Aparna Sen Favourite Films: Her Ten Greatest Films Ballot
Aparna Sen picked ten films for the BFI Sight and Sound greatest films poll: Rashomon, The Seventh Seal, Mahanagar, Olivier Olivier, Babel, Road to Perdition, A Short Film About Killing, Garm Hava, All About My Mother and Belfast.
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Films in this article
4.0 36 Chowringhee Lane
1981 · Drama, Romance
4.8 The World of Apu
1959 · Drama
4.1 Bariwali
2000 · Drama
Checked on 26 October 2026. This is her ballot as published on the BFI Sight and Sound site. A ballot is a list of ten films the voter chose, not a ranking.
The director of 36 Chowringhee Lane gave Sight and Sound ten films, and only one is Bengali: Satyajit Ray’s Mahanagar. The rest are drawn from Japan, Sweden, France, Poland, Spain, Mexico, the United States and the United Kingdom, plus one Hindi classic.
Her ten films, with what she said
- Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa): conflicting accounts of one violent incident, in shimmering black and white that blurs right and wrong.
- The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman): she admires how it blends cinema and theatre, and its questions about God’s silence.
- Mahanagar (1963, Satyajit Ray): a wife takes a job to support the family, and the film presents the couple as equals.
- Olivier, Olivier (1992, Agnieszka Holland): a boy returns after six years and the family doubts who he is.
- Babel (2006, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu): one rifle shot links people across three continents.
- Road to Perdition (2002, Sam Mendes): she says she has rewatched it many times and praises Conrad Hall’s cinematography.
- A Short Film About Killing (1987, Krzysztof Kieslowski): a senseless murder followed by a state execution.
- Garm Hava (1973, M. S. Sathyu): a Muslim family decides whether to leave India after Partition; she values its even-handed treatment.
- All About My Mother (1999, Pedro Almodovar): a warm story of love and friendship in which a child has three mothers.
- Belfast (2021, Kenneth Branagh): a child growing up in the Troubles, carried by humour, music and family.
What it tells us
She cites Ray’s Mahanagar as her one Bengali choice. We found no interview in which she names a single all-time favourite director, so we do not guess one.
Srijit Mukherji, meanwhile, calls her Paromitar Ek Din among her finest Bengali films (see his list).
Questions people ask
What are Aparna Sen’s favourite films?
The ten above, her Sight and Sound ballot.
Which Satyajit Ray film did Aparna Sen choose?
Mahanagar (1963).
See also our favourite films of Bengali directors.
