Remembering Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali, Feluda and other nostalgic musings
7 years, 11 months ago

Remembering Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali, Feluda and other nostalgic musings

Firstpost  

Bengalis tend to take their “kalchaaar” very seriously and there are few personalities that we hold in higher regard than Satyajit Ray. Satyajit Ray studied Economics at Presidency College and later enrolled himself in Vishwa Bharti University on his mother’s insistence to study fine arts. Perhaps mindful of his audience, which comprised significantly of children and young adults, Ray steered away from explicit references to sex, violence and graphic details-some familiar tropes of the crime fiction genre. The influence of his work can perhaps be best summed up in the felicitation which accompanied the honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement, which he was awarded in 1992 : “to Satyajit Ray, in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world.” The writer is a Research fellow at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in New Delhi.

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History of this topic

‘Satyajit Ray is one of the few filmmakers I looked up to’: German director Wim Wenders on his India tour
1 month, 3 weeks ago

‘Satyajit Ray is one of the few filmmakers I looked up to’: German director Wim Wenders on his India tour

The Hindu  

German filmmaker Wim Wenders, known for classics such as Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire, and Perfect Days, shared his deep admiration for India and filmmaker Satyajit Ray at a masterclass here, where he described the country as a “beautiful myth.” On his maiden trip to India as part of the five-city King of the Road – India Tour, which features …

From HT Archives: Bharat Ratna for Indian cinema’s great global icon
1 year ago

From HT Archives: Bharat Ratna for Indian cinema’s great global icon

Hindustan Times  

New Delhi Renowned film producer and director Satyajit Ray was conferred with the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson announced on March 20, 1992 -- days after Ray became the first Indian filmmaker to be honoured with a lifetime achievement Academy Award. A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said the award was conferred on Ray, who is …

Ray-esque | Satyajit Ray's Favourite Shooting Locations
1 year, 3 months ago

Ray-esque | Satyajit Ray's Favourite Shooting Locations

Firstpost  

When world famous film maker Satyajit Ray decided to make Pather Panchali, he would go on location scouting. The village finally ended up turning into Pather Panchali’s pivotal outdoor location The camera zooms into Satyajit Ray’s favourite shooting locations. Of course, the city has seen vast changes ever since father shot there.” After Aparajito, Ray made two films back to …

Ray-esque | A look at Satyajit Ray's fascinating domestic life
1 year, 7 months ago

Ray-esque | A look at Satyajit Ray's fascinating domestic life

Firstpost  

Movie legend Satyajit Ray’s life at home was chock-a-block from early morning to late night. But, if it happened to be important or formal, father would write out a draft and key into the typewriter,” informs Sandip, Ray’s son. In fact, one of the attractions for well-known writers to contribute to Sandesh is that they could use father’s illustrations when …

Satyajit Ray: The script and track of a master storyteller
1 year, 11 months ago

Satyajit Ray: The script and track of a master storyteller

The Hindu  

Satyajit Ray, director, script writer, documentary film-maker, author, illustrator and composer, to name a few, had a flair for sketching from his childhood. Decades later, in an interview with the film critic, Iqbal Masud, on Shatranj Ke Khilari, Ray said, “One can well imagine a treatment of annexation with Wazid painted whiter and General Outram blacker, which would automatically enhance …

Ray-esque | Remembering Satyajit Ray's chief assistant director Ramesh Sen
2 years, 2 months ago

Ray-esque | Remembering Satyajit Ray's chief assistant director Ramesh Sen

Firstpost  

Film virtuoso Satyajit Ray ’s chief assistant director and virtually a member of the Ray family, Ramesh Sen, who passed away on October 6th, 2020, was naturally mentioned by his fair name in the opening titles of Ray’s movies. “This is the juncture when Bansi Chandragupta roped me in to work in Manikda’s 1965 film Nayak as chief assistant director. …

Review: The Cinema of Satyajit Ray by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay
2 years, 4 months ago

Review: The Cinema of Satyajit Ray by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay

Hindustan Times  

Bhaskar Chattopadhyay’s The Cinema of Satyajit Ray is divided into two parts - the first analyses all 39 of Ray’s films, including his feature films and the controversial documentaries Sikkim and Bala, that he made over 36 years while the second part comprises in-depth interviews with 17 personalities who have been deeply impressed by the auteur’s cinema. Satyajit Ray Vikramaditya …

Ray-esque | Satyajit Ray: The Illustrator and his love affair with drawing and sketching
2 years, 5 months ago

Ray-esque | Satyajit Ray: The Illustrator and his love affair with drawing and sketching

Firstpost  

Satyajit Ray began drawing and sketching from a very early age. Observing father indulging in this passion from a nascent stage, Thakurma felt inclined to decide that father should pursue the fine arts at Kala Bhavan in Shantiniketan,” says Sandip, lending a peep into the master’s beginnings as an illustrator. ”What’s to be stressed is that father had mastered a …

Ray-esque | From Pandit Ravi Shankar to the Mahabharata; Satyajit Ray’s unrealised films
2 years, 6 months ago

Ray-esque | From Pandit Ravi Shankar to the Mahabharata; Satyajit Ray’s unrealised films

Firstpost  

Movie maestro Satyajit Ray had once contemplated making a short film on virtuosic sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar. “Interestingly, if one flips through the pages of Ashani Sanket’s script, you will discover the unfinished script of Ekti Jibon,” says Sandip. “In wake of Ashani Sanket’s thumping success, father had mulled making a short film, Drobomoyeer Kashibash, based on a writing by …

Ray-esque | Satyajit Ray’s French Connection
2 years, 8 months ago

Ray-esque | Satyajit Ray’s French Connection

Firstpost  

Sandip Ray, Satyajit Ray’s son narrates his father’s relationship with renowned French filmmaker Jean Renoir and how the French equation in Ray’s life took off when he finished making Pather Panchali Renowned French film director Jean Renoir arrives in Calcutta to carve out a new movie creation, his well-known, The River. Thus, he readily embraced the idea of father keeping …

Satyajit Ray wrote 52 letters to ‘Jana’ over 16 years. Who was she?
2 years, 10 months ago

Satyajit Ray wrote 52 letters to ‘Jana’ over 16 years. Who was she?

The Hindu  

Published : May 30, 2022 06:00 IST At the age of eight, young Manik wrote a letter to his cousin Nini. Ray’s son, Sandip Ray, said: “He answered every letter that came in himself.” It is remarkable that Satyajit Ray managed to be such a prolific letter writer even as he was making films, scouting for locations, writing dialogues and …

Satyajit Ray birth anniversary What Akira Kurosawa Said After Watching Pather Panchali
2 years, 11 months ago

Satyajit Ray birth anniversary What Akira Kurosawa Said After Watching Pather Panchali

ABP News  

Satyajit Ray birth anniversary: It has been more than six decades since Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali was released. Nothing Irrelevant Or Haphazard In Ray’s Cinematographic Technique: Kurosawa Pather Panchali went on to win 11 international awards, and is still considered a masterpiece. … I feel that he is a “giant” of the movie industry…Not to have seen the cinema of …

The Flawed Nayaks of Satyajit Ray
2 years, 11 months ago

The Flawed Nayaks of Satyajit Ray

Firstpost  

Filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s vision of male characters in his movie stemmed from his own cinematic belief of creating realistic characters — in both his short stories, stacked to the brim with lonely men and his cinematic offerings. Much of the filmmaker’s vision of male characters in his movie stemmed from his own cinematic belief of creating realistic characters — in …

Ray-esque | Late actor Tom Alter’s interaction with ‘Manik da’ aka Satyajit Ray who altered his life
2 years, 11 months ago

Ray-esque | Late actor Tom Alter’s interaction with ‘Manik da’ aka Satyajit Ray who altered his life

Firstpost  

I had chanced to meet well-known actor Tom Alter, who left us in 2017, in November of 2012, when he had come across to Calcutta from Mumbai as a delegate at the Kolkata International Film Festival. And, he said, “Now, you will believe Tom that I haven’t forgotten,” Manikda drove home. “Then, he asked, “Who’s this producer.” I said, “Manikda….” …

Satyajit Ray death anniversary: A look at the iconic filmmaker's classics
2 years, 11 months ago

Satyajit Ray death anniversary: A look at the iconic filmmaker's classics

Firstpost  

On Satyajit Ray’s death anniversary, lets go down memory lane and have a look at some of his best works. Nation remembers iconic filmmaker Satyajit Ray on the occasion death anniversary today, 23 April. On the occasion of Satyajit Ray’s 30th death anniversary, here’s a look at some of his classics: Pather Panchali - Pather Panchali was Satyajit Ray’s first …

Sandip Ray on working with Shashi Kapoor on Satyajit Ray Presents telefilm: 'He was a thorough perfectionist'
3 years, 1 month ago

Sandip Ray on working with Shashi Kapoor on Satyajit Ray Presents telefilm: 'He was a thorough perfectionist'

Firstpost  

To celebrate the centenary year of Satyajit Ray, arguably the most remarkable filmmaker born on Indian soil, Firstpost will explore the lesser known aspects of his life in our column Ray-esque. * Very few would probably recall today that famed actor Shashi Kapoor, who left us not too many years ago, and well-known director Sandip Ray, maestro Satyajit Ray’s son, …

Exploring a lesser known aspect of Satyajit Ray: The masterful filmmaker was also a science fiction enthusiast
3 years, 2 months ago

Exploring a lesser known aspect of Satyajit Ray: The masterful filmmaker was also a science fiction enthusiast

Firstpost  

From founding the Sci-Fi Cine Club in Kolkata to plans to direct a Hollywood sci-fi film, and developing the character of Professor Shanku, Satyajit Ray enjoyed an almost umbilical connect with the science fiction genre. Satyajit Ray and his friend Adrish Bardhan brought to life the Sci-Fi Cine Club. Significantly, the Sci-Fi Cine Club was born even before movie great …

How Satyajit Ray Stopped Birju Maharaj from a 26th Take for a Song in Shatranj Ke Khilari
3 years, 2 months ago

How Satyajit Ray Stopped Birju Maharaj from a 26th Take for a Song in Shatranj Ke Khilari

News 18  

In the sixties and seventies Lachhu Maharajji was a very successful dance-director in the Mumbai film industry. Manikda saw a performance of mine at Vigyan Bhavan and requested Maharajji to choreograph two dance sequences for the film. Finally, Manikda called me and said, ‘Creative Manush konodin satisfied hobe na; onake bolo bhishan bhalo hocchhe.’ So we all shouted ‘encore’ after …

Satyajit Ray's documentaries: A mixed bag
3 years, 5 months ago

Satyajit Ray's documentaries: A mixed bag

The Hindu  

Between 1961 and 1987, Satyajit Ray directed five documentaries and six short films. In 1961, Ray observed the birth centenary of Rabindranath Tagore by making a documentary on the poet for the Films Division of the Government of India, and an omnibus feature film called Teen Kanya, which brought together three short films adapted from well-known Tagore short stories— Monihara, …

Satyajit Ray: Master adapter
3 years, 5 months ago

Satyajit Ray: Master adapter

The Hindu  

Satyajit Ray needs no introduction as a film-maker and a writer. The glorious abandoning of sense in Sukumar Ray’s Abol Tabol, the posthumous collection of his nonsense poems generally believed to have been inspired by Edward Lear, has delighted and enthralled generations of Bengali children. “Each word spoken in a play is like a fruit in a tree,” says a …

‘Films are pre-Satyajit or post-Satyajit’: Shyam Benegal remembers Satyajit Ray
3 years, 5 months ago

‘Films are pre-Satyajit or post-Satyajit’: Shyam Benegal remembers Satyajit Ray

The Hindu  

Often the mostenduring bonds in life are forged on freak incidents. Back in Hyderabad, he formed a film society, and in 1959 organised a screening of Ray’s films, notably the trilogy of Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar. The illustrious film-maker was wrapping up Nayak when Benegal went to the sets of the film and Ray invited him to a …

Sharmila Tagore on working with Satyajit Ray
3 years, 5 months ago

Sharmila Tagore on working with Satyajit Ray

The Hindu  

The fans of Hindi cinemarememberher for Kashmir ki Kali, Aradhana and Amar Prem. Excerpts from an interview with Ziya Us Salam : When you signed up for ‘Apur Sansar’ with Satyajit Ray, you had barely entered teenage. As Ray proceeds to unfold the doom that is now Doya’s fate, Doya is treated in big close-ups, lit beautifully by Subrata Mitra, …

Film time, family time: Sandip Ray on Satyajit Ray
3 years, 5 months ago

Film time, family time: Sandip Ray on Satyajit Ray

The Hindu  

Sandip Ray announcedhis arrival as a film-maker with the release of Phatik Chand in 1983. Excerpts: When you were growing up, Satyajit Ray was publishing one classic story for children after another in ‘Sandesh’. A fairy tale for children You were 13 when Satyajit Ray made ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’ in 1969, at a time when there were not many …

‘A man who knew too much’: Goutam Ghose on Satyajit Ray
3 years, 5 months ago

‘A man who knew too much’: Goutam Ghose on Satyajit Ray

The Hindu  

acclaimed film-maker Goutam Ghose shared a close personal relationship with Satyajit Ray. In a long, free-flowing conversation with Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay, Ghose spoke about his relationship with Ray, the master’s famous ‘k heror khata’, Ray’s use of music, his humour and his incredible time management. ‘Kheror khata’ I had the opportunity of going through Ray’s famous red books, his ‘k …

A Century of Satyajit Ray
3 years, 5 months ago

A Century of Satyajit Ray

The Hindu  

In 1987, while researching my biographySatyajit Ray: The Inner Eye, I received a letter from the American film director John Huston. In 1954, on a visit to India in search of film locations, in Calcutta Huston saw some silent rough cut of Ray’s first film, Pather Panchali —including Apu and Durga’s first sight of a steam train—shown to him by …

Celebrating Satyajit Ray
3 years, 5 months ago

Celebrating Satyajit Ray

The Hindu  

About three months ago, when this Special Issue dedicated to Satyajit Ray was just an idea, in an unRayesque coincidence as it were, an email landed in my inbox, offering the first ray of hope. Apart from writing the lead article, he has been of great help in taking the idea forward by sending me the text of his conversations …

‘He lived life cinema’: Adoor Gopalakrishnan on Satyajit Ray
3 years, 5 months ago

‘He lived life cinema’: Adoor Gopalakrishnan on Satyajit Ray

The Hindu  

Adoor Gopalakrishnan, one of the most notable and renowned film-makers in India, pioneered the new wave in Malayalam cinema during the 1970s. Venkiteswaran on Satyajit Ray’s legacy: Satyajit Ray brought about a radical break in Indian cinema in terms of aesthetics, form, content and narrative style. Then came his comment, “Now I understand.” In the last three films of Ray, …

’Ray’ review: Manoj Bajpayee dazzles in this tribute to Satyajit Ray
3 years, 9 months ago

’Ray’ review: Manoj Bajpayee dazzles in this tribute to Satyajit Ray

Live Mint  

Satyajit Ray did everything. Abhishek Chaubey directs Bajpayee in Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa, a Ghulam Ali-tinged adaptation of one of my most loved Ray stories, Barin Bhowmick’s Ailment. Much of Ray’s adventure takes place inside the hero’s head, something Chaubey handles brilliantly by letting Bajpayee not only talk to a mirror but to address an imaginary, admiring audience. Bala deviously …

Ray review: Netflix India's attempted love affair with Satyajit Ray is painfully one-note, sans any nuance
3 years, 9 months ago

Ray review: Netflix India's attempted love affair with Satyajit Ray is painfully one-note, sans any nuance

Firstpost  

In an attempt to intellectualise Satyajit Ray through a contemporary lens, Netflix India’s Ray completely alienates his humanism and effortlessness in portraying people’s vulnerabilities “I’ve written all types of stories, but I usually like to write about lonely people and things happening to them.” ~ Satyajit Ray. And thus begins Netflix’s attempted love affair with the auteur’s short stories in …

Ray on Netflix on June 25. Which Satyajit Ray stories inspired the Manoj Bajpayee and Ali Fazal series?
3 years, 9 months ago

Ray on Netflix on June 25. Which Satyajit Ray stories inspired the Manoj Bajpayee and Ali Fazal series?

India Today  

Netflix dropped the trailer of Ray, an anthology series which is helmed by Abhishek Chaubey, Srijit Mukherji and Vasan Bala. The drama series is inspired by four of Satyajit Ray’s stories Spotlight, Bahurupi, Barin Bhowmik-er Byaram and Bipin Chowdhury'r Smritibhrom. FORGET ME NOT, INSPIRED BY BIPIN CHOWDHURY'R SMRITIBHROM If you have watched the trailer of Ray, you will be aware …

Aparna Sen and Madhabi Mukherjee on Satyajit Ray, the man, and his enduring legacy
3 years, 11 months ago

Aparna Sen and Madhabi Mukherjee on Satyajit Ray, the man, and his enduring legacy

Firstpost  

On Satyajit Ray’s 100th birth anniversary, his leading ladies Aparna Sen and Madhabi Mukherjee weigh in on the political significance of the man and his legacy, even 29 years since he breathed his last. Having spotted the actress in Mrinal Sen’s Baishey Shravana, and subsequently on several magazine covers, Satyajit Ray was “keen to see her performance”. “Mrinal’s film proved …

Satyajit Ray's Feluda and Professor Shonku to be incorporated in a film on director's centenary
4 years, 5 months ago

Satyajit Ray's Feluda and Professor Shonku to be incorporated in a film on director's centenary

Firstpost  

Bankrolled by SVF Films, Satyajit Ray’s iconic characters Feluda and Professor Shonku will feature in a yet-to-be-titled film directed by his son Sandip Ray. The film industry along with the rest of the country will observe the 100th birth anniversary of veteran filmmaker Satyajit Ray in 2021. To make the centenary of the director memorable, Bengal’s media and entertainment house …

Opinion | The perils of being Sandip Roy in Satyajit Ray’s city
4 years, 10 months ago

Opinion | The perils of being Sandip Roy in Satyajit Ray’s city

Live Mint  

It was Day 1 of the Great Indian Lockdown. Only later did it dawn on me that the poor journalist must have thought he was speaking to the other Sandip Ray, Satyajit Ray’s son. Later, I heard that someone in the audience was asking her companion, “Is that Satyajit Ray’s son?” Her companion, who was looking at me, clearly visible, …

Remembering Satyajit Ray: An Incredible Storyteller
5 years, 11 months ago

Remembering Satyajit Ray: An Incredible Storyteller

India TV News  

Born in Calcutta, now Kolkata, Satyajit Ray was an Indian director famous for his perfection in the craft of filmmaking. Recognized as one of the masters of world cinema, Satyajit Ray made films in the Bengali language. Ray's other films like Charulata, Jalsaghar, Teen Kanya, Abhijan and so on introduced the parallel cinema in the 20th century. Apart from writing …

Photos: Revisiting Satyajit Ray on his 97th birth anniversary
6 years, 11 months ago

Photos: Revisiting Satyajit Ray on his 97th birth anniversary

Hindustan Times  

Photos: Revisiting Satyajit Ray on his 97th birth anniversary Satyajit Ray would have turned 97 today. On his birth anniversary, a look at the many caps Satyajit Ray the auteur donned as an illustrator, writer, music composer and film director.. 1 / 8 View Photos in a new improved layout Born on May 2, 1921, to a family with generations …

Nayak: Easily one of Satyajit Ray’s most incisive and detailed studies of human nature
7 years, 2 months ago

Nayak: Easily one of Satyajit Ray’s most incisive and detailed studies of human nature

Firstpost  

Editor’s note: In a prolific career spanning nearly four decades, Satyajit Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. Told in free style, punctuated with the occasional humour and smart wit, running back and forth thanks to flashbacks and dream sequences, and taking its time to denude the protagonist of his external garb of casual indifference, Nayak is …

Of lipsticks, labels and desires: Why Satyajit Ray’s reel women continue to resonate with real women
7 years, 6 months ago

Of lipsticks, labels and desires: Why Satyajit Ray’s reel women continue to resonate with real women

Firstpost  

The reel women of Satyajit Ray have already passed the test of time. Discovering the self and beyond Even as we fill reams today talking about women’s rights and the need to push the patriarchal envelope, a look at Satyajit Ray’s cinema makes you pause and wonder at the dexterity with which he explored the theme in several of his …

Ray’s alter ego
7 years, 10 months ago

Ray’s alter ego

The Hindu  

IN 1965, Satyajit Ray tried his hand at something new for Sandesh —a detective story. Of particular interest to Satyajit Ray’s admirers and “Feluda” aficionados were the laminated photocopies of Satyajit Ray’s handwritten manuscripts, drafts, sketches and paintings, which hung alongside the pictures and posters. This way, Satyajit Ray, through Feluda, also informed the young reader about the harsher realities …

On Satyajit Ray's 96th birth anniversary, here are his 7 most underrated films
7 years, 11 months ago

On Satyajit Ray's 96th birth anniversary, here are his 7 most underrated films

India Today  

The name Satyajit Ray needs no introduction. Jalsaghar - 1958 A still from Jalsaghar Satyajit Ray's fourth film, Jalsaghar, was his first to incorporate song and dance into the narrative. Kanchenjunga - 1962 A still from Kanchenjunga Kanchenjunga was Satyajit Ray's first film in colour and also his first based on an original screenplay written by him. Pratidwandi - 1970 …

Satyajit Ray at 95: The Renaissance Man still holds total sway over our lives
8 years, 10 months ago

Satyajit Ray at 95: The Renaissance Man still holds total sway over our lives

Firstpost  

Ray married occidental with the oriental and transcended the borders of watertight definitions that we use to define men whose genius we cannot comprehend. My friend and Alipurduar College professor Somesh Roy calls him a “A creative genius whose talent found a way to manifest itself regardless of the medium. Keymer, Ray transformed contemporary commercial art as an illustrator and …

Google wishes Satyajit Ray happy birthday with Apu doodle
11 years, 11 months ago

Google wishes Satyajit Ray happy birthday with Apu doodle

Firstpost  

To honour the legendary filmaker on his birthday, search giant Google presented a doodle on its homepage showing a scene from his iconic movie Panther Panchali. To honour the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray on his 92nd birth anniversary, the Google Doodle shows a scene from one of Ray’s most beloved films, Pather Panchali. Pather Panchali was Ray’s first film and …

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