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A person of vivid talent and creativity,
Satyajit Ray is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. A
Bengali by origin, he made around 36 films in total, including feature films, documentaries,
and shorts. Satyajit’s cinema was primarily based on Bengali literature and was
an apt portrayal of human conditions.
Early
Life
Satyajit was born on 3rd May 1921
in Kolkata. His father, Sukumar Roy, was a famous Bengali poet. After
graduating from Presidency College in economics, Ray initially decided to
become an illustrator and went on to design covers of books like Discovery of
India by Pandit Nehru. But he had some inclination towards films and went on
to become a part of Film society movement in the year 1947 that paved the way for
Parallel cinema in India. This Parallel cinema movement that started in Bengal
went on to produce Great filmmakers of the likes of Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak
and Mrinal Sen- those regarded as the torchbearers of Indian cinema at festival
circuits.
Satyajit,
The Cinematographer
From the very beginning, Ray was influenced by famous French filmmaker Jean Renoir; he even assisted him in his film The River. He was also influenced by Italian neorealist Vittorio Di sicca’s Bicycle Thieves (1948) and American films. He acknowledged that he learned techniques like freeze shots and jump cuts from Italian and French filmmakers like Jean Luc Goddard. But later on, he went to inspire many filmmakers like Jean Truffaut, Abbas Kiarostomi, Meera Nair, Aparna Sen, etc. His contemporary Japanese stalwart, Akiro Kurosawa, also praised his work.
Apart from being a cinematographer, he was also
a prolific writer, screenplay writer, musician, and artist.
Famous
Works
Ray's first film Pather Panchali was released in the year 1955. It went on to become
the first film to win the Best Human Document Award at the Cannes film
festival. It was followed by Aparajito (1956) and Apur Songsar (1959).
These
three makes the famous Apu trilogy, based upon a novel by Bibhtibhushan Bandopadhyay
by the same name.
His film Nayak
starring the Bengali superstar Uttam Kumar was also a classic. The film deals
with the journey of a Hero and stars Sharmila Tagore as a young journalist.
Ray made three films from Tagore's stories- Teen
Kanya (postmaster, Manihara, Samapti), Ghare Baire, and Charulata. It was said that Jalshaghar was very much liked by the American audience, but Charulata was a French favorite. Satyajit
once mentioned that Charulata was his
least flawed film.
In Hindi, he made two films, namely Shatranj ke Khiladi and Sadgati- both of which were adapted
versions of Premchand's short stories.
Apart from this, he created a famous sleuth
in Bengali literature called Feluda.
He made two films on Feluda, namely Joy
Baba felunath and Sonar kella.
Many of Satyajit’s films dealt with human
emotions and their crisis. Consider the films Seemabaddho (1971), Pratidwandi
(1970), and Jana Aranya (1976),
which went onto become the famous Calcutta trilogy of Ray. These films depicted
the crisis of urban people like unemployment, corruption, and difficulties
faced by the urban middle class.
Jalshaghar (1958), as mentioned in the article,
mainly deals with the life of a zamindar whose zamindari has been abolished.
Ashanti Shanket(1973)
dealt with the 1944 Bengal famine.
Satyajit
for Children
He wrote many short stories for children in
Bengali literature. He is regarded as a great writer in Bengali, and his
characters, like Feluda and Professor, are immortalized in people’s minds.
He also wrote some sci-fi stories for
children that were regarded as pathbreaking in terms of content at that point in
time. And films like Adventures of Goopy gyne and Bagha
byne.
Awards
and Honours
His mastery over the art of filmmaking was unparalleled.
And for that, he received both national and international accolades.
Satyajit was a truly international filmmaker.
He was awarded Legion de honor by the French government in 1987, and an
honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1992.
He took Indian cinema to greater heights, and
received 32 national awards in his lifetime! Before his death, he was conferred
the Bharat Ratna award, the highest
civilian award of the country. He also received Dada Shaheb Phalke award in 1985 for his contribution to Indian
cinema.
Ray died on 23rd April 1992 at the age of 70. There were many unfinished works that he had
planned but couldn't complete, but his works continue to inspire many
individuals, along with budding filmmakers.
This article remains a small piece of tribute
to the Godfather of Indian Cinema who internationalized Indian cinema whose
portrayal is regarded as one of the best cinematic works of all time.
Written By- Bodhisatva Mukherjee
Edited By- Garima Singh
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