in Kolkata. Views personal.)