Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray (born May 2, 1921, Calcutta, India—died April 23, 1992, Calcutta), Bengali film director, novelist, and illustrator best known for Pather Panchali (The Song of the Road) and its two sequels, collectively known as the Apu Trilogy. Ray was known for his humanism, versatility, and careful control over his films and their soundtracks as a director. He was regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers of the twentieth century.

 

His outstanding film works include "Pather Panchali," "Charulata," "Aparajito," and "The World of Apu," which changed the course of Indian cinema and earned him the Padma Bhushan, Bharat Ratna, and an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1992.

 

Satyajit Ray has written wonderful literary narratives such as "The Complete Adventures of Feluda," "The Incredible Adventures of Professor Shonku," "My Years with Apu: A Memoir," "Indigo," and others, which have been translated and widely read beyond borders, in addition to his contributions to the film industry.

 

Ray's father died in 1923, leaving him as an only child. His grandfather was a writer and illustrator, and his father, Sukumar Ray, was a Bengali verse writer and illustrator. Ray grew up in Calcutta, where his mother raised him. He started his education at a government school, where he was primarily taught in Bengali, and then went on to Presidency College, Calcutta's most prestigious institution, where he was taught in English. He was fluent in both languages by the time he graduated in 1940. His mother persuaded him to enroll in art school at Santiniketan, the rural university established by Rabindranath Tagore northwest of Calcutta, in 1940. Ray, whose interests had previously been predominantly urban and Western-oriented, was introduced to Indian and other Eastern art and developed a deeper understanding of both Eastern and Western culture, which is evident in his films.

 

Ray returned to Calcutta in 1943 and took a position as an art director for a British-owned advertising agency. He also worked as a commercial illustrator for a publishing company, eventually becoming a leading Indian typographer and book-jacket designer. The novel Pather Panchali by Bibhuti Bhushan Banarjee was one of the books he illustrated in 1944, and its cinematic possibilities piqued his interest. Ray had long been a film buff, and his growing curiosity in the medium prompted him to try his hand at screenwriting and cofound the Calcutta Film Society in 1947. The French director Jean Renoir, who was filming ‘The River in Bengal’ at the time, encouraged Ray's cinematic aspirations in 1949. Ray was persuaded to make ‘Pather Panchali’ after seeing Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief (1948), which had a downbeat tale and was shot on location with nonprofessional actors.

 

Jalsaghar (1958; The Music Room), an impassioned evocation of a man's obsession with music; Devi (1960; The Goddess), in which the obsession is with a girl's divine incarnation; Sadgati (1981; Deliverance), a powerful indictment of caste; and Kanchenjungha (1962), Ray's most famous film about Hindu orthodoxy and feudal values (and their potential clash with modern Western-inspired reforms). 

 

Shatranj ke Khilari (1977; The Chess Players), Ray's first Hindi-language film with a comparatively large budget, is a subtler review of the West's effect on India. With perfect irony and pathos, it portrays the downfall of the emperor Wajid Ali at the hands of the British in Lucknow in 1856, just before the Indian Mutiny.

While humour appears in almost all of Ray's films, it is particularly noticeable in the comedy Parash Pathar (1957; The Philosopher's Stone) and the musical Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969; The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha), both of which are based on stories by his grandfather. Ray's songs for the film are among his most well-known contributions to Bengali culture.

 

With the exception of his stirring tale about the Bengal Famine of 1943–44, Ahsani Sanket (1973; Distant Thunder), the rest of Ray's main work is mainly about Calcutta and contemporary Calcuttans. Aranyer Din Ratri (1970; Days and Nights in the Forest) follows the exploits of four young men who attempt, but fail, to leave the city on a trip to the countryside. Mahanagar (1963; The Big City) and a trilogy of films from the 1970s—Pratidwandi (1970; The Adversary), Seemabaddha (1971; Company Limited), and Jana Aranya (1975; The Middleman)—investigate the middle class's struggle for jobs against a backdrop of nationalist, Maoist-inspired brutality, government repression, and insidious corruption (starting in 1970). Ray returned to the issue of societal corruption after a hiatus during which he made Pikoo (1980) and then became ill with heart disease. With their powerful male central characters, Ganashatru (1989; An Enemy of the People), Shakha Prashakha (1990; Branches of the Tree), and the sublime Agantuk (1991; The Stranger) each reflect a facet of Ray's own personality, defiantly protesting against the intellectual and moral degradation of his beloved Bengal.