Satyajit Ray the doyen of Indian films Part-I

jyotirmoy

The greatest film director that India has produced is Satyajit Ray. His contribution to the world of cinema is invaluable. Born to an illustrious family he was associated with creative work from an early stage. His grandfather Upendrakishore brought fine printing to India & set up a printing & publishing house. He was a regular contributor to the British journal Penrose Annual from 1897 to 1912. Satyajit’s father a double Hons. Holder in Physics & Chemistry was the second Indian to become a member of the Royal Photographic Society in 1922. He had set up the Nonsense Club where members indulged in word plays, puns etc. His book Abol Tabol, literally translated as Nonsense gibberish is an excellent limerick unbeaten even today. He toured Britain along with Tagore.

Some time during mid 50’s Satyajit was working as a graphic designer for a publishing house & seeing great films at the Calcutta Film Society. It was then that Satyajit could be seen at the coffee house along with friends like Bansi Chandragupta who became his art & set director but later left for Bollywood, Chidananda Dasgupta a great film critic & father of Aparna Sen, Subroto Mitra who became a great camera man. Pather Panchali (Song of the little road) was taking its birth. The story was by a great novelist Bibhutibhusan. Satyajit adopted a style, which is unique; being a great artist he would sketch each scene on paper with all details like furniture, curtains, decorative items etc. Hunt was on to locate an eighty plus lady who would play the role of Indira Thakuran. Rest were all freshers gathered around the cause. In fact they did not act in any other film after Pather Panchali except Karuna Banerjee who played Apu’s mother again in the second film of Apu trilogy Aporajito (Unvanquished). Every body had put in their savings; Satyajit had pawned his wife’s ornaments. Everyday was spent on running from pillar to post for money. Finally West Bengal’s chief minister Dr. Bidhan Roy provided some monetary relief. Days were spent in the location for rains to come at a particular time of the day as described in the original novel. Eighty plus Chuni Bala Devi went daily to the village location & acted in a superb manner. Music was courtesy Pandit Ravi Shanker. Ray composed music himself for all his later films except Jalsaghar. Ustad Bismillha Khan directed the music for Jalsaghar. He also wrote the scripts for all his films.

His first film Pather Panchali won the following awards:
President’s Gold & Silver Medals, New Delhi, 1955
Best Human Document, Cannes, 1956
Diploma of Merit, Edinburgh, 1956
Vatican Award, Rome, 1956
Golden Carbao, Manila, 1956
Best Film Direction, San Francisco, 1957
Selznick Golden Laurel, Berlin, 1957
Best Film, Vancouver, 1958
Critic’s Award, Stafford, 1958
Best Foreign Film, Afro Arts Theatre, NY, 1959
Best Non- European Film, Denmark, 1966

Personal awards:
Magsaysay Award, Manila, 1967
Star of Yugoslavia, 1971
D.Litt, Delhi University, 1973
D.Litt., Royal College of Arts, London
Padmabibhusan, Govt. of India, 1976
D.Litt., Oxford University, 1978
Special Award, Berlin Film festival, 1978
Special Award, Moscow Film Festival, 1979
“Hommaage a Satyajit Ray”, Cannes Film Festival, 1982
Special Golden Lion of St. Mark, Venice Film Festival, 1982
Fellowship of British Film Institute, 1983
D.Litt., Calcutta University, 1985
“Soviet Land” Nehru Award, 1985
Legion d’Honneur, France, 1987. As Satyajit was not well French President flew in to Kolkata to present this award on the grand steps of the Kolkata Museum.

Shortly beforehis death Audrey Hepburn flew in to present Oscar Life time achievement award to Satyajit.

beebah

Really intersting post, Thanks Jyotirmoy. I haven't seen any of his films for a while but I rememember really liking his films.