Family keeps his shawl for Nandita Das and gifts memorabilia to Mamata Shankar
Priyanka Dasgupta (BOMBAY TIMES; January 4, 2020)

It is said one dies twice in life. First, when the heartbeat stops. Then, sometime later, when one’s name is uttered for the last time. On his first death anniversary recently, when one entered the Kolkata flat of filmmaker Mrinal Sen, it was amply clear that the master-director had cheated death the second time around even though he had long stopped breathing. This game of hide-and-seek with death actually started some time back when his Chicago-based son and daughter-in-law, Kunal and Nisha, who have no children, took a unique decision to distribute his belongings and awards among anyone who cared to look after them.

Sometime back, Left Front chairperson Biman Basu came over and took Sen’s hospital bed that he used at home. It was then given over to the People’s Relief Committee. Berhampore Film Society has taken his telephone and specs for preservation. Some 422 books were picked up by archivist Arindam Saha Sardar. A cupboard full of mementos was left ajar for anyone to pick them up while old family acquaintances and young cinelovers queued up to collect what they will show their grandchildren as their most precious collection. Three prospective buyers have already had talks about buying the flat, but nothing has yet been signed on the dotted line.

‘PLAN TO DONATE THE AWARDS TO UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO AND STANFORD UNIVERSITY’
It was not an overnight decision to dispose off the flat that had been the director’s address for the last 15 years. What made things a little simpler was that the icon had not really left behind too many precious belongings. Years back, while moving apartments, he had disposed off most of his papers. Important awards, however, were kept in the locker. The couple had taken his Padmabhushan, the Silver Bear from Berlin, the French award (Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) and an award bestowed on Mrinal Sen’s wife, Gita Sen on their last visit to Kolkata. This time around, they intend to take some others back.

Film archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur had collected Mrinal’s kurta, pen and chair for his foundation on an earlier visit. “Recently, he took film stills and major awards. That includes the Dadasaheb Phalke, Filmfare and many National Awards. Initially, I am taking all the international awards and keeping them with myself. I plan to donate 80 per cent of them right away to University of Chicago and Stanford University. I will keep the rest at home for sometime and subsequently, give them away. Four hundred years later, even if someone wants to see them, I am certain that they will be preserved well by these two universities,” Kunal said.

Nisha, meanwhile, has collected his passports and checked the stamps to keep record of where he went when. “I also took some of his books from his collection of 3,000 works. Apart from Arindam, there are others who have taken some 50 more,” he added. Kunal gave a beautiful white idol of Shiv and Parvati to one of Mrinalda’s favourite actors, Mamata Shankar. What about his starch-white kurtas and shawls? “Some had specifically asked for his shawls and we gave them away. The rest, which could be used, were given away to common people. Nandita (Das) had wanted a shawl and we have kept one for her,” he said. Anything for Shabana Azmi? “She never asked for anything. It is hard for me to presume who will want anything and I do not want to burden anyone,” he pointed out.

‘WHAT WE ARE DOING IS PROBABLY WHAT MY PARENTS WOULD HAVE LIKED US TO DO’
Giving away personal belongings isn’t easy. More so, if one has to relinquish the rights of inheritance and willingly turn personal possessions into public property. “These are personal threads. I know now my connection with my parents will be at a conceptual level. I tried to take a long perspective and see if some of the materials will be available hundreds of years from now for scholarly research. I don’t know if there will be any interest in him in even 50 years, but I’d rather the future decide that. I think what we are doing is probably what my parents would have liked us to do. Neither of them liked pomp and show nor any fuss around them,” said Kunal. But by donating these to one and all, he has given strangers a chance to create personal memories of the master.