Nostalgic Nuggets: Oka Oori Katha, Mrinal Sen's only Telugu film

The Indian parallel film movement, which took birth in Bengal in the 1950s and 1960s, led by the director trio – Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak - was the forerunner in unleashing it across many other film industries in the country, notably Malayalam and to a limited extent in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil. This development had a niche and powerful presence all through the 1970s and 1980s, giving birth to a host of helmsmen who took pride in being art film directors. Stridently Left-of-centre and anti-Establishment, these films reflected the mood of the nation and its people and had a committed backing among its patrons.

Mrinal Sen, whose 97th birth anniversary it is today, was the only pioneering director whose work was made in a southern language directly. That happens to be Telugu and the film ' Oka Oori Katha' released in 1977. Released on a relatively low profile, it had the well-known Mamata Shankar playing the female lead and G V Narayana Rao, a regular in films of K Balachander the protagonist. The film was based on the famous novel of Munshi Premchand – Kafan.

Sen won the National Award for the Best Film in Telugu with this venture, a feat which he managed for 18 times. This initiative of his also drew the attention of his contemporary Satyajit Ray who is reported to have said ' I'm feeling jealous, he probably overtakes us'. Mrinal Sen died at the ripe age of 95 in 2018.