Satyajit Ray (1921-1992)

       Satyajit Ray was often called a renaissance man, for his realistic style and theme. He was a strange man even in the Kolkata of the 1960s. Ray became a national icon, showcased to the world in a way that no Indian art personality ever had been. He lived up to his role with dignity and aesthetic sensibility.

       Satyajit Ray was born on 2^nd May of 1921, in Calcutta. He came of a family which was known for its tradition of art and culture. His grandfather Upendrakishore Ray was a prolific writer of children’s stories and also managed a printing press. His father Sukumar Ray was the author of the famous literary work, Bengali classic, 'Abol Tabol' (Book of Nonsense). His grandfather Upendrakishore Ray, a noted Bengali child litterateur, edited the first children's magazine in 'Bengal Sandesh'. Satyajit Ray graduated with a degree in economics, from the University of Calcutta. With the encouragement of Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian writer-philosopher, Ray undertook the study of painting and graphics at the Government Art College. Ray was also a student of Nandalal Bose at Kala Bhawan and in Shantiniketan from 1940-42. Subsequently, Ray was hired as an art director, for the Calcutta branch of a British advertising agency in 1945 and sometime later, Ray started the Culcutta Film Society (1947).

 

       During this period Ray was illustrating the novel 'Pather Panchali' written by Bibhuti Bhushan Bandhopadhya and he started thinking of making it into a feature film. Meanwhile he went to London and received a great deal of exposure on the contemporary styles of film making. Ray was also encouraged by French director Jean Renoir who came to Bengal to shoot for his movie, 'The River'. Spurred by all these, Ray started shooting for 'Pather Panchali' and it was released in 1955. This is considered to be one of the finest movies ever made.

 

        In this age of media explosion, it is difficult to gauge the worldwide acclaim that Ray commanded in that era. In the 60s and the 70s when his reputation became stratospheric, each of his new releases got article-length reviews in The New Yorker and in The Times of London. Ray was a multifaceted personality. Much before the release of his trilogy, his reputation as a book designer stood on a solid plank. His 'Feluda', detective story for children top the chart of Bengali books even today. Ray was above all, a man of great social charm who could delight every gathering, from the enlightened chic to the local wannabe. And there was rather odd and inescapable Englishness in his personality. More than his accent, which had a BBC quality about it, it was his sharp understatements that sounded alien in the typical Indian social evenings.

 

            In a film making career spanning 37 years, with 29 feature films, Ray left a body of work, and an array of international awards, which can be the envy of every art personality. However, it is the 'Apu Trilogy' that remains the cornerstone of his creations. They are astonishingly rich in character, depicted with a naturalness that one expects from documentaries. In 'Devi', Ray had examined with intelligence and compassion the controversial problem of Hindu superstition, and in 'Dui Kanya' (Two Daughters), he explored the tension resulting from unyielding family ritual. 'Kanchenjanga', the director's first colour film, again dealt with domestic conflict. At the various stages through which a film progress-the script, sets, locations, cutting rooms and re-recording studios -Ray was a picture of dictator, his words having the ring of army commands. His was the last word, and the unit members had to accept it. His production staff and many of his actors stayed with him for decades. They were a disciplined army. Ray was terribly hands-on. Till the time of making 'Ghore Baire', his last major film before a paralysing heart attack in 1983, the tall man was seen crouched behind the Arriflex camera as it rolled on a trolley.

      Ray made his films till his last days, fighting a heroic battle against illness. He shot his last films mostly indoors as doctors wouldn't allow him to work on location. These films therefore, lacked the magical splendour of the sunshine and rains of 'Pather Panchali'. His grip on every department of production was loosening, so the films did not have the classical precision of, say, 'Charulata'. However, even in his minor works, he did not waver from his deepest artistic commitment to present, in his own words "truth wedded to art".

       That perhaps explains why his best films were shot in black and white. Indian cinema had been drenched in colour long before Ray began loading the Eastman colour rolls on his camera. It was trade-off in which colour added glamour, but took away from cinema its role as a critical observer of reality. Even today, when Steven Spielberg, the messiah of techno-cinema, has to tell a stark story like Schindler's List, based on a pro-Jewish German's attempt to save the victims of the Nazi holocaust, he chooses black and white film, not colour. Ray had an obligation to the country of his birth to chronicle the joys and sorrows of its people. He accomplished it in black and white, literally.

      Satyajit Ray was honoured both at home and abroad. He received many national and international awards like Padma Bhushan, Bharat Ratna (1992). In 1987, he received the 'Legion d' Honeur' (the highest civilian award of France), presented to him by President Francois Mitterand in Calcutta and in 1992, he was honoured with a special Academy Award (Oscar) for Lifetime Achievement, while on his death bed. Ray died on April 23, 1992 and his death has created a great vacuum in the field of film and literature.