Abstract:

This study examines the moral contradictions and values of the Bengali middle class as portrayed in Mrinal Sen's acclaimed films Ek Din Pratidin (1979) and Kharij (1982). Through critical analysis of Sen's cinematic techniques and narrative choices, this research explores how the filmmaker exposed the hypocrisies, moral ambiguities, and social complicity embedded within middle-class life in post-Independence India. In Ek Din Pratidin, Sen interrogates patriarchal surveillance and the performative nature of middle-class morality through the story of a working woman's delayed return home. Kharij confronts issues of class privilege and structural violence through the tragic death of a child domestic worker. Both films demonstrate Sen's commitment to what this study terms "cinema of ethical interrogation"—a cinematic approach that avoids melodrama while exposing the normalized violence of social hierarchies. Rather than offering moral verdicts, Sen's realism compels audiences toward uncomfortable self-reflection. His unflinching critique reveals how middle-class virtue often masks systematic exclusion and selective empathy, making his work profoundly relevant to contemporary discussions of social justice and moral responsibility in South Asian cinema.