Kolkata, West Bengal

Satyajit Ray is possibly the finest filmmaker from India to the west and undoubtedly one of the masters of world cinema. Although most of his films were in Bengali, yet his films are of great universal value and interest. His films were based on themes of reality such as emotions, relationships, struggle, joys, conflicts and sorrows. The films showcased notable humanism, intricate observation and fine handling of situations and characters.

Satyajit Ray was born on 2nd May, 1921 in the city of Joy, Calcutta in one of the distinguished families of Bengal. Upendra Kishore Ray, his grandfather was an astronomer, scientist, musician, writer, illustrator, and a publisher. Ray’s father Sukumar Ray was an excellent writer while his mother was a phenomenal singer. Ray graduated from Presidency College, Calcutta and left for Shantiniketan, West Bengal where he developed interest in graphic design.

After returning to Kolkata (Calcutta) in the year 1943 he worked in a British advertising agency. In the year 1949 he got the chance to meet Jean Renoir, the great director from France. Jean Renoir encouraged and inspired Ray to make films. The film Vittorio de Sica’s Bicycle Thief (1949) inspired Ray greatly who then started working on his first film Pather Panchali.

Pather Panchali is the first part of the Apu trilogy. The movie upholds the village life of Bengal from the view of Durga and Apu, two children of an impecunious Brahmin priest. The film is based on one of the famous novels by Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee where Satyajit Ray turns the most apparently dull events into a significant experience. A few of them includes an approaching train making Apu and Durga mesmerized or the scene of Apu’s admiring eyes seeing Durga dancing at the downpour. Another memorable experience is the use of appropriate music when the poor priest was being told about her beloved daughter’s death. This film was successfully shown in movie halls for 13 weeks in Calcutta and even won a unique prize for the ‘Best Human Document’ at Cannes.

Pather Panchali was succeeded by two other films Aparajito and Apur Sansar in the years 1956 and 1959 respectively which completes the Apu trilogy by portraying his adulthood and marriage. In spite of having many outstanding moments and firm creation, these films had a deficit of the poetic quality and unfussiness of Pather Panchali. But still, as a whole, the trilogy has the tempo and gush of life. Even Aparajito won the ‘Lionne d’Ore’ in a jury supervised by Rene Clair at Venice. Apur Sansar witnessed the starting of Ray’s long-term relationship with the well-known Soumitra Chatterjee.

Though Satyajit Ray had a creative period of remarkable filmmaking which includes Jalsaghar in the year 1958, Devi in 1960, Teen Kanya in 1961, Abhijan and Kanchenjunga in 1962 and Mahanagar in 1963 which is his first movie in colour, the most flawlessly crafted one was Charulata in the year 1964. The period during 1879 in Calcutta known as Bengal Renaissance, was meticulously projected in the film through the costumes, the wallpaper, the Victorian furniture, the typeface of Charu’s husband’s journal etc. A one-liner dialogue in a total duration of seven minutes is so prominent that it is sufficient to project Charu’s loneliness and boredom while wondering aimlessly in the opening series. Charulata’s role was brilliantly performed by Madhabi Mukherjee and the astonishing musical pattern set the attitude of the movie.

In the film Nayak (1966), Ray kept in mind superstar Uttam Kumar while creating the lead character of actor Arindam Mukherjee. People felt the film to be the autobiography of Uttam Kumar. The sense of disquiet and impatience of the renowned actor epitomized Uttam’s diffidence regarding his phenomenal achievement along with the fear about the lasting of his superstardom. Uttam Kumar got into the character of Arindam and even post-completion of the film, Ray confessed that the movie would have been abandoned by him if the superstar had refused to act in the same. They worked again in another film named Chidiakhana in the year 1967.

Distinct from his contemporaries, Ray’s work didn’t have any fixed genre. He thus gifted the film industry with varying movies ranging from a dance and song fantasy movie for the children to modern metropolitan trilogy and detective crime fiction. To name the most famous are Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne in the year 1969, Pratidwandi in 1970, Seemabaddha in 1971, Jana Aranya in 1975, Sonar Kella in 1974, Jai Baba Felunath in 1978 etc. Satyajit Ray’s first Hiondi film was Shatranj ke Khiladi, one of the historical in 1977.

In 1978, Ray was ranked one of the three “all-time best directors” by the managing committee of the Berlin Film Festival. Ray was forced to stop his film making in the 1980s for his deteriorating health condition though later in 1988, doctors permitted the great director to work again provided the shooting is strictly restricted to indoor.

Post this period, the only film where Satyajit Ray was seen in his original form was Agantuk in the year 1991. The movie covers the story of a lost uncle landing up in the life of his young niece and her husband unexpectedly. His claim to be the wife’s uncle was being suspected by the couple. They thought him to be after her ancestral property though their son gets enthralled with his travels and adventures. In the end, the uncle departs having bared the meanness of the couple. Though the film could not make much business in India but was figured in one of the first ten box-office hits in Paris. Satyajit Ray was finally awarded with the honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1992.

To put it in the words of the excellent film director Akira Kurosawa from Japan,

“The quiet but deep observation, understanding and love of the human race, which are characteristic of all his films, have impressed me greatly. … I feel that he is a “giant” of the movie industry.” … “Not to have seen the Cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.” “I can never forget the excitement in my mind after seeing it (Pather Panchali). It is the kind of cinema that flows with the serenity and nobility of a big river.

While Martin Scorsese said-

“Ray’s magic, the simple poetry of his images and their emotional impact will always stay with me.”

Ray not only made and directed films but also wrote all the screenplays of the films that he made. He composed some amazing music for his movies and could also operate the camera. He was truly a wonderful screenplay writer and a composer and young tlents have definitely a lot to learn from him. Satyajit Ray wrote an autobiography in the year 1982, called Jakhtan Choto Chilam. The autobiography encompassed his childhood years. Essays on several films like Bosoy Chalachchitra (1976), “Our Films, Their Films (1976) and Ekei Bole Shooting (1979) were also written by him. Majority of the stories and novels written by Ray were published by Ananda Publishing in Calcutta while the screenplays were published by the Eksan Journal in Bengali.

Many popular documentaries were created on Satyajit Ray, by eminent film makers and personalities like Shyam Benegal and K Bikram Singh. Ray was also the subject of biographies written by Marie Seaton in 1971, Das Gupta in 1980 and Robinson in 1989.

Once Darius Cooper, the Film Critic said-

“In film after film, he investigates India’s social institutions and the power structures to which they give rise, or vice versa. He works out, in concrete terms, the conflicts and issues of his times, both in his own state of Bengal and in the larger Indian nation….” (The Cinema of Satyajit Ray: Between Tradition and Modernity, 2000)

To quote the talented Film Director Elia Kazan-

“I have admired his films for many years and for me he is the filmic voice of India, speaking for the people of all classes of the country…”

Robert Steel, a Film Critic said that-

“[When] I did see [Pather Panchali]… I was bowled over. Here was an Indian film that was a film or that matched my concept of a film and a great one at that. It was the first film made in India that I had ever seen which did not embarrass, annoy, or bore me.” (Montage Special Issue on Satyajit Ray, 1966)

Satyajit Ray was not just restricted to film making. He was a literary genius as well. From the year 1961 to 1992, he wrote many non-fictions, novels and stories. In the year 1961, Ray revitalized and invigorated a magazine for the children called “Sandesh”, which was created by his grandfather. Ray added to this magazine immensely and throughout his complete life, by enriching the magazine with inspiring and interesting verses, stories and illustrations.

Ray was also into writing many articles and short stories. Children’s literature, specially that I Bengali was benefited hugely and significantly, through the valuable contributions made by Stayajit Ray. Children specially liked the novels and detective stories written by this great writer. His writings are self-effacing, unpretentious and at the same time very entertaining. Subjects ranged from detective stories, fantasy, adventure, science fiction and horror. Satyajit Ray was an amazing painter too.

In the year 1978, Satyajit Ray was ranked as one of the 3 all time best directors, by the organizing committee of Berlin Film Festival.

In the year 1992, Satyajit Ray was awarded with the very prestigious honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was recognized for his rare mastery of art and his deep and insightful humanitarian approach that influenced the audiences and the filmmakers from all across the world in a major way.

Other prestigious honors received by Satyajit Ray are “Lègion d’Honneur”, from France and “Bharatratna” (Jewel of India) by his very on country, India.

Further, this legendary filmmaker was also felicitated with numerous other esteemed awards as a film maker for both the personal achievements that he made and also the films made by him. Satyajit Ray and Indian Films are like the two sides of the same coin. Both are incomplete without the presence of each other! They are simply inseparable.