Satyajit Ray : A prolific
Filmmaker!
Satyajit Ray, an Indian filmmaker who is considered one of the masters of
world cinema. Ray was born in 1921 in Calcutta in a distinguished family of
Bengal. After graduating from Calcutta's Presidency College, Ray went to
Shantiniketan University. In 1949 he met the great French director Jean
Renoir who visited Calcutta to scout locations for The River (1950). Renoir
encouraged Ray to make films that inspired him to start work on Pather
Panchali. Ray has left a cinematic heritage that belongs as much to India as
to the world.
Lights...Camera...Action
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.
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.
His
first film Pather Panchali was three years in the making - years of
unceasing finance struggle. It was ultimately completed with the help of
the West Bengal Government. 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).