IN HIS CENTENARY YEAR, SATYAJIT RAY REMAINS AS RELEVANT AS HE WAS WHEN THE WORLD DISCOVERED HIS BRILLIANCE IN CANNES ALL OF 65 YEARS AGO
by Saibal Chatterjee
Nearly three decades after his passing, Satyajit Ray’s relevance hasn’t dimmed a bit. In fact, as more and more contemporary Indian filmmakers seek to make renewed global inroads, Ray is the perfect role model.
After all, he combined in his remarkable body of work the twin virtues of cultural veracity and universal accessibility. He, therefore, belonged as much to India as he did to the world. Efforts to replicate his scale of international success and recognition continue in the land of his origin, but true, sustained triumph eludes his successors.
In his centenary year, Ray remains a constant presence in our midst, reminding us of the intrinsic capacity of the medium to capture the essence of life in its cultural specificities and yet communicate with people all around the world. His epochal first film, Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), won a major prize in Cannes in 1956 and put Indian cinema on the global map.
Indian and world cinema have moved on since Pather Panchali redefined the parameters of the medium, but the master’s all-pervasive influence continues to impact our films and filmmakers to this day.
Born on May 2, 1921, the multi-talented Ray – filmmaker, writer, music composer, graphic artist, illustrator, and designer – was a master storyteller and a consummate craftsman. What set him apart, however, was his masterly ability to achieve a seamless mix of content and technique, an attribute that a lot of Indian filmmakers of the new millennium would do well to keep in mind. Flamboyance sans depth and substance is a completely useless quality to aspire for.
Ray once told an interviewer, “I feel that an ordinary person – the man in the street, if you like – is a more challenging subject for exploration than people in the heroic mould. It is the half shades, the hardly audible notes that I want to capture and explore… In any case, I find muted emotions more interesting and challenging.” His cinema spoke to all of us because, no matter where in the world we lived, it was about all of us. His humanism was all-pervasive.
Veteran film critic Chidananda Dasgupta, wrote in his book, The Cinema of Satyajit Ray: “Seldom has a film director’s work chronicled the process of social change in a country over as long a span of time as Satyajit Ray’s. The subjects of his films range over the shifting social scene in India for over one hundred and fifty years (at the time of the book’s publication). Devi (The Goddess, 1960) is placed in the 1830s. Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977) in the 1850s. Charulata (1964) is laid in 1879, Jalsaghar (The Music Room, 1958) at the turn of the century, the Apu trilogy in the early years of the 20th century. Sadgati (The Deliverance, 1981) was written by Premchand in the 1930s about an unspecified, as it were timeless, period. Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973) deals with the British-made wartime famine of 1943; besides, he of course made a host of contemporary films.”
Ray’s contemporary films – Abhijan (The Expedition, 1962), Mahanagar (The Big City, 1963), Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1969), Seemabaddha (Company Limited, 1971), and Jana Aranya (The Middleman, 1975), among others – present a vivid portrait of a society and a culture in flux. No filmmaker has ever caught the nuances of this process of change and its impact on human beings quite with the same felicity. The effortlessness was obviously misleading. Nothing that Ray did was ever chance-directed.
Few filmmakers in the annals of cinema have had as much control over the medium as Ray. He wrote the screenplay, handpicked the cast, directed the film, scored the music, operated the camera, did the production design, contributed actively to the editing of his films, and even designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Cinema is a collective art form. A film is the result of teamwork. In Ray’s case, however, the medium came closer than ever to being a means of pure personal expression.
Providing a glimpse into his approach to cinema, Ray wrote in an article published in March 1952: “In the thirty years of its existence the Bengali film as a whole has not progressed one step towards maturity. Looking over the past three or four years one comes across a handful of commendable efforts… a bare dozen altogether, none entirely successful and satisfactory but each containing passages of acting, direction, writing or photography which, if sustained, would make for respectable cinema. As for the others (the overwhelming majority), they bear the same relation to art as do the lithographs in Wellington Square to the art of painting… These films neither stimulate the sensibilities, nor please the senses.”
The freshness evident in Pather Panchali probably stems from the fact that all the major technicians who worked on the film, including Ray himself, came to the project with little or no experience. Ray was no more than a film lover at that point, his cameraman Subrata Mitra had never shot a film before, art director Bansi Chandragupta had cut his teeth on The River, and for editor Dulal Dutta, Pather Panchali was only the third film. Pather Panchali rescued Indian cinema from the confines of studio sets and set it free into the wide, unexplored expanse of real locations.
Satyajit Ray and Pather Panchali altered the face of Indian cinema forever. Sixty-five years on, Ray’s debut film – and the rest of his work – remain a benchmark and a beacon that inspire those blessed with the courage to break free from stale habits.
Beginning with the ninth edition of the Cannes Film Festival (1956), where his debut film Pather Panchali won the Prix du Document Humain, the Indian maestro travelled to the Croisette on several occasions in subsequent years. He had three more titles in the Cannes Competition – Parash Pathar (1958), Devi (1962) and GhareBaire (1984) – besides Ganashatru (1989) in the Special Screenings section. In 2013, one his greatest films, Charulata, was screened in Cannes Classics.
Pather Panchali is as much a part of Indian cinema folklore as it is of the Cannes Film Festival’s own history. In 1956, it won the Best Human Document Award, narrowly losing the Palme d’Or race to the French documentary Le Monde du Silence (The Silent World), directed by Louis Malle and famed oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It was a year of heavy-hitters in the Cannes Competition, with the likes of Ingmar Bergman (Smiles of a Summer Night, which also won a Special Award), Akira Kurosawa (I Live in Fear) and Alfred Hitchcock (The Man Who Knew Too Much) going head to head. It was also the year when Henri-Georges Clouzot, known for his seminal French thrillers, landed a Special Jury Award for his Picasso documentary, Le Mystere Picasso (The Mystery of Picasso).The jury was headed by French actor-director-producer Maurice Lehmann.
Highlights
Strings of Genius
Berlinale 2021 Will be a Physical Festival; EFM in Hybrid Format
Uday Shankar forms New Tech and Media Venture with James Murdoch
CII Seeks Industry Status for M&E in Union Budget
51st IFFI Will Capture New Narratives in Cinema
15 Films Compete for Golden Peacock at #IFFI51
Top IFFI Picks: Another Round, Mehrunisa, Wife of A Spy
Hybrid IFFI From January 16
CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2012: Growth Triggers From Ronnie
What Media Guru Amit Khanna Said in CII BIG PICTURE SUMMIT 2012
LATAM Market Ventana Sur from November 30
Blue Efficience Roped in For Ventana Sur
Films to watch @ Ventana Sur
India Rolls out Red Carpet to Foreign Filmmakers
Ramesh Sharma’s New Documentary Film on Gandhi at AFM
The Warrior Queen of Jhansi at AFM
With Film Visa, Global Producers Can Now Shoot in India
www.cinemarket.io – Buy, Sell & Engage
Embracing Cinema Through Screens of all Sizes
Nomadland wins People’s Choice at Toronto
MIPCOM 2020 Goes Entirely Online
South Korea will be MIPCOM 2020 country of honor
India, the Window of Opportunity
Get Ready for Hybrid IFFI
Film Making Centres of India
Get Your Film Take Wings at Virtual Film Bazaar
Make at least Ten co-productions in a year
Filmmakers Should Make use of India-Canada Treaty
TIFF: The Show and Business Goes on
Navigating Toronto Film Festival and Industry
Make in India, Show the World
Be Part of the Pickle India Focused Toronto Edition
ads2OTT set to Launch in Oct 2020
MovieSaints to release Memories of a Forgotten War
Truth Is Dead
Submissions Open For Berlinale Co-Production Market
Gender Equality-Berlinale Eliminates Silver Bear for Best Actor and Best Actress
All3Media, A+E Networks, BBC Studios, ZDF Join MIPCOM 2020 Global UPFRONTS Lineup
NürnbergMesse’s Content India Show from October 29-31
Best of 2020: A Dazzling Dozen
Striking the Right Chord
Ishaan Khatter looking ‘beyond clouds’ with promising upcoming projects
IFFI 2020 Adopts Hybrid Online-Physical Edition
India Unbound
20 Films That Make us Believe Freedom is Priceless
Krishna Janmashtami Special
National Education Policy: Game Changer
18 Must-See Films at Venice 2020
Ayushmann Turns Athlete
Indian Trio in Venice
Blockchain: The Future is Now
Not right time to open cinema halls: Ravi Kottarakara
Meet, ERICA. AI Actor in a SCI-FI Film
Vidya Balan Set to Shine as Shakuntala Devi
Straight Answers From Alexander Shulgin
Content is king for Saregama’s Yoodlee
Nuggets From Animation Thought Leaders
NYIFF Takes Virtual Route
From The Heart Of Disney
New Model of Filmmaking in India
My Journey: How I Did It
Animation in the Age of Art & Tech
Making Filming in India More Easy
Gaurav Banerjee: Star Unveiled
FDI cap of 26% for News Aggregators Under Consideration
The Changemaker
COVID-19 has Accelerated Digital Shift Towards Across Sectors
No Business as Usual for Film Industry
What’s Wrong With our News Media Today ?
The Fire Inside Regina
Gaming Industry Braves Covid
Disney +Hotstar Leads the Disruption
Taapsee’s takes on OTT, Nepotism & Covid
Oscar Invites QUBE’s Senthil Kumar to be its Member at Large
What’s New Search Engine Neeva Can Do That Google Cannot?
The New Oscar Award Date April 25, 2021
India to Offer Incentive Package for Film Shoots and Co-Production
‘NFDC Film Bazaar Goes to Cannes’
A Ray That Still Lights The Way
Best of the Cannes Official Selection 2020 Films
Most Awaited Films of India
56 Films: Cannes Reveals 2020 Lineup
The Making of Cannes 2020 Film Selection Process
Cannes Virtual Film Market Extends Earlybird Registration to June 12
Take a Look at Annecy Competition Lineup
Getting Back to Business, Reveals Media Consumption Pattern
Cannes 2020 to Announce Festival Selection Lineup on June 3
20 Work in Progress Tiltles Unveiled for Goes to Cannes
Annecy VR Works Selections for Digital MIFA Market
Film Bazaar’s Work in Progress Films from India Goes to Cannes Virtual Market
Navigating Virtual Cannes Film Market 2020
Meet the Streamers: HBO Max & Quibi Keynotes at Cannes Virtual Film Market
Dedicated Cannes XR Virtual Edition from June 24-26
Screen Moms; Best Movies to Stream on Mother’s Day
Vijay Deverakonda: The Lovable ‘Rowdy’
Sai Pallavi: Natural Beauty is a Natural Actor Too
Cannes Virtual Film Market Registration Opens May 13
COVID-19: Nuggets from Netflix’s Ted Sarandos on Filming and Safety Protocols
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is New Sensation in Netflix Original Series Never Have I Ever
The Best Movies of 2001-2019 Not Streaming in OTT Platforms
Best Movies of the New Millennium Streaming Now
Best Movies of the New Millennium Streaming Now
Best Movies of the New Millennium Streaming Now
Best Movies of the New Millennium Streaming Now
Best Movies of the New Millennium Streaming Now
Annecy Unveils Virtual Film Festival and Market in June
Roskino to Host Russian Virtual Digital Content Market from June 8
27 Rishi Kapoor Films to Stream at Home Now
Virtual Nab Show Express will Take Place May 13-14, 2020
51 International Film Festival of India, Goa ( 20 -28 November, 2020)
Films to Watch in 2020
Christopher Nolan Films Tenet in Mumbai
A Call From Uttarakhand For Filmmakers Of The World
FFO Rolls Out Red Carpet For Foreign Filmmakers
INDIA@BERLINALE-Indian Cinema’s Voices Emerging
51st IFFI TO Mark Satyajit Ray’s Centenary Celebrations
Infusing Life With Dubbing AT VR Films & Studios
Sailing well in Animation Waters
Berlinale 2020: India’s Laila Aur Satt Geet Selected for ‘Encounters’ Section
Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo! in Berlinale Panaroma
Berlinale Shorts: Ekta Mittal’s ‘Gumnaam Din’ to showcase of pain of separation
Berlinale Talents: Seven Indians Make It to the List
My Salinger Year is the Opening Film at 70th Berlinale
GET READY for EUROPEAN FILM MARKET 2020
BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL 2019 WINNERS
Berlinale Forum Celebrates Golden Jubilee in 2020
Berlinale 2020 Poster Unveiled
British Actor Jeremy Irons Will Be the Jury President of Berlinale 2020
Amit Khanna: The Renaissance Man
Fantastic Friend
THE MEDIA GURU-AMIT KHANNA
STRAIGHT ANSWERS FROM AMIT KHANNA
THE DEFINING DECADE -THE 1990s
10 Achievements of Amit Khanna
Reflections on Amit Khanna
Valuable Moments
India Enchants John Bailey
The Big Bachchan of Bollywood
ETERNAL SUPERSTAR: RAJINIKANTH
IFFI 50 & Fantastic-Lifetime Achievement Award to Isabelle Huppert
INDIA’S FLAGSHIP FILM FESTIVAL TURNS 50
BACK IN BUSINESS WITH A BANG
GET THE BEST OUT OF FILM BAZAAR 2019
Transforming Hollywood from pixels to voxels
Government of India committed to Safeguard IP content: Commerce Secretary
Must do Things at AFM
Why India Attracts Foreign Filmmakers
Pickle at MIPCOM 2019
INDIAN COMPANIES AT MIPCOM
Super Audio: Licensed to Thrill
Jungle Book Season 3 Ready
Issuance of VPL in India
Editor’s Note: 44th Toronto International Film Festival Pickle Sept 2019 Edition
The OSCAR RACE begins HERE…
Seven Indian Indie Filmmakers To Watch
Indian Cinema Of Today: A Culturally Responsive Artifact
Indie Resurgence
Indian Films At Toronto a Sparkling Quartet
IFFI Matters @ 50
Four Indian Films at the Toronto International Film Festival 2019
India Pavilion at Toronto International Film Market 2019
Made in Afghan Film ‘Hava, Maryam, Ayesha’ To Compete at Venice Festival
Keerthy Suresh: The Mahanati of Mahanati. Best Actress, National Film Award
Uttarakhand Bags National Award for Most Film Friendly State
66th National Film Awards Winners for 2018
Watan Adds Colour to Indian Independence Day
dream hampton and Brie Miranda Bryant to Feature in MIPCOM’S Women in Global Entertainment Lunch 2019
Making a Song and Dance of it
NFDC Invites Applications for Production of Films in Indian Languages; Deadline September 8, 2019
IFFI Calls for Entry for Indian Panorama in 50th Edition
Ease of Filming in India
Come, Film In Inida
Why TikTok wants to invest $1 billion in India?
Priyanka Chopra’s The Sky is Pink Set to Premiere in 2019 Toronto Internaitonal Film Festival’s Gala Section
Gitanjali Rao’s Animation Feature Bombay Rose to open Critics’ Week at Venice International Film Festival
76th Venice International Film Festival to Open With Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘The Truth’
Indian Cinema’s Soft Power Misses the Mark in Nirmala Sitharaman’s Maiden Budget Speech
Shahid’s Kabir Singh Becomes Top-Grossing Film of 2019
Finance Minister Proposes FDI Norm Relaxation in Media
Media & Entrtainment as Champion Sector Figures in the Economic Survey 2018-19
Indian Cinema’s Steady Rise on Global Stage
Glimpses of the future
IFFI Marching Towards 50th Edition
Cannes or Netflix? Is Netflix an acceptable remediation for Cannes’ decades-long little regard for Indian Cinema?
Play Small & Live Long Did Wonders for Me
Pickle September 2018 Toronto Edition
DQE Ties up with Sinclair for Jungle Book at MIPCOM
Single Screens Demand Separate SOPs
Discreet Art Productions LLP