SATYAJIT RAY: The never-forgotten idol.

Khevna.P.Shah, INN/Bangalore

Content Writer

Born on May 2nd, 1921, in India Calcutta,  an affluent Bengali family, Satyajit Ray was the greatest filmmaker in the history of Indian cinema. He comes from the background of a writer, poet, and painter. His grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray, was a renowned writer, painter, composer, and violin player who owned India’s finest pressing company U.Ray&Sons. He also started publishing and printing the children’s magazine ‘Sandesh. Ray’s father, Sukumar Ray was also a writer who contributed his stories in ‘Sandesh. He attained his early schooling at Ballygunj Government School and completed further studies in the Presidency College, and later went to Shantiniketan to gain excellence in the field of art. Later coming back to Calcutta, Ray discovered his interest in writing screenplays. In the year 1947, Satyajit Ray co-founded Calcutta’s first film society and Battleship was the first film they screened. ‘Bicycle thief’ resorted to a belief in him that movies can be made realistic and in actual locations. Later, in the introduction of ‘Our Films, Their Films” he wrote- “All through my stay in London, the lessons of Bicycle Thieves and neo-realist cinema stayed with me.

Ray’s work was critically acclaimed nationally and internationally as well. His first successful hit was Pather Panchali(the song of the little road), released in Calcutta in the year 1955. It was the first part of the Apu trilogy, another two-part being Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu). During Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit to Calcutta, he was soo moved by Pather Panchali, that he ensured that it entered the Cannes Flim festival,1956, despite the opposition of the film to make an entry. It not only won “the Best Human Document” but also won dozen of prizes at film festivals abroad and at home. Pather Panchali established a mark for Satyajit Ray as a world-class director. Ray always maintained a distance from political revolved films, but the release of Pratidwandi (The Adversary)broke the grounds in the year 1970. Pratidwanti is about a story of a young educated man hunting for a job amidst the social unrest. Releasing this film was a bold move especially in that particular period time when revolt and protest were happening in Bengal. Pratidwandi is a kind of film that can be relatable to the current generation of youth as well. This film experimented with techniques such as photo-negative flashbacks. Ray was not the creator of ideal political cinema, rather than most of his works reflected the issues of middle-man and human conditions.

In the year1965, Ray was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government & in 1985 he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He was also awarded Bharat Ratna shortly before his death. Through his journey, Ray received a 36 National Flim Award from the Government of Inda. He received international awards as well in the year 1979 at the 11th Moscow International Flim Festival he was awarded Honorable Prize for his contribution to cinema. Besides Charlie Chaplin, Ray is the second personality to been awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University. And in 2004 participants in the BBC poll placed him at NO.13 on the “Greatest Bengali of all time.

The recent podcast hosted by Sidharth Bhatia from The Wire with Dhritiman Chatterjee, who made his debut in Satyajit Ray’s Pratidwandi revealed a lot about Ray’s working style. Chatterjee said, “Ray was a practical man and a Renaissance man. Ray worked on the theme of the human condition and avoided introducing the complex theme to the audience for a basic reason being that the money invested in the film by the producer should be returned so that he could have money for the next film. Chatterjee further says that “Ray had a unique way to bring out the life in the first time actors. He casually interacts about various issues such as politics, films, etc with them and notes their body language and dialogue delivery, and uses this while shooting. According to Satyajit Ray, “What Indian cinema needs today is not more gloss (unlike Hollywood films), but more imagination, more integrity, and more intelligent appreciation of the limitations of the medium… The raw material of cinema is life itself. Incredibly, a country that has inspired so much painting and music, and poetry should fail to move the filmmaker. He has only to keep his eyes open and his ears. Let him do so.” Completing the 100th birth anniversary, Ray is an idol to the present generation of filmmakers, and is his work is still recognized worldwide. To honor Satyajit Ray, Netflix is releasing ‘Ray’ It will consist of his short stories, starring Manoj Bajpayee, Gajraj Rao, Kay Kay Menon, and Harvardhan Kapoor screen on June 25th.

 

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