Satyajit Ray: A visionary of hope

Ray's most brilliant film was Pather Panchali, which won acclaim in India and overseas. Based on the novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, the film enjoyed in New York a record run of more than seven months followed by Aparajito (The unvanquished), which dated back to 1956. Not until Jalsaghar's (The music room) extraordinary success in Paris years later was a Ray film to dominate the popularity charts in a western metropolis for so long.

Recounting the Pather Panchali heydays, litterateur Buddhadev Bose is reported to have said, 'The protagonists, a sister and a brother, were two tiny incarnations of eternity, giving of their life to winds and water, while taking from them their timeless significance.'

The great artist Maqbul Fida Husain was also eloquent in praise for the late Ray. In the book The World of Satyajit Ray by Bidyut Sarkar, Husain is quoted as saying, 'In Pather Panchali what you see is not just poverty, you are fed visions of hope. To me he is a poet.'

Pather Panchali scored a win several times over: Cannes led the way with Ray's first international award in 1956 as the 'best human document'. Likewise his film Aparajito (3rd part of the Apu trilogy) won the Venice Golden Lion of St Mark award the next year.

Other Ray films of note were Mahanagar, Charulata and Nayak, which won prizes in Berlin for directorial skills in 1964, 1965 and 1966. Finally, in 1992, Ray received the honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

There were also films such as Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Shatranj ke Khilari and Ganashatru.

There is a story behind Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne. Apparently Ray's son Sandip, then a nine-year-old, told his father that his films were too grown up and serious and that he should make light hearted pictures for the young. Goopy was the first among them, based on a story by Ray's grandfather Upendrakishore Ray. It has been Ray's biggest success at the box office and he and his sons have made two sequels till now about the adventures of the singer and the drummer.

Two other children's films were based on Ray's own detective stories about Feluda, Sonar Kella (1974) and Joy Baba Felunath (1978). These were shot in Rajasthan and Benaras respectively.

Later in life, Ray fell sick and could not shoot. From 1989 to 1991, he came back with Ganashatru (An enemy of the people), Shakha Proshakha (Branches of a tree) and Agantuk (The stranger). He died on April 23, 1992. With his passing, an Indian and international legend was lost to the world.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent