Mrinal Sen is one of India's foremost filmmakers, a pioneer of the alternative cinema movement in India. A veteran director whose career spans five decades, he produced his first film in the 1950s and has since made twenty-six features, two documentaries and a number of television films. He is a writer-director whose works are permeated by his engagement with social issues and by his acute political awareness. His widely varied films encompass direct political statement, social analysis and psychological drama.

Mrinal Sen's works have been praised by critics throughout the world and honoured with awards at numerous international film festivals in India and abroad.

This book is an introduction to the films of Mrinal Sen, helping provide the historical and cultural context in which his work needs to be studied.

In this introductory overview, complete with a filmography and a select bibliography, readers are familiarized with his oeuvre and the social and political commitment that informs the body of his work. His films are examined thematically and connection between his life, the times, the socio-political context and his work is articulated in some detail.