| This son of Sukumar Roy is perhaps the most popular of the child authors in Bengal. Born on 2nd May 1921, to the illustrious family of Rays of Calcutta. In fact what can you expect if someone has a grandfather like Upendrakishore, a father like Sukumar, uncle like Subinoy and Kualadaranjan? You are hemmed in by geniuses in each field and you develop specially. Satyajit lost his father Sukumar, the phenomenal author of children's verses and author of nonsense rhymes Abol Tabol when he was only three and was brought up by his mother Suprava Devi. From the area in Garpar in North Calcutta they moved to Bhawanipore. In fact mention of Sukea Street or Garpar recurs in many of Satyajit's writing and no wonder it was here the fabled "Jatayu" the companion of "Feluda" lived. |
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| Satyajit saw the first talkie in 1929 - Tarzan and the Ape Man starring Johny Weisssmuller. He grew up in an atmosphere of Western Music and Hollywood movies. But coming from a Brahmo background he also got to know about Rabindrasangeet, Brahmosangeet and Eastern Classical music. He joined Presidency College in 1938 in Economics but after that moved on to Shantiniketan to study art under Nandalal Bose. In 1942 he came over to Calcutta and joined work as an Assistant Art visualiser. Here while doing the illustration for Aam Atir Bhepu a book by Bibhutibhushan the seeds of Pather Panchali - The Song of the Road was born. This was his first film and he faced a lot of financial hardship while making it and the Government of West Bengal had to come to his rescue. It took 8 years (1947-55) to complete the film. This was the stepping stone and then film after film followed. the Apu trilogy was followed by Debi, Parash Pathor, Teenkanya, Kanchanjungha, Charulata, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Shimabaddha, Sonar Kella, Ghare Baire the list is enormous. |
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| It will be wrong if we classify Satyajit only as a film maker and a director. He was an excellent writer as well. He restarted the Sandesh magazine in 1960 - which was originally started by his grandfather Upendrakishore. In 1967 Professor Shanku was born the first of its kind in Bengali sci-fi. In 1969 he wrote Badshahi Angti and thus Feluda came to the scenario and would continue to delight children and adults alike. He made two of his Feluda stories into films. He was also a very good writer of short stories. He has three volumes of short stories that have been published. He also translated some of the verses of Abol Tabol into English. |
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| Satyajit was also a gifted musician. He had grown up with an ear to Western Music. In fact in his early films he depended on stalwarts like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Bilayat Khan. But he felt that though these were icons in their own fields they could not compose cinematic music. That is why from Teenkanya he started composing his own music. His music became a trademark and could usually be recognised in the films though sometimes quite repetitive. |
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| His career with films has brought him many honours and accolades. He was awarded the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1991. The French Government granted him Legion d'Honor in 1987 and the Indian Government bestowed him the Bharatratna award in 1992. He died on April 23, 1992. |
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| View the complete filmography » Films of Ray |
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| To have a complete list of his works see http://www.satyajitray.com along with video clips you can go to http://www.calcuttaweb.com/cinema/satyajit/ |
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| The views in these pages are solely mine |
