Wednesday this week was the 22nd death anniversary of Indian filmmaker
Satyajit Ray, and offered an opportunity to revisit one of the pioneers of South Asian cinema.
No discussion of Ray’s work can begin without the Apu films, the heartbreaking trilogy about a boy called Apu. Ray used to say he never shot a foot of celluloid before making Pather Panchali (the first installment) and although it took him three years to finish the film, it was an instant critical success, winning national and international awards. The realism and humanity portrayed in Pather Panchali continued in Aparajito, which again won big at Venice, Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals. By the time the third film Apur Sansar was finished in 1959, Ray was already the star of Indian cinema.
If his early films depicted the rural poor, a lot of Ray’s later work centred around middle-class Bengalis like himself. The first of these is Kanchenjungha, in which a three-way romance plays out between upper-class Bengalis vacationing in Darjeeling. In Aranyer Din Ratri, city-types wander aimlessly through a jungle. Another set of three films, dubbed the Calcutta Trilogy, depicts life in modern Bengal where English-speaking youngsters have to deal with the crushing weight of nostalgia and present hopelessness.
Ray is also one of the first Indian filmmakers whose work dwells thoughtfully on the fate of women in Indian society. Devi and Teen Kanya portray rural Bengali women whose destinies are tied to the wishes of men that notice them. Mahanagar, where the female protagonist goes against expected gender roles by becoming a salesperson, is the first of Ray’s pictures about breaking the stereotype. In the very novelistic Charulata, the heroine nurtures a latent sexual attraction towards her husband’s much younger brother, and Ghare Baire portrays the love live of a married woman.
Besides writing his own screenplays (mostly Bengali literature staples) and directing them, Ray was also what is known today as a music director for his films. In Jalsaghar, a film about a decadent heirless landlord whose fortune is dwindling, the classical music is as much of a character as the protagonist. Later, Ray would go on to compose the entire score for Teen Kanya after finding classical trained musicians too loyal to their own schooling.
Ray was also a prolific writer. From his 35 stories about a detective called Feluda, Ray eventually made two detective films. He has written on his experiences in filmmaking (Bishoy Chalachitra and Ekei Bole Shooting) and also published an anthology on cinema inside and outside India (Our films, their films).
Much has changed in the 60 years since Ray made his debut film, but his work will always be a primer for anyone from this part of the world who wants to look at society through the camera.