Mrinal Sen, one of the towering figures of Indian cinema, passed away on December 30 in Kolkata. He was 95. He made his debut as a filmmaker with a feature film, "Raat Bhore" in 1955. He is known for his acclaimed films like Aakash Kusum, Bhuvan Shome, Calcutta 71 and Interview, Khandhar, Chorus, Mrigaya, Akaler Sandhane and Ek Din Achanak. Aamar Bhuwan was his last feature film.

Born on May 14, 1923 in Faridpur, Mrinal Sen was known for his pronouncedly pro-Left ideology. Sen, whose body of work is definitively more political than the other two stalwarts, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, was a man who had the distinctly Bengali middle-class quality of mixing the personal with the political. A facet brought forward beautifully in the 1984 film Khandhar.

His trilogy - Interview, Calcutta 71 and Padatik - is considered to be a masterpiece for depicting the social and political upheaval in the Kolkata of the '70s.

Sen was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, India's highest film honour in 2005. He had also won awards at several international film festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Moscow.