Revisiting Antareen: Mrinal Sen’s overlooked film
This is a guest post written by Mishal Zahoor.
Mrinal Sen is one of the earliest pioneers of Indian parallel cinema and created a new wave of art cinema in 1969 with his Hindi debut film, “Bhuvan Shome”.
Sen, who significantly contributed to Indian Cinema, died at the age of 95 in 2018, leaving behind decades of legacy.
Mrinal Sen’s film career underwent a gradual shift from socio-economic commentary to introspective films by the 80s. “Antareen,” starring Dimple Kapadia and Anjan Dutt, is one of his later projects, often overlooked compared to his politically charged films.
Based on Manto’s “Badshahat ka Khatma,” “Antareen” (The Confined) by Mrinal Sen explores emptiness and loneliness, recurring themes in Sen’s films.
Mrinal Sen paints a contrasting picture in “Antareen”, layered with motifs and mystery through stunning visuals, impressive camerawork, and narration.
Dimple Kapadia, who essays the role of a neglected mistress, lives alone in a high-rise apartment with her maid. This nameless woman, desperate for human connection, calls strangers every night. One day, she ends up calling a writer, which soon blossoms into a beautiful virtual relationship.
The nameless writer, played by Anjan, voluntarily isolates himself in an old mansion in Calcutta, hoping to find inspiration for his novel. He doesn’t like the housekeeper or his grandson around when he’s working and enjoys uninterrupted peace.
Kapadia, on the other hand, is tormented by loneliness. She has no friends or family and hasn’t seen her family in a long time. Her husband, who lives with another woman, calls her occasionally and sends money.
Mrinal brilliantly portrays emptiness and mental anguish through camerawork and stunning visuals.
The dilapidated mansion is personified as haunted through long, slow pan shots accompanied by melancholic background score, representing the writer’s psychological state as nothing works out for him.
Sen borrowed Brechtian techniques to construct a surreal narrative. Kapadia often uncomfortably stares into the distance and breaks the fourth wall, soullessly staring into the camera. She wakes up in the middle of the night from nightmares. Zoom shots heighten her distress and anxiety as the walls of her room cave in on her.
In Mrinal Sen’s world, even inanimate objects are imbued with life and character. The telephone in “Antareen” represents the distance between the writer and the woman. It also signifies a new connection and reunion with loved ones.
The harmonious and cool tone color palette of greens and blues further adds to the somber and hypnotic mood of the film.
Anjan is reading Tagore’s short story “Hungry Stones” throughout the film, the narrative of which parallels the characters in the film. In “Hungry Stones,” the female protagonist is a slave who is bought by her master, much like the woman in the film is to her husband. She is more of a mistress than a wife; the husband sends money her way, and she is caged within her house.
The narrator of the novel is a cotton collector who shares his experience of what seems to be a hallucination or imagination in an abandoned mansion of Calcutta, which shares quite a lot of similarities with the writer in the film.
As the film comes close to end, Kapadia finally steps out of her apartment to reunite with her family after a period of avoidance. She part ways with her husband and embarks on a new chapter in life.
In the closing scene at the train platform, the woman and man meet briefly, they speak to each other but don’t realize. Even when they meet, the distance remains, which could mean that this encounter was also the writer’s imagination.
Mishal Zahoor is a Media Studies student and freelance writer/journalist based in Karachi, Pakistan. She writes film reviews, food stories, cultural pieces, and commentary on internet and digital culture. Visit her Medium profile HERE: http://mishalzahoorjamali.medium.com/
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