in English

The Statement
Le propos
The account of a journey, of a
brief encounter and consequently
of complex relationship, of
betrayal and fidelity, escape and
involvement inextricably
entwined, of ruthlessness and
compassion, all amidst the ruins
replete with sensuality. And that
is life we see and breathe even in
«Khandhar» the ruins.
Dans un cadre de ruines, empreint de
sensualité, voici le récit d’un voyage, d’une
brêve rencontre faîte de trahison et de
fidélité, de fuite et d’engagement,
d’aspects impitoyables, de compassion, en
somme de sentiments contradictoires liés
de façon si intime qu’ils créeront des
rapports de forces complexes entre les
personnages. Mais dans cet environnement
de «Khandhar» qui n’est que ruines, passe
le souffle de la vie.
Credits:
Production
Director
Screenplay
Story
Photography
Editing
Music
Decor
Special light effects
Jagadish & Pushpa Chowkhani
Mrinal Sen
Mrinal Sen
Premendra Mitra
K. K. Mahajan
Mrinmoy Chakraborty
Bhaskar Chandravarkar
Nitish Roy
Tapas Sen
Cast:
India 1983,
35mm, 1:1.37, Eastmancolor
2800m, 102 min
Shabana Azmi
Naseeruddin Shah
Gita Sen
Pankaj Kapoor
Annu Kapoor
Sreela Majumder
Rajen Tarafder
Awards & Recognitions:
Indian National Awards – Best Director, Best Editing, Best Actress
Chicago International Film Festival – Best Film (Golden Hugo)
Montreal World Film Festival – Special Jury Award (Silver Medal)
International Film Guide (ed. Peter Cowie) – 10 Best films of 1983/1984
Cannes International Film Festival – Official Selection, Un Certain Regard
MRINAL SEN
Mrinal Sen was born on May
14, 1923, in the town of
Faridpur, now in Bangladesh.
After finishing his high school
there, he left home to come to
Calcutta for studying physics.
His interest in films started
after he stumbled upon a book
on film aesthetics.
Mrinal Sen made his first
feature film in 1953, which he soon tried to forget.
His third film, Baishey Shravana (Wedding Day)
gave him international exposure. In 1969 he made
Bhuvan Shome (Mr.Shome) with a shoe-string
budget provided by the government of India. This
film finally launched him as a major filmmaker, both
nationally and internationally, and it also launched
the “New Cinema” film movement in India.
His next few films were overtly political, and earned
him the reputation as a Marxist artist. This phase
was immediately followed by a series of films
where he shifted his focus, and instead of looking
for enemies outside he looked for the enemy within
his own middle-class society. Films made during
this period earned him a large number of
international awards, including major awards from
Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Moscow, Karlovy Vary,
Montreal, and Chicago. He also served in the jury
at many international film festivals, including
Cannes, Berlin and Venice. After a gap of eight
years, at the age of eighty, he made his latest film,
Aamar Bhuban, in 2003.
In 2005 he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke
Award, the highest honor given to an Indian
filmmaker by the Government of India. The French
government awarded him the Commandeur de
l'ordre des Arts et letters and the Russian
government honored him with the Order of
Friendship. In recent years he was awarded
Lifetime Achievement Awards by Osian's-Cinefan
Festival, The International Film Festival of India,
and other organizations around the world. He also
served as the president of the International
Federation of Film Societies.
Mrinal Sen est né le 14
mai 1923 à Faridpur, une
ville à présent au
Bangladesh. Après ses
études secondaires, il
quitta son domicile pour
Calcutta où il étudia la physique.
Son intérêt pour le cinéma commença avec un
livre sur l‟esthétisme du cinéma.
Mrinal Sen réalisa son premier film en 1953,
qu‟il s‟empressa d‟oublier. Son troisième film,
„Baishey Shravana‟ (Jour de Noces) fut son
premier film à lui offrir une renommée
internationale. En 1969 il réalisa „Bhuvan
Shome‟ (Monsieur Shome) avec un financement
minimal du gouvernement indien. Ce film le fit
connaître comme un réalisateur majeur tant sur
le plan national qu‟international et lança aussi le
mouvement du "Nouveau Cinéma" en Inde.
Ses films suivants ouvertement politiques lui
donnèrent la réputation d‟artiste marxiste. Ce fut
également une époque de grande agitation
politique à travers l‟Inde, et particulièrement
dans la région de Calcutta. Cette période fut à
l‟origine une série de films dans lesquels Mrinal
Sen changea de point de vue. Plutôt que de
chercher l‟ennemi _à l‟extérieur, il essaya _de le
trouver à l‟intérieur de la classe moyenne à
laquelle il appartient. Les films qu‟il réalisa à
cette période lui offrent un grand nombre de prix
internationaux, à Cannes, Venise, Berlin,
Moscou, Karlovy Vary, Montréal et Chicago. Il
fut aussi membre de jury de nombreux festivals
internationaux tels que de Cannes, Berlin et
Venise. Mrinal Sen n‟a jamais cessé
d‟expérimenter son champ d‟expression. Il
réalisa son film le plus récent, Aamar Bhuban,
en 2003, à l'âge de 80 ans. En 2005 le
Gouvernement indien l'honora avec le
prestigieux Dadasaheb Phalke Award et le
Gouvernbement français le désigna
Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
KHANDHAR
Three friends take a couple of days off and run
away from the mad hurry of the city-life to enjoy
themselves in the silence of the ruins which once
was a huge mansion of a feudal estate. In the midst
of desolation lives a family of two, a mother and her
daughter, heirs to a portion of the derelict mansion.
The mother is sick, paralysed and blind, surviving
on a hope that a distant nephew of hers will one
day come and, as promised, marry the daughter.
But the facts are otherwise: the young man is now
with his wife and a child living, perhaps, a settle life
in the city. The daughter knows the truth but keeps
it to herself. Two days and a half are enough to
build a cruel story when, having being thrown into a
peculiar situation, the visitors and the daughter are
forced to go through a nerve-wrecking exercise,
acting a dreadful play and giving an impression to
the ailing and blind mother that the photographer
among the visitors is the one who once promised to
come and marry the daughter.
After two days and a half the three friends prepare
to leave the ruins and go back to the city. Just
before they leave, the photographer and the
daughter have a short meeting which excites a brief
dialogue and a mute understanding. Soon after the
photographer is back at his post in his studio and
the woman is left to terrifying loneliness and to her
mother who now will know the whole truth. And life
goes on…
Trois amis fuient la vie affolée de la ville
pendant trois jours et se retirent dans le silence
des ruines d‟une immense demeure au Coeur
d‟une propriété féodale. Au milieu de ce
paysage désolé, vivent une mère et sa fille,
héritières d‟une partie de la demeure
abandonnée...
Seul l‟espoir de voir un lointain neveu revenir un
jour épouser sa fille, permet à la vieille mère,
paralysée et aveugle, de survivre. Hélas ce
neveu, marié entre-temps et père d‟un enfant,
ne reviendra pas.
La jeune fille le sait mais garde le secret. Durant
le séjour la jeune fille et les trois amis sont
amenés à faire passer l‟un d‟eux (le
photographe) pour ce fameux neveu.
La troisième journée s‟achève et les trois amis
s‟apprêtent à repartir en ville. Juste avant le
départ, le photographe et la jeune fille se
recontrent la dernière fois: brêve conversation
en compréhension muette.
Le photographe reprend son travail dans son
studio en ville et la fille est laissée à sa solitude
effrayante auprès de sa mère qui apprendra
toute la vérité. Et la vie continue…
REVIEW & COMMENTS:
«…Mrinal Sen‟s exquisite film stands closer in fact to the contemplative cinema of Ozu, in which domestic relationships, and
the rhythm of everyday, form the essence of the drama…»
«…The Ruins is directed with masterly understatement by Sen. The dialogue is sparse, and the space between the sentences
pregnant with longing and disappointment. The environment not only reflects the failure of the old mother‟s life, it is also
integrated into the mise-en-scène with no trace of ostentatiousness. In the end, the pervasive lethargy of this ancient setting
stunts any promise of emotional growth between man and woman. To this extent, The Ruins is depressing; yet to experience,
and to feel, it is a rare delight…»
Peter Cowie / International Film Guide 1985 / 1985
«…Mrinal Sen‟s new film, Khandhar, is a fascinating departure from his earlier work. It is honest, deeply felt, and intense in a
different kind of way…»
Ranjan Bannerjee / The Illustrated Weekly of India / Jan 1984
«…Sen has achieved a quality of perfection unseen in his movies before. Khandhar is probably his best film to date and will
undoubtedly grow in stature to become one of his best loved…»
Sunu Sethi / India Today / Feb 1984
«…Mrinal Sen‟s visual style has achieved a standard of perfection rarely reached in Indian cinema…»
«…This is a film of pure sensations where each brick has a story to tell, each blade of grass shines in special splendour…»
Amrita Bazar Patrika / Jan 1984
«…Mrinal Sen‟s third Hindi film Khandhar is overwhelming. It is overwhelmed with its profundity, beauty and humanity so deep
that one feels at once ennobled and anguished, a quality posited by the finest movie tragedies the world over…»
Ashis Barman / Link Weekly New Delhi / Aug 1983
«…Simple in style, subdued and warm in its human revelations and compelling, compassionate in its mingling of memories
and modern values which receive a jolt, it is one of Sen‟s most satisfying films…»
The Statesman / Jan 1984
«…Khandhar deals with the interior world of its characters in a manner that no Mrinal Sen film has done previously…»
«…Both in form and content, Khandhar reveals a new Mrinal Sen, with new dimensions in his observation of human beings
and his understanding of the middle-class predicament. There is no doubt that this is his best…»
Jagannath Guha / The Telegraph Calcutta / Sep 1983
«…Mrinal Sen‟s new film, Khandhar, is a fascinating departure from his earlier work. It is honest, deeply felt, and intense in a
different kind of way…»
Ranjan Bannerjee / The Illustrated Weekly of India / Jan 1984
«…Touching sensibilities, tugging at our conscience…»
«…The true power of the film lies in its understatements. The chemistry between the two strangers comes alive when a well
meaning Subhash tries to cheer a blind widow by pretending to be her future son-in-law. It‟s a white lie. When a white lie is
spoken, many characters in the film indicate their discomfort, yet no one acts. This is a situation that one encounters so often
in life…»
Jugu Abraham / Movies That Make You Think / Feb 2010
«…Khandhar is very much about „the ravages of time‟, the ruins it leaves behind. But it is also about the attempt to preserve
what is left…»
Kuhu Tanvir / Edit Room / Aug 2008
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