Satyajit Ray , revered as one of the maestros of world cinema, is a cultural icon in India and across the Globe. Ray’s films are highly respected and recognized in renowned film festivals worldwide. His films have an existence of art, western in origin, but transplanted and taking roots in a new soil. The tools of filmmaking are the same, but the methods and attitudes are distinct and indigenous in his work.
Satyajit Ray was born on 2nd May 1921, in an affluent and intellectual family in Calcutta. Affectionately, known as ‘Manik Da’, Satyajit enjoyed watching films and listening to western classical music on his gramophone.
Ray’s creative sensibility was a combination of nature and nurture. His grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray, was a famous Bengali writer, illustrator, philosopher and prominent figure of the Brahmo Samaj. His father, Sukumar Ray, was a pioneering Bengali writer of nonsense rhyme and children’s literature as well as an illustrator and a critic. His own inspirations ranged from Rabindranath Tagore to his teachers Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee in Santiniketan, from the films of Renoir and De Sica (Bicycle Thieves), Chaplin and Ford (Fort Apache) to the photography of Cartier Bresson and the music of Beethoven. So, when his biographer, Andrew Robinson, asked him if he considered himself “50 per cent Western”, Ray had replied: “Yes, I think so—which makes me more accessible to a Western audience than someone who’s not to the same extent influenced by Western models.” And yet, Ray remained loyal to his roots and the dishevelled study in his south Calcutta (now Kolkata) home was forever his creative headquarters, from where he explored and depicted universal human values through his films. He was a truly “glocal” citizen—steadfastly local in his medium of work but effortlessly global in its appeal.
It was significant that the memory game focused only on people. As Ray was to say: “I am not conscious of being a humanist. It’s simply that I am interested in human beings.”And the manner in which he depicted human beings, their frailties and their struggles, their individual rebellions and simple triumphs, drew admirers far and wide. So fundamental to life and humanity were Ray’s creations that the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa once wrote: “Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon”. Even before he had embarked on his first film, Pather Panchali (1955), Ray had written a piece titled “What Is Wrong with Indian Films? in The Statesman newspaper in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1948, “The raw material of the cinema is life itself. It is incredible that a country which has inspired so much painting and music and poetry should fail to move the filmmaker. He has only to keep his eyes open, and his ears. Let him do so.”
Satyajit Ray died on 23rd April 1992 after struggling with heart complications for years. Less than a month before his passing, Ray received an Honorary Oscar. The Academy Award read: “To Satyajit Ray, in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world.”
Among the numerous awards that Satyajit Ray received, both for his personal accomplishments and for his films, are the Padmashree, the Padma Bhushan, the Padma Vibhushan, the Bharat Ratna, the Magsaysay Award, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the Legion d'Honneur, and the honorary Oscar for lifelong achievements.
No. | Original Title | International Title |
---|---|---|
1 | Pather Panchali | A Song of the Little Road |
2 | Aparajito | The Unvanquished |
3 | Parash Pathar | The Philosopher's Stone |
4 | Jalsaghar | The Music Room |
5 | Apur Sansar | The World of Apu |
6 | Devi | The Goddess |
7 | Teen Kanya | Three Daughters / Two Daughters |
8 | The Postmaster | The Postmaster |
9 | Monihara | The Lost Jewels |
10 | Samapti | The Conclusion |
11 | Rabindranath Tagore | Rabindranath Tagore |
12 | Kanchenjungha | Kanchanjangha |
13 | Abhijan | The Expedition |
14 | Mahanagar | The Big City |
15 | Charulata | The Lonely Wife |
16 | Two | Two |
17 | Kapurush | The Coward |
18 | Mahapurush | The Holy Man |
19 | Nayak | The Hero |
20 | Chiriyakhana | The Zoo |
21 | Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne | The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha |
22 | Aranyer Din Ratri | Days and Nights in the Forest |
23 | Pratidwandi | The Adversary |
24 | Seemabaddha | Company Limited |
25 | Sikkim | Sikkim |
26 | The Inner Eye | The Inner Eye |
27 | Ashani Sanket | Distant Thunder |
28 | Sonar Kella | The Fortress |
29 | Jana Aranya | The Middleman |
30 | Bala | Bala |
31 | Shatranj Ke Khilari | The Chess Players |
32 | Joi Baba Felunath | The Elephant God |
33 | Hirok Rajar Deshe | The Kingdom of Diamonds |
34 | Pikoo | Pikoo's Day |
35 | Sadgati | Deliverance |
36 | Ghare Baire | The Home and The World |
37 | Sukumar Ray | Sukumar Ray |
38 | Ganashatru | An Enemy of the People |
39 | Shakha Proshakha | The Branches of the Tree |
40 | Agantuk | The Stranger |
No. | Original Title | Language | Director(s) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | A Perfect Day | English | Harisadhan Dasgupta |
2 | The River | Bengali | Jean Renoir |
3 | Our Children will Know Each Other Better | English | Harisadhan Dasgupta |
4 | The Tidal Bore | English | Vijaya Mulay |
5 | The Story of Tata Steel | English | Harisadhan Dasgupta |
6 | Creative Artists of India: Satyajit Ray | English | B.D. Garga |
7 | Shakespeare Wallah | English | James Ivory |
8 | Glimpses of West Bengal | English | Bansi Chandragupta |
9 | Quest for Health | English | Harisadhan Dasgupta |
10 | House that Never Dies | English | Tony Meyer |
11 | Baksa Badal | Bengali | Nityananda Datta |
12 | Gangasagar Mela | Bengali | Bansi Chandragupta |
13 | Max Mueller | English | Jorn Thiel |
14 | Darjeeling: Himalayan Fantasy | English | Bansi Chandragupta |
15 | The Brave Do Not Die | English | Harisadhan Dasgupta |
16 | Phatik Chand | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
17 | The Music of Satyajit Ray | English | Utpalendu Chakrabarty |
18 | Satyajit Ray Presents I | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
19 | Satyajit Ray Presents II | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
20 | Kissa Kathmandu Ka | Hindi | Sandip Ray |
21 | Goopy Bagha Phire Elo | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
22 | Uttoran | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
23 | Target | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
24 | Baksho Rahashya | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
25 | Feluda | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
26 | Parvaz-e zanbur | Tajik | Boung-hun Min, Jamshed Usmonov |
27 | Satyajiter Gappo | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
28 | Dr. Munshir Diary | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
29 | Satyajiter Priyo Galpo | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
30 | Eker Pithe Dui | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
31 | Bombaiyer Bombete | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
32 | Bankubabur Bandhu | Bengali | Kaushik Sen |
33 | The Darjeeling Limited | English | Wes Anderson |
34 | Kailashey Kelenkari | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
35 | Tintorettor Jishu | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
36 | Gorosthaney Sabdhan | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
37 | Royal Bengal Rahashya | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
38 | Some Maana | Kannada | Abhishek Iyengar |
39 | Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
40 | Bombay Talkies | Hindi | Dibakar Banerjee |
41 | Goopi Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya | Hindi | Shilpa Ranade |
42 | Chaar | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
43 | Badshahi Angti | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
44 | Double Feluda | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
45 | Anukul | Bengali | Sujoy Ghosh |
46 | Professor Shonku O El Dorado | Bengali | Sandip Ray |
47 | Feluda Pherot | Bengali | Srijit Mukherjee |
48 | Aparajito | Bengali | Anik Datta |