Aparna Sen instructing Shaheb Bhattacharya and Konkona Sen Sharma while shooting “Iti Mrinalini”.Elements of Aparna Sen's life as an actress in the '70s and '80s will be recreated by her actress-daughter Konkona Sen in the upcoming Bengali film "Iti Mrinalini" starring the duo.
This is the first time the mother-daughter duo will be acting in the same film in which Konkona plays a younger actress Mrinalini while her mother portrays an aged actress.
Directed by Aparna, the film has anecdotes from her own life and is based on the life of an ageing actress reliving her memories before she embarks on committing suicide.
"Around me, there are many people from whose life I observed these things. I cannot name those people. And some parts are from my own life as well," said the 65-year-old director.
One such scene lifted straight from her life is when a young Mrinalini is suddenly thrown out of a film.
"Very early in my career, I was once replaced by another successful established actress. I was very hurt. Later when the same producer came to me asking for dates for another film, I expressed my feelings before him. The same happens to Konkona in this film and her dialogue is exactly what I had told that producer," said Aparna who has won the Indian National Award for best direction twice ever since she made her debut as a director in 1981 with "36 Chowringee Lane".
"Iti Mrinalini" is closer to the mainstream cinema. It is more mainstream than any of my earlier films. The reason is that I have taken the life of a mainstream star in the film, so some mainstream elements are bound to be there," said Aparna who has also directed films "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer" (2001) and "15 Park Avenue" (2005).
Admitting that combining acting and directing becomes a burden on one's shoulders, she said she had no choice but to act in the film.
"Using the both of us makes for a very strong casting. Else, we would have to find two people who look alike -- one for the older and another for the younger Mrinalini," she said.
The script of "Iti Mrinalini" was written along with Ranjan Ghosh -- the first time she is collaborating with a scriptwriter. Incidentally, her last film "The Japanese Wife" was based on a story by London-based author Kunal Basu. Prior to that, she had penned all her screenplays and stories herself.
This is also the first occasion where popular writer Sunil Gangopadhyay's poem has been used as a song in a film.
"I have never gone beyond Rabindra Sangeet or folk songs in my films. But I decided to use that poem as a song because both are about Kolkata of the '70s," she said.
