I am Mrinal Sen`s discovery : Sreela Majumder

Kolkata: Describing herself as the ?discovery? of Mrinal Sen, acclaimed actor Sreela Majumder has said she would be happy if the nonagenarian again takes up direction where he will just be mentoring others.

"Me, Prosenjit (Chatterjee), Goutam Ghosh, Anjan Dutta, Mamata Shanker we had all implored Mrinalda to take up film direction once again where he will be the instructor guiding us from his seat and we all will execute his script, on his 90th birthday. I said I will be the clapper girl, Goutamda wanted to be the camera person and likewise, during an adda at his residence," Sreela recalled today. Sen`s favourite actress, whose down-to-earth girl next-door look and brooding performance highlighted several films like Ek Din Pratidin, Akaler Sandhane, Kharij, Khandhar recalled "he just smiled and did not utter any word but we could sense his eyes lit up at the mention." Referring to Sen`s recent interviews where he let out his razor-sharp views about the present day Bengali films and his abiding interest in the developments, Sreela said ?Mrinalda is actually 19 and not 91 going by his alacrity." Sreela, who had lost her father at a young age, would describe the legend as her real father afterwards. "He would scold me when I was seen chatting in between shots and then afterwards he would say ?this girl is incorrigible. She gives such intense but never before expression at the end of each shot it becomes difficult to cut the frame," Sreela recalled about the genius. "Mrinalda had once scolded me for plucking my brow during a shoot of Ekdin Protidin saying it was a fad in US 50 years back. He later told me "had I been a bit younger I would have fallen in love with this girl," Sreela said. "Mrinalda has not stopped at this age yet. He cannot". Avant garde film maker Aniruddha RoyChoudhury said ?I need Mrinalda?s blessings for my forthcoming project. Aniruddha, who is taking up his next project Buno Haans, said "it is indeed a loss for all of us that Mrinalda has stopped directing films. But we must consider his age and we should count ourself as fortunate that he remains so active at this age." "None could use actors like Smita Patil, Shabana Azmi, besides Sreela and Mamodi (Mamata Shanker) as Mrinalda. We got actors like Anjan Dutta largely because of him," Aniruddha said. They were talking on the sidelines of a photography exhibition in Camerina, a new photo studio where Sen was captured in various moods. PTI