At 79, gorgeous as before. For her it is just a number. The reading circle made it possible for her to meet Suman Ghosh, an economics professor by profession & a film maker by passion.
Friendship with Sen finally led to agreeing to be the subject of his documentary, ‘Paroma : a journey with Aparna Sen’ which released in this January. It was screened at Habitat Film Festival in Delhi.
‘I think she embodies the rare breed of Bengal’s fiery & free-spirited liberals who can own both their Bengali & Western identities with elan & articulate in both languages. That refinement is fast fading’ says Ghosh.
She was introduced to films by Satyajit Ray as a child bride in ‘Teen Kanya’ 1961. She never chased stardom in Hindi film industry. As a director, she let her women protagonists explore the full arc of human experience, from isolation to desire & individual agency.
Sen wrote ’36 Chowringhee Lane’ which continues to be a defining lament of urban loneliness in a rapidly changing world of values , at the height of her stardom.
‘My life is a school’ she says. ‘Mr & Mrs Iyer’2002, in which a man & a woman of different faiths end up saving each other at a humanistic level. The lead pair is superb. Watch out for her daughter, Konkana Sen Sharma. She looks every inch the South Indian lady she depicts.
‘The Rapist’ 2021 awarded at the Busan International Film Festival in 2022, analyses how boys turn rapists & whether a pro life choice should be made by the pregnant survivor. It is because of this disturbing complexity that the film awaits a theatrical release.
‘The Japanese Wife’ 2010 was desired to be the opening film at a film festival but the producers wanted a few cuts & the entry was dated & so on. The Tokyo film festival wanted it too, but the producers let it go. It’s a beautiful film. Should have got all the attention.
Will there be an autobiography of a life well lived ? “Ke jaane, dekhi ( Don’t know, let’s see)” she says. That is her vulnerability, the one that still believes she is evolving.
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