That Satyajit Ray was an auteur in the world of cinema, would be an understatement. His films were and would continue to be raison de etre of the Bengali intelligentsia. Ray had mastered his craft right from his days in advertising. His films have a past in literary content, a present in the cultural ethos of modern Bengal and a future in cinematic lexicon. If one glances at his oeuvre of films , one would notice that these films are generic on one level, while on the other , they appeal to universal sentiments. His masterpieces were completed prior to his bouts of illness.
Ray had respected and regarded the media in a mature , foolhardy way. While his contemporary and often, his rival ( mentor to many a film maker) Ritwik Ghatak had shunned and disregarded the media. Ray had been meticulous in his entire career, viz. documentations and hard copies of the his processes of filmmaking . On the other side, Ghatak was a renowned bohemian throughout his lifetime. To compare these two stalwarts is not the aim of this piece, but just to highlight the shades of brightness and grey patches that dwelt in these two psyches.
It had been Ray's ultimate dream - that of holding the Oscar statuette. Sadly , he did so from his sick hospital bed. We can vividly recall to this day , that Audrey Hepburn who showed the video footage of Ray receiving the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement , had draped a saree , just like that - without a proper blouse, but with a brooch. Prabably she had seen Ray's Pather Panchali and had seen the character of Durga , clad in a saree in that way.
Satyajit Ray serves as a mentor to many a film director. Tales told on the silver screen , are nothing but chronicles of the human saga , which is modern living. One hopes that this make -believe world gets better as time goes on. Indian cinema is witnessing major changes in terms of style , technique and content. The demarcation between mainstream and parallel cinema is getting blurred by each passing day. Sure , there are and will continue to be films which run mostly in rural areas or are aimed at a particular section of society , who need 'value for money' or full 'paisa vasool'. But there are also films which are daring to traverse virgin territories. Films which are smallbudgeted , but put our grey cells into the activity mode from a realtively dormant one. Recent films like 'Chittagong' for instance? Or ' Makkhi"?
Ray had respected and regarded the media in a mature , foolhardy way. While his contemporary and often, his rival ( mentor to many a film maker) Ritwik Ghatak had shunned and disregarded the media. Ray had been meticulous in his entire career, viz. documentations and hard copies of the his processes of filmmaking . On the other side, Ghatak was a renowned bohemian throughout his lifetime. To compare these two stalwarts is not the aim of this piece, but just to highlight the shades of brightness and grey patches that dwelt in these two psyches.
It had been Ray's ultimate dream - that of holding the Oscar statuette. Sadly , he did so from his sick hospital bed. We can vividly recall to this day , that Audrey Hepburn who showed the video footage of Ray receiving the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement , had draped a saree , just like that - without a proper blouse, but with a brooch. Prabably she had seen Ray's Pather Panchali and had seen the character of Durga , clad in a saree in that way.
Satyajit Ray serves as a mentor to many a film director. Tales told on the silver screen , are nothing but chronicles of the human saga , which is modern living. One hopes that this make -believe world gets better as time goes on. Indian cinema is witnessing major changes in terms of style , technique and content. The demarcation between mainstream and parallel cinema is getting blurred by each passing day. Sure , there are and will continue to be films which run mostly in rural areas or are aimed at a particular section of society , who need 'value for money' or full 'paisa vasool'. But there are also films which are daring to traverse virgin territories. Films which are smallbudgeted , but put our grey cells into the activity mode from a realtively dormant one. Recent films like 'Chittagong' for instance? Or ' Makkhi"?
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