He was the editor of the leftist newspaper Frontier, published from Kolkata, which was banned during the period of the Indian Emergency (1975 -1977) declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Yet Sen was perhaps the first to 'break' with the lyrical romanticism of Tagore and introduce "modern" concerns (disenchantment, decadence, avant-garde urban perspectives) into Bengali verse.

[5] Samar Sen also edited the radical journal Now, publishing a galaxy of prominent scholars and writers, including Joan Robinson and Satyajit Ray; his deputy editor was the playwright and actor Utpal Dutt.

In his private life Sen was a man with a wry sense of humour, sometimes acerbic but often lethally accurate.

Some critics mourn his abandonment of poetry as a loss to Indian literature, reasoning that his acute perception and extraordinary command of languages would have continued to produce memorable verse of lasting significance.