Considered by some to be the first politically-overt film made in India, Padatik was made at a time when the extreme left-wing Naxalite movement, was enervated by the constant attack of the Indian state and by factional in-fighting. The third part of the Calcutta Trilogy (after Interview, 1970, and Calcutta ’71, 1972), shows an activist, escaping from police custody and sheltering with an upper-class woman. During his enforced isolation, he begins to question party leadership. As Mrinal Sen said: “PADATIK has something to do with the contemporary political scene. You don't have a free hand here. It is not possible for many reasons to be very candid about many things. But that doesn't mean you'll tell half-truths. Half-truths are perhaps more dangerous than lies. To my mind, I tried to analyze the political situation the way I felt it would be done. It could have been clearer but I felt that even this should be done. We had arrived at a point when the Left movement was lying low and the leftist parties were in disarray, losing perspective, and isolated, at a time when there was a need for unceasing self-criticism. “That is why the protagonist in PADATIK has unshaken faith in the party, even though he has suffered reverses due to faulty direction. Yet he does question the leadership bitterly and uncompromisingly. Nonetheless, the fact remains that in our country, as elsewhere, you do have the leadership and to a certain extent even the cadres go the established way in order to fight the establishment. As the party fights the establishment, it falls victim to it. The party soon adopts the very mores and manners it has been fighting. This is what is happening to our party. This is why a lot of criticism is being taken up these days and there are so many factions even in the most extremist left party—in each of the Marxist variety there are a lot of factions. So any situation dealing with this is liable to be criticized and contradicted by some faction or other. But to my mind, it is important to raise these issues. It is detrimental, ruinous, and suicidal not to discuss these issues at all when you know there is something wrong somewhere, maybe in the cadres, maybe in the leadership, maybe somewhere else.” Winner Indian National Award for Best Screenplay, 1974.