Gita Sen was a rock in Mrinal Sen’s life: Shyam Benegal

KOLKATA: Just ten days back, Om Puri had passed away. The wounds haven’t healed yet and director Shyam Benegal was in for a shock again. Gita Sen, Om Puri’s co-star from Benegal’s National Award winning “Arohan”, had breathed her last on Monday afternoon leaving behind her husband Mrinal Sen.
The 86-year-old Sen was keeping very unwell in recent times. “She had slipped into coma,” said Benegal.The veteran director of “Arohan” remembers Sen as a fine actress who was also a very warm human being. “She was very grounded, warm and wonderfully compassionate. It was great to have a person like her on the sets. She was absolutely god’s own child,” he remembered.
Incidentally, it was Benegal himself who had cast her in “Arohan”. The film narrates the story of a poor farmer who suffers under a cunning and cruel landlord, amidst rising Naxalism in the 60s. In the movie, Hari Mondal (Om Puri) had played a poor farmer who lived in the remote Bengal village of Giripur in Birbhum district with his wife, two sons, brother, an old widowed aunt Kalidashi (Gita Sen) and her daughter Panchi. “When I cast her, I knew she was perfect for the part. It didn’t take long to convince her to play the role.” On being asked why he thinks Sen had remained so selective about doing films despite so much of talent, Benegal said, “I feel, she was very choosy as an actor since she wasn’t keen on making a career as a film actor. Rather, she wanted to make a career of that of a homemaker. She was a rock in Mrinal Sen’s life.”