Kolkata: Raja Sen, the cinematic custodian who treated the lens not merely as a tool of capture but as a bridge to the soul of Bengal, succumbed to a cardiac arrest at a city hospital on Sunday. Across a remarkable career spanning feature films, telefilms, and documentaries, Sen emerged as a visionary bestowed with three National Film Awards while remaining deeply rooted in the everyday poetry of ordinary lives. Sen was 70 and is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Many who followed Sen’s works agree that his art stood out due to a rare gentleness, unwavering patience, and a profound respect for the heritage, literature, and culture that shaped our collective identity. To watch a feature film by Sen was to witness a quiet masterclass in humanism. Sen directed 13 feature films: 'Damu', 'Atmiyo Swajan', 'Chakrabyuhya', 'Desh', 'Debipaksha', 'Viswa O Arjun', 'Krishnakanter Will', ‘Tinmurti', 'Laboratory', 'Moubone Aaj', 'Colonel', 'Khancha’ and 'Maya Mridanga'—the latter notably marking his final project during the shoot of which he suffered a severe fall that triggered years of declining health and led to major surgery earlier this year for a complex neurological condition that caused significant mobility issues.
Sen’s versatile casting choices further enriched his cinematic legacy; for instance, Jaya Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan starred together in his 'Desh', Raghuvir Yadav appeared in his debut feature 'Damu', and Raveena Tandon made her Bengali film industry debut in 'Laboratory'. Sen’s 'Krishnakanter Will' saw Jeet’s tryst with a Bengali literary adaptation on screen.
Among Sen’s features, 'Damu' won the National Film Award for Best Children’s Film. 'Atmiyo Swajan' won the National Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. Rituparna Sengupta, who acted in 'Atmiyo Swajan' along with his 'Debipaksha', 'Khancha', 'Chakrabyuhya' and 'Maya Mridanga', regarded him as her “father figure”. “The last day I met him at the hospital, he held my hand and promised to start work on a new project with me very soon. He was such an underrated director. He should have got more accolades and recognition. Raja-da possessed a rare, delicate sensitivity for the cadence of ordinary lives, capturing the melancholy of ageing, the intricate knots of familial bonds, and the quiet dignity of those who might otherwise have gone unnoticed. There was a gentle, unadorned truth in his frames, a refusal to sensationalize, which allowed his characters to feel less like performers and more like reflections of our own hidden selves,” she said.
This thoughtful approach extended into his telefilms and tele-serials, including 'Subarnalata', 'Adarsha Hindu Hotel', 'Arogya Niketan' and 'Bandha Darjar Samne', where Sen demonstrated a keen ability to inhabit smaller canvases with equal grace. He understood that a story’s weight often resided in its silences, granting his narratives the patience to breathe. “He was a director who always prioritized content,” said actor Chaiti Ghoshal, reflecting on her experience in 'Atmiyo Swajan’, adapted from Samaresh Mazumdar’s novel, and the telefilm 'Rajani’, based on Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay’s novel. Placing him among the pioneer directors who also brought literary classics into Bengali homes via television, Ghoshal pointed to his adaptation of Ashapurna Devi’s 'Subarnalata'. “What a courageous decision it was to cast Sumitra Mukherjee in the lead role for the serial at a time when she was not working regularly. He had even agreed to act in my next film,” she added.
Sen directed at least 18 documentaries, most of which stand as a tribute to Bengal’s cultural heritage, featuring interviews of immense archival importance with Sombhu Mitra, Tapan Sinha, Supriya Devi, and Samaresh Basu. When he directed 'Suchitra Mitra'—an effort that earned him the National Award—he captured far more than a musical icon, preserving the rhythm of a cultural era. Sen got invaluable interviews of cultural icons like Kanika Bandopadhyay and Utpal Dutt for his docus. These interactions revealed profound insights: Bandopadhyay shared that Mitra’s renditions of “Sarthak janam amar” and “Hridayer ekul okul” were so peerless that she disliked hearing anyone else sing them or performing them much herself, while Utpal Dutt recounted staging 'Tapati' at New Empire where Mitra played Bipasha, concluding she could have easily turned to professional acting! There may have been debates over the making style of his documentaries but nobody contested his role as a custodian of stories that might otherwise have been lost. Despite the interesting confessions artists made on camera for his docus, Sen did not chase controversies, but offered a respectful sanctuary to preserve their unvarnished truth.
Sen did not merely document history; he listened to its whispers, ensuring our cultural memory does not fade. To journey through his work is to reconnect with a version of ourselves that remains grounded, thoughtful, and profoundly human.