I cannot separate the man from the filmmaker. He was like his films, a bundle of paradoxes - strong but gentle, urbane but rustic, both a creator and an iconoclast who was very sensitive and very human.

He was deeply invested in the world around him, and did not hesitate to question his own frailties through his films. That's what made his such a strong voice. I remember a very moving afternoon during the making of Ek Din Achanak. Mrinal da was in an unusually quiet mood. When I asked what was bothering him, he said, "Perhaps the character [played by Dr Sriram Lagoo] disappears in the film because he has come to terms with his own mediocrity. Maybe it's time I face my own.