Konkona Sen Sharma made her directorial debut with Death In The Gunj. The movie has already won the Best Director honour for Konkona at the New York Indian Film Festival. Known for her great acting abilities, Konkona’s first film as director could make a new beginning. She happens to be actor-director Aparna Sen’s daughter. A look at the genes

Iremember staring at the black and white photograph of a woman’s face covered in rain drops in Life magazine as a young boy.

Something captivating about the frame, the beautiful face, the widow’s peak… it always stayed with me. Aparna Sen was never just a beautiful face or impressive actress, she was a woman with a lot of presence and came across as strong and independent. Other images float in the sea of memory – of her playing a reporter to Uttam Kumar’s star in Satyajit Ray’s Nayak, in Ray’s Teen Kanya. There was something about that look I will never forget.

And so it was one evening that I found myself in Aparna’s Alipore flat with a bunch of friends. It so happens that a close friend of mine is a cousin of writer, actor Mukul Sharma, who happened to be married to her at the time. It was the Eighties, we were young smoking weed and having fun. Don’t know how we landed up at that place. All I remember was my friend’s cousin Mukul was waiting for his wife (who he kept calling Rina) to get ready as they were going out and we would leave with them.

I don’t think I will forget what happened next. Suddenly, his wife walked into the living room and I who was sitting right opposite looked up and froze I think. I was staring that Aparna Sen. I don’t remember how long I stared, but somewhere I heard Mukul’s voice, “Hey that’s my wife.” It was embarrassing but then that defines Aparna’s magnetism. She was always different. Konkona was a little girl at the time and sure enough Konkona, like mother, has too grown up to be someone different. And like mother she too has made a seamless transition from acting to directing.

Konkona’s first directorial venture Death in the Gunj takes me back to her mother’s debut as a director in 36 Chowringhee Lane. Strangely, both the titles anoint a place – 36 is about Aparna’s city Calcutta and the story of an Anglo-Indian lady/teacher’s lonely life. The Gunj is set in McCluskieganj a small hilly town near Ranchi, once in Bihar now in Jharkhand. Much like 36, McCluskieganj used to be home to a disappearing anglo-Indian community, a town with crumbling bungalows and relics of the Raj. My friend Shomu and his cousin Mukul and family were regular at the Gunj for their family holidays.

The Gunj much like her mother’s 36 is a classic, the pace, the mood, the sensitivity, the characters stay with you much after you have watched the film. Clearly, Konkona is her mother’s daughter even though the film is based on a story by her father Mukul Sharma her translation on screen gives it a unique dimension, the mistiness of the Ranchi setting she captures so well.

Aparna Sen is one of the few women directors in Indian cinema that dares to make films that feature compelling, strong, even flawed female characters. Each of her films is different. One can't peg her down to a typical genre. Her films have given many actors standout roles in their careers, and her last few films have showcased her own daughter Konkona Sen Sharma, marking it a unique case of motherdaughter filmmaking.

Aparna initially began her career as an actor at 15 before expanding to screenwriting and directing from 1981. Konkona is presently known as an actor, but like her mother also has shown interest in direction. She directed a short film, Naamkaran, in 2006 and her first feature film, A Death in The Gunj, starring Om Puri, Kalki Koechlin, Vikrant Massey and Ranvir Shorey recently hit the cinemas

Yes, she is her mother's daughter - the slight curl of the lip, the inflection in the refined voice and the laugh could not be more telling. But she is also an intelligent young woman who has managed to pack in a lot of living in her 38 years. And Konkona has grown into a woman with a distinct individuality – as an actor, as a filmmaker