Mrinal Sen’s son had one piece of advice for Srijit Mukherjee, who was making a film on the life and times of the auteur-filmmaker.

“Kunal da said ‘do whatever you have to do but do not put him on a pedestal and worship him. Do not make a hagiography’,” Mukherjee told an audience on Monday.

“Thanks to him, I have been able to honestly draw a picture of a man who was a flawed genius. I was able to etch a picture that was very loyal to the very chequered journey of the man, from the depths of despair to the heights of acclaim,” he said.

Padatik, an “official biopic” on Sen, releases on August 15.

Mukherjee, the director, Korak Samanta, who plays a young Sen in the film, and producer Firdausul Hasan were part of a panel that discussed bringing Sen to life on screen. The programme was hosted by the Alliance Française du Bengale.

The film stars Bangla-deshi actor Chanchal Chowdhury as Sen.

Mukherjee pointed to an absence of “awareness or celebration” around Mrinal Sen’s work as found surrounding the work of the two other directors of the “holy trinity” — Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak.

“I think we have, to a large extent, kind of forgotten Mrinal Sen. I don’t see any road, park, film institute or studio named after him,” he said.

Cine Academy president Raju Raman, who moderated the discussion, pointed to two Metro stations, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak.

Mukherjee responded: “I don’t see that kind of awareness or celebration around Mrinal Sen’s work. Which is a pity, because he used to call Kolkata his El Dorado. I think it is up to his El Dorado to return the favour and get back to celebrating him,” he said.

Hasan, the producer, said Padatik is a film that is meant for viewing in theatres, not on OTT platforms.