New Delhi: In what may come as a rude shock to the country's film buffs, some of the pioneering works of Dada Saheb Phalke awardees Mrinal Sen and Tapan Sinha have been either destroyed or missing from the archives.

Master prints of Sinha s 1954 debut venture "Ankush" have been destroyed in the archives of Pune's National Film Institute. Mrinal Sen said one of his master print was lost due to alleged negligence of distributors.

"My father is deeply attached with Ankush since it was his first movie as a director. He is really hurt that we lost the master print. Actually we have been informed about this by the institute," Sinha s son Anindya told PTI.

Soumitra Chatterjee and Kanika Majumdar starrer "Punashcho" (Once Again), directed by Sen, was preserved in the archives of National Film Institute while the master print of "Pratinidhi" (Representative) was with the distributor of the film since its release in 1964.

"Ankush" is believed to have been burnt in a fire in the Pune institute.

According to Anindya, the original print of "Kalamati" is also missing.

Maker of classics like "Bhuvan Shome", "Raat Bhor" and "Mrigya", in which Mithun Chakrabarty made his debut and won a national award, Sen is equally disturbed.

"Yes, the master prints are missing or destroyed. I tried to find them but did not succeed. This is indeed painful," said the veteran filmmaker, who is considered a pioneer of parallel cinema in India.

Sen came to know about the fate of "Punashcho" from the Pune Institute.
Source : PTI