Mrinal Sen’s son Kunal Sen, who lives in the US, recently made public his father’s access to the lost gems. Kunal, who had access Mrinal Sen12 short film works done for Doordarshan in Kolkata, shared links with interest in the work of the master filmmaker.
He wrote in a social media post, ‘During 1986-87, my father made a series of 12 short films for Indian TV. The series was sometimes called Far Far Kabhi Paas. Each episode was an independent short film, approximately 22 minutes in length. Unfortunately, the original magnetic tapes were in custody Calcutta Doordarshan, and soon after the initial broadcast, someone decided to reuse those tapes to record another program, and they were apparently lost. Since we were not living in Calcutta at the time, my father sent me low resolution VHS copies of some of these short films. Here is one of them. It’s called Das Saal Later, Aparna Sen And Girish Karnad. I’m not sure I’m breaking any copyright laws. If anyone can convince me that I am I promise to take it down. Until then, I’m putting it youtube So that interested people can watch some of these movies. What is unique about this series is that most of them deal with male-female relationships, a topic on which they have rarely focused. (sic)’.
When we contacted the Head of Films Division, Government of India, Eastern Region, Sumay MukherjeeTo know his views on this he said, “I can only speak for the Films Division. I will not be able to speak on behalf of Doordarshan. We as a unit are trying to restore and preserve the classics as well as the present documentaries. and short films. We have also digitized most of them and ensured their web casting for public. If any person or house wants to buy from us, it is also possible. Great of these master makers It is extremely important to restore the works so that the present generation can also research and learn by watching their work. Moreover, I consider myself the custodian of these documentary and short film works. If we do not take care of them, not only Directors and producers but also many unit technicians end up losing their hard work.”
Kunal Sen has been posting links of those short film episodes on his social media accounts at regular intervals and is garnering huge appreciation and keen interest from all.
He wrote in a social media post, ‘During 1986-87, my father made a series of 12 short films for Indian TV. The series was sometimes called Far Far Kabhi Paas. Each episode was an independent short film, approximately 22 minutes in length. Unfortunately, the original magnetic tapes were in custody Calcutta Doordarshan, and soon after the initial broadcast, someone decided to reuse those tapes to record another program, and they were apparently lost. Since we were not living in Calcutta at the time, my father sent me low resolution VHS copies of some of these short films. Here is one of them. It’s called Das Saal Later, Aparna Sen And Girish Karnad. I’m not sure I’m breaking any copyright laws. If anyone can convince me that I am I promise to take it down. Until then, I’m putting it youtube So that interested people can watch some of these movies. What is unique about this series is that most of them deal with male-female relationships, a topic on which they have rarely focused. (sic)’.
When we contacted the Head of Films Division, Government of India, Eastern Region, Sumay MukherjeeTo know his views on this he said, “I can only speak for the Films Division. I will not be able to speak on behalf of Doordarshan. We as a unit are trying to restore and preserve the classics as well as the present documentaries. and short films. We have also digitized most of them and ensured their web casting for public. If any person or house wants to buy from us, it is also possible. Great of these master makers It is extremely important to restore the works so that the present generation can also research and learn by watching their work. Moreover, I consider myself the custodian of these documentary and short film works. If we do not take care of them, not only Directors and producers but also many unit technicians end up losing their hard work.”
Kunal Sen has been posting links of those short film episodes on his social media accounts at regular intervals and is garnering huge appreciation and keen interest from all.
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