India’s “renaissance woman” Aparna Sen – actress, director, producer, fighter for women’s right, diversity and ethnic & religious minorities – whose career in the film business spans over six decades, was presented with the Red Lotus Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 in Vienna. The filmmaker was unfortunately not able to fly over to recieve it, and the award was presented to the winner through the German film critic and editor of the film magazine Shomingeki, Rüdiger Tomczak.
Parama: A Journey With Aparna Sen screened at Red Lotus Asian Film Festival Vienna
Only a few months ago, Sumah Ghosh’s documentary “Parama: A Journey With Aparna Sen” about the Indian helmer celebrated its world premiere in the Cinema Regained strand of IFFR, and it was only logical to include it in the repertoire of Red Lotus Asian Film Festival. It is a film that gives a deep insight into the life and work of one of the most fascinating personalities in the Indian film industry.
Ghosh begins with a small introduction into the very beginnings of Sen’s acting career, as the star of commercially successful productions, typical audience pleasers that didn’t use her acting talent to its full capacity. This becomes one of the most discussed details in the documentary, with famous actors, directors, and theatre personalities) discussing pros and cons of such kind of a career take off. Talking heads is a method that more than often proves dull, but Ghosh makes the best use of it.
Check also this interview
“When actors become mainstream stars, it’s inevitable that the audience will develop an expectation from them” comments one of the prominent Indian filmmakers Goutam Ghose when asked to compare Sen’s acting and directing. But, as Aparna Sen’s father, respectable film critic/ filmmaker Chidananda Dasgupta famously said: “There is no way you will not act in mainstream cinema if you want to make a career out of it”. To understand where this dilemma comes from, we need to rewind the time back to the 1960s, when Sen came to fame as the lead in “Samapti” (The Postman”), a segment in Satyajit Ray’s Oscar winner “Three Daughters” (1961), based on stories by the Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore. A number of roles in popular productions followed, such as “Up In The Clouds” (1965) directed by Mrinal Sen, James Ivory’s “The Guru” (1969) alongside Michael York, and “Bombay Talkie” (1970), another Satyajit Ray’s hit “Days And Nights In The Forest” (1970), or the musical “Basanta Bilap” (1973) directed by Dinen Gupta, to name just the few.
Sumah Gosh, who cast Aparna Sen alongside Soumitra Chatterjee in “Basu Poribar” (2018), has decided to go on the journey with the filmmaker to the locations where she had shot some of her iconic films. The first location they went to was from “35 Chowringhee Lane” (1981), her multiple-awarded directorial debut. The set visits spark a number of topics, starting with the helmer’s active involvement with the set design, to her passion for theatre where she had the opportunity to play meatier roles.
“It is due to my long acting career in cinema and theater that I can now understand if my actors are facing any difficulties in the execution of their roles.”, says Sen during her long talks with Ghosh, pointing out that many professionals confuse workshops with rehearsals. But the documentary doesn’t only shine a light on Aparna Sen’s filmmaking, it also shows her passion for fighting the battles for human rights, tolerance and equality, something that she has not only have been addressing in her movies since the beginning, but also as a civilian engaging in protests and debates, and taking on groundbreaking tasks such as the editor of the Bengali fortnightly “Sananda” between 1986-2005. Under her editorship, the magazine was steering controversy with the choice of topics such as legalization of abortions, family planning and divorce.
The tone of the movie gets political when Nandigram violence of 2007 gets addressed – with Aparna Sen standing firmly with the people whose land was acquired for a project taken up by the CP(M)-led Government of West Bengal to create a chemical hub, a type of special economic zone. She is also very vocal about India all of a sudden becoming a Hindu state, denying rights to religious minorities. Very few of her collaborators show the courage to stand with her on the barricades
“Parama: A Journey With Aparna Sen” is one of those rare documentaries that tell you all you need to know about the person they want to portray, effortless and straightforward. It’s our big recommendation.
