Just think of the interview in the film where Mrinal used Brecht’s concept of breaking the fourth wall very well. Here we see young actor Ranjeet Mallick behind the camera breaking the boundary between the real and virtual world, talking to the audience through the lens.
It was all the more incredible in the context of India, where cinema was used to distract people from reality by involving them in a dreamland of music and dance, and Mrinal used art as a hammer.
He was certainly aware of the fact of this treatment which would shock the audience. Mrunal’s brazen act was not accepted by most of the common people and she was often criticized for such attitude.
But again, we saw another incredibly self-centered approach in his film Khareez. The action here was never loud, but somehow, we middle class felt the low noise but deep pain through our hearts. Unlike most Indian films, it did not have a clear antagonist or protagonist. However, Mrinal exposes the reality and bursts our bubble of being ‘good guys’.
We saw a teenage boy, who worked as a domestic help, die due to the negligence of the landlord, who are obviously very kind and gentle people. Those middle class people are not murderers even by imagination but Mrinal has shown the ocean of class gap. The middle class with its delusion could never fathom this. Some incredible views like the flame of the pyre visible through the shadows in the cremation ground. The underclass, angry and dumbfounded, shines in the moment but is rarely really united. Mrinal’s Marxist approach was clear but not as outspoken as Ritwik’s. Perhaps this proves additional nuance as autistic.
I intentionally discussed two lesser talked about films of Mrinal who is mostly appreciated for his ground breaking films like Bhuvan Shome, Akaler Sondhne or Chorus. In the chorus he showed an incredible ability to use imagery to portray a surrealistic presentation without much technical help.
In fact his greatest legacy was to introduce a documentary style real life approach and inject humanist, leftist politics to change the landscape of Indian film. Mrinal was an outspoken politician like Brecht and unlike Ray he believed that film was a weapon to transform society.
Nevertheless, his subtlety was unrelenting and measured. Charlie Chaplin, another idol of Mrinal’s, used to say that the greatest ability of a good filmmaker is to portray things so simply that they look simple.
Perhaps this was the shortcoming in Mrinal’s popularity. He was so subtle, often people take it for granted. As Rabindranath said, it is the most difficult thing to achieve as an artist.
Bengalis are known to be just the opposite. He is known for shouting a lot and speaking less. Mrinal, the age-changing Bengali spoke without much ado.
His legacy will live on with subtle sophistication juxtaposed with the brutal beauty of reality.
