Pather Panchali, the film by legendary Satyajit Ray, is a world classic. It is no wonder that recently it topped the list of 10 greatest Indian films in a poll conducted by the India chapter of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). The film is an adaptation of the Bengali book by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, published in 1929.

As yet another stage of religious tension arises in the subcontinent, it was heartening to see Australians warm up to the great Bengali film director Satyajit Ray.

A generation or two has passed since its release. Here’s why we, as the current generation, ought to go back to this classic.

Has Netflix done enough to please fans of Ray and his stories?

Satyajit Ray, born on May 2, 1921—a hundred years ago from this day—hails from a long line of Rays. His grandfather, Upendraishore Ray, was the first storyteller of the family, followed by father Sukumar Ray, master of the fun and formally experimental verse fondly remembered as the HaJaBaRaLa, a children’s novella often compared to Alice in Wonderland.

He used the various technicalities of filmmaking to express this language to the fullest. His preference for using lights and shadows in various angles to dramatise certain situations in the story was evident from his very first film. Exploring the appropriate use of different types of shots, close shots, pan shots, long shots to frame the flow of events in a lyrical manner with the limited technology available at that time was his speciality.

The nature of filmmaking in the 1930s and '40s was quite interesting. It was a time when movies in the Indian subcontinent were entirely dependent on music. A single feature length super hit movie sometimes contained even 60 to 70 songs.

The Daily Star is honoured to arrange a film screening and discussion of Charulata and Kanchenjunga, marking beloved author Satyajit Ray's 97th birthday.

Around 1948, cine clubs were flourishing in Kolkata. A new wave of intellectuals was on the rise. These people thought of cinema to be the voice of the commoners, of the middle class and not just a studio dependent entertainment medium.

Satyajit Ray's Feluda, Sharadindu Bandopadhyay's Byomkesh Bakshi, Nihar Ranjan Gupta's Kiriti Roy and Syed Mustafa Siraj's Colonel Niladri Sarkar are some of the biggest names in Bangla adventure-mystery literary genre, and their appeal has often transcended pages of the books and onto other media.

Prodosh Chandra Mitra, otherwise known as Feluda, is one of the most popular fictional detective characters in Bengali literature, and was brought to the silver screen by Satyajit Ray himself.

Satyajit's son Sandip Ray, who has the rights to the Feluda series, recently gave the TV rights to Bangladesh's Candy Productions...

More than three decades after Satyajit Ray made a film on Rabindranath Tagore's “Ghare Baire”, young filmmaker Reema Mukherjee is making a Hindi movie inspired by the famous novel.

Happy Birthday to Ritwik Kumar Ghatak, the man behind the creations like “The Golden Thread”, “The Cloud-Capped Star”, ”Titas Ekti Nodir Naam”.

In remembrance of Sukumar Ray, the great Bangalee poet, story writer and playwright Bangla literature will forever be indebted to.

Legendary film director Satyajit Ray's wife Bijoya Ray passes away at a nursing home in Kolkata.

More than two decades after the original negatives of Satyajit Ray's acclaimed Apu Trilogy were damaged in a fire in a film lab in London, technicians and experts have produced new high-definition versions of the films.

To celebrate the birth and death anniversary of internationally acclaimed legendary Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, International Academy