Kaleidoscope, Chaalchitra (1981) dir. Mrinal Sen

Burning with a desire to be a journalist, a young man gets his chance when a publisher the father of a friend suggests that he write a story on the daily life of the people in his house (several families worth of people). The material turns out to be too incohesive and abundant to work into a pointed, thematic article, and just when he is about to give up, his younger brother asks him a simple question: How many coal burners are there in Calcutta This triggers an idea for a story about Calcuttas pollution and the aspiring journalist dreams of myriads of burnertoting citizens invading the publishers home demanding redress. Maybe he is finally on the way to a story that matters.