Satyajit Ray, Filmmaker
Created | Updated Jul 10, 2003
Satyajit Ray was born on 2nd May 1921 in Calcutta. He graduated from Presidency College, Calcutta, in 1940 and, studied art at Rabindranath Tagore's university, Shantiniketan. By 1943, Ray was back in Calcutta and had joined an advertising firm as a visualizer. He also started designing covers and illustrating books published by the Signet Press. He had a deep interest in films and established the Calcutta Film Society in 1947. During a six-month trip to Europe, in 1950, Ray became a member of the London Film Club and managed to see ninety-nine films in only four and a half months.
Satyajit Ray completed his first film Pather Panchali, in 1955 with financial assistance from the West Bengal Government, overcoming innumerable difficulties. The film went on become an award winner at the Cannes Film Festival and established Ray as a director of international stature. Pather Panchali together with Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Appur Sansar(The World of Appu, 1959), form the Apu trilogy. Other films by Ray include Jalsaghar(The Music Room, 1958), Charulata(1964), Aranyer Din Ratri(Days and nights in the forest, 1970), Shatranj ke Khilari(The Chess Players, 1977), Ghare Baire(The Home and the World, 1984), Ghanashatru(Enemy of the People, 1989), Shakha Prashakha(Branches of a tree,1990), Agantuk(The Stranger, 1991).
Ray also made several documentaries, including one on Tagore. In 1987, he made a documentary on Sukumar Ray, to commemorate the birth centenary of his father, perhaps Bengal's most famous writer of nonsense verse and children's books. Satyajit Ray won numerous awards for his films. The British Federation of Film Societies and the Moscow Film Festival Committee named him one of the greatest directors of the second half of the twentieth century. He received an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in 1992.
Apart from being a filmmaker, Satyajit Ray was a writer of repute. In 1961, he revived the children's magazine, Sandesh, which his grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray, had started and to which his father used to contribute frequently. Satyajit Ray contributed numerous poems, stories and essays to Sandesh, and also published several novels in Bengali, most of which became best sellers. He received a D.Litt degree from Oxford University in 1978.
Satyajit Ray died in Calcutta in April 1992.
Shatranj ke khilari(The chess players): This is the story of two chess playing Nawabs of Lucknow. The two play obsessively and completely ignore their personal lives and the changing political order, even as it slowly crumbles around them. Set against the backdrop of the The Mutiny, 1857, Ray's wry sense of humor is evident, when one of the Nawabs catches his wife with her lover, and wants to know whether she has seen his chess pieces. They finally have to play elsewhere, in the face of rising hostility from their families, who feel they have lost touch with reality. The movie ends with the players still playing on in an open field while the British Army enters Lucknow in the backdrop.
Goopi Gayen, Baagha Bayen(Goopi, the singer, Baagha the drummer): A delightful fairytale for children, it is the story of Goopi and Baagha, both banished from their respective kingdoms, for being a bad singer and drummer, respectively. They meet each other in the forest. The forest comes alive at night, with a ghost dance, and ends with the King of the ghosts, granting Goopi and Baagha three wishes. A hilarious adventure ensues as a consequence of the wishes, with a trip to the magical land of Shundi, interspersed with wonderful songs, all composed and written by Ray himself.
Pather Panchali(Story of a Road): It is the story of a brother(Apu) and his sister growing up in a village and their daily lives, while their mother waits for news of their father. The film has some breathtaking visuals, like the one in which a train slowly moves into the frame a small speck in the horizon, smoke billowing out and the foreground has the children, crisscrossing through cane fields, running to meet it.
Satyajit Ray completed his first film Pather Panchali, in 1955 with financial assistance from the West Bengal Government, overcoming innumerable difficulties. The film went on become an award winner at the Cannes Film Festival and established Ray as a director of international stature. Pather Panchali together with Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Appur Sansar(The World of Appu, 1959), form the Apu trilogy. Other films by Ray include Jalsaghar(The Music Room, 1958), Charulata(1964), Aranyer Din Ratri(Days and nights in the forest, 1970), Shatranj ke Khilari(The Chess Players, 1977), Ghare Baire(The Home and the World, 1984), Ghanashatru(Enemy of the People, 1989), Shakha Prashakha(Branches of a tree,1990), Agantuk(The Stranger, 1991).
Ray also made several documentaries, including one on Tagore. In 1987, he made a documentary on Sukumar Ray, to commemorate the birth centenary of his father, perhaps Bengal's most famous writer of nonsense verse and children's books. Satyajit Ray won numerous awards for his films. The British Federation of Film Societies and the Moscow Film Festival Committee named him one of the greatest directors of the second half of the twentieth century. He received an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in 1992.
Apart from being a filmmaker, Satyajit Ray was a writer of repute. In 1961, he revived the children's magazine, Sandesh, which his grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray, had started and to which his father used to contribute frequently. Satyajit Ray contributed numerous poems, stories and essays to Sandesh, and also published several novels in Bengali, most of which became best sellers. He received a D.Litt degree from Oxford University in 1978.
Satyajit Ray died in Calcutta in April 1992.
Shatranj ke khilari(The chess players): This is the story of two chess playing Nawabs of Lucknow. The two play obsessively and completely ignore their personal lives and the changing political order, even as it slowly crumbles around them. Set against the backdrop of the The Mutiny, 1857, Ray's wry sense of humor is evident, when one of the Nawabs catches his wife with her lover, and wants to know whether she has seen his chess pieces. They finally have to play elsewhere, in the face of rising hostility from their families, who feel they have lost touch with reality. The movie ends with the players still playing on in an open field while the British Army enters Lucknow in the backdrop.
Goopi Gayen, Baagha Bayen(Goopi, the singer, Baagha the drummer): A delightful fairytale for children, it is the story of Goopi and Baagha, both banished from their respective kingdoms, for being a bad singer and drummer, respectively. They meet each other in the forest. The forest comes alive at night, with a ghost dance, and ends with the King of the ghosts, granting Goopi and Baagha three wishes. A hilarious adventure ensues as a consequence of the wishes, with a trip to the magical land of Shundi, interspersed with wonderful songs, all composed and written by Ray himself.
Pather Panchali(Story of a Road): It is the story of a brother(Apu) and his sister growing up in a village and their daily lives, while their mother waits for news of their father. The film has some breathtaking visuals, like the one in which a train slowly moves into the frame a small speck in the horizon, smoke billowing out and the foreground has the children, crisscrossing through cane fields, running to meet it.
