Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray  (2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteur of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature.

Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves of Vittorio De Sica during a visit to London.

Ray directed thirty-seven films,   comprising 29 feature films, five documentaries, and two short films.

Satyajit Ray, an Indian filmmaker and among the dozen or so great masters of world cinema, is known for his humanistic approach to cinema. He made his films in Bengali, a language spoken in the eastern state of India - West Bengal. And yet, his films are of universal interest. They are about things that make up the human race - relationships, emotions, struggle, conflicts, joys and sorrows. 

The Master Storyteller

Satyajit Ray, the master storyteller. His films demonstrate a remarkable humanism, elaborate observation and subtle handling of characters and situations. The cinema of Satyajit Ray is a rare blend of intellect and emotions. He is controlled, precise, meticulous, and yet, evokes deep emotional response from the audience. His films depict a fine sensitivity without using melodrama or dramatic excesses. He evolved a cinematic style that is almost invisible. He strongly believed - "The best technique is the one that's not noticeable".

Though initially inspired by the neo-realist tradition. Satyajit Ray's films are both cinematic and literary at the same time; using a simple narrative, usually in a classical format, but greatly detailed and operating at many levels of interpretation.

His films belong to a meta-genre that includes the works of Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin, David Lean, Federico Fellini, Fritz Lang, John Ford, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Renoir, Luis Bunuel, Yasujiro Ozu, Ritwik Ghatak and Robert Bresson.

His first film, Pather Panchali (Song of the little road, 1955) established his reputation as a major film director, won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes film festival. 1956 and Best Film, Vancouver, 1958. It is the first film of a trilogy - The Apu Trilogy - a three-part tale of a boy's life from birth through manhood. The other two films of this trilogy are Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959). 

He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, graphic designer and film critic.

This film, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material.

His  films include 

Jalsaghar (The Music Room, 1958), 

Devi (The Goddess, 1960),

 Teen Kanya (Two Daughters, 1961),

 Charulata (The Lonely Wife, 1964),

 Nayak (The Hero, 1966), 

Asani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973), 

Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977),

 Ghare Baire (The Home and the World, 1984), 

Ganashatru (An Enemy Of The People, 1989) and

 Shakha Prashakha (Branches Of The Tree, 1991).

 Agantuk (The Stranger, 1991) was his last film

True Auteur

Ray directly controlled many aspects of filmmaking.

He wrote all the screenplays of his films, many of which were based on his own stories.
He designed the sets and costumes,

operated the camera since Charulata (1964),

He composed the music for all his films since 1961 and

 designed the publicity posters for his new releases.
In addition to filmmaking, Ray was a composer, a writer and a graphic designer.

 He even designed a new typeface. In 1961, he revived and continued to publish the Bengali children's magazine "Sandesh", which was founded by his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray . 

Awards

Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. The Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.

In 1978, the organizing committee of the Berlin Film Festival ranked him as one of the three all-time best directors. In 1992, Satyajit Ray received the honorary Academy Award  Lifetime Achievement - "In recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures and for his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world." Other honors include "Lègion d'Honneur", France and "Bharatratna" Jewel of India).