Satyajit Ray, the doyen of Indian films

I dont think we have that much mature audiences in India yet, who will encourage such films. That's why a lot of talented filmmakers started making masala films.. the best example is Mahesh bhatt.. who made such brilliant movies like "SARAANSH" and "ARTH", went on to make.. AASHIQUI (not that I dont like it , but I like saraansh more )

Oh, thanks guys... i will sure look it up... but its chances of being found in a Tsutaya store (DVD rental place in Japan) are few ... or even in India for that matter...

If any of you guys have a copy in DVD or Tape, i'll be happy buy you beer or something in exchange for a viewing...

Having seen many of his films, and briefly been associated with the preservation of them (another story) . . .
ZZZZZZZZZZzzz

but then, I sleep at HH Dalai Lama sp eaks, so prolly it's my limited capacity for intellectual stimulation

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.

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

Does anyone know where I might find a copy of this film by the great Satyajit Ray? I am going to be in Kolkata in ten days time so if there are any likely addresses in his home town to track down this film I'd be very grateful for inside knowledge!

you can try at MusicWorld. its located in park street - next to the cafe 'flury's'. should not be too difficult to locate, as its in the hub of calcutta. they have a selection of other bengali movies too. hope you find what you're looking for and welcome to india


:brishti

Make sure that it is subtitled.
In my opinion this one is probably the best although not so popular. Check out "Jalsaghar" another great film.

Thank you, Brishti,for your kind suggestion. I will check it out!
Jyotirmoy, I have seen and adored "Jalsaghar". In fact Ray's music from his films is one of my favourite CDs. I have also seen the Apu Trilogy, the Chess Players, Days and Nights in the Forest, Teen Kanya, Devi, Charulata, and The Adversary. I was fortunate enough to attend a retrospective of Satyajit Ray. So I spent many happy hours watching these. The Chess Players I found at the British Film Institute in London on DVD along with a fascinating book by Andrew Robinson called "Satyajit Ray, The Inner Eye". My husband recently tracked down a copy of "Charulata" and we watched it, enthralled. Unfortunately the sub-titles were very bad. But the other day I found the English translation on the internet of "Ami Chini Go Chini Tomare"!!! I can't get this song out of my head...

Music World in Kolkata

Thanks, Brishti, I found exactly what I was looking for and much more besides. Great shop. (Flury's too, but that is a different thread.)

Since you love Indian cinema try Ritwik Ghatak. The black & white photography in Days and Nights in the Forest is simply superb.
Jalsaghar didn't go down too well with western viewers because of the long & ellaborate song and dance sequences but for those who like Indian classical music the value addition by these sequences to the film is aparent.
On the back page of this book that you have is a photo of Ray with Kurosawa.
I had the good fortune of watching both Ray & Ghatak at work. Their styles were totally different but each an institution by himself. For the western viewers Ray remains the "most suitable boy" though.

Some more about Ray:
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.

its good to see that only bengalis have any time left for art filmmakers. the rest are sane.

i presume you havent heard of kumar shahini, mani kaul, kamal swarup, saeed mirza, g aravindan to name just a few



:brishti


heyy yyamdancer: glad i could help out
so how is my native place doing? was it good to you? were they kind to you? did the chaos rattle you?
incidentally, 'flury's' aint the same flury's that we hung out in when in college.
we used to order a cup, have it re-heated over and over again - just so we could hang out there!
its got a makeover and all bhery phancy now - euckh

I felt very much at home in Satyajit-Ray land, even recognizing some streets. The "Golden Triangle" for us was Music World, Flurys and Oxford Bookshop. I felt absolutely envigorated by Kolkatan chaos. The good advice of India-mikers enabled us to enjoy Sizzlers at Peter Cat and a wonderful Tarte au Citron in Flury's. How did I find this old-world cafe? Frankly, more Parisian than Paris. And the cakes are tastier. (Slight grumble from Mr. Theyyam about the plastic spoons.) One of the highlights of our albeit brief stay was the Jain Temple, which was stunningly beautiful and tranquil. One of the lowlights was BBD Bagh - I hadn't realized it is a stagnant pond. We got lost looking for it. Almost sunstroke too. This is the wrong thread for this - apologies - I am supposed to be talking films. Well, the list provided by Jyoti is magnificent. I bought around ten Ray DVDs in Park Street and will give more feed-back later. So far my favourites (from long ago) are Charulata and Days and Nights in the Forest. I would definitely seek out the film by Ghatak you recommended. As an aside: when drinking Kingfisher on a rooftop bar near New Market we started humming "Ami Chini Go Chini Tomare" at which point a bunch of people joined in. There ensued a very lively conversation! More about our Calcutta adventures later.