The death of filmmaker Mrinal Sen on the penultimate day of the year arrived as the last bit of sad news for many cinephiles in India.
The filmmaker was the last of the legendary troika of Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak who reshaped the direction of Indian cinema and its perception among foreign viewers.
Sen was 95.
Soon, tributes began to pour in from across industry lines. Prime minister Narendra Modi and former president Pranab Mukherjee also took to social media to convey their regards.
Writing to The Telegraph newspaper, actor Naseeruddin Shah said, "He needed to believe in what he was filming. He never went into a project because someone asked him to. He is probably in a better place now than he was in the last few years, but his mark will stay indelible and his example will always be there to emulate."
Mrinal Sen will be cremated after the director's only son, Kunal, arrives in Kolkata on 2 January.