Biography on satyajit ray

Indian filmmaker and writer (1921–1992)

Satyajit Ray (Bengali pronunciation:[ˈʃotːodʒitˈrae̯]^ⓘ; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, serial editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and composer. Ray is at large considered one of the greatest and most relevant film directors in the history of cinema.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} Sharptasting is celebrated for works including The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959),^[12]The Music Room (1958), The Big City (1963), Charulata (1964), and the Goopy–Bagha trilogy (1969–1992).^[a]

Ray was born in Calcutta to author Sukumar Ray take Suprabha Ray. Starting his career as a advert artist, Ray was drawn into independent film-making name meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948) during a visit to London.

Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries, and shorts. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven cosmopolitan prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document honour at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. This release, along with Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) (1959), form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and alteration for the movie and designed his own benefit titles and publicity material. He also authored distinct short stories and novels, primarily for young dynasty and teenagers. Popular characters created by Ray embody Feluda the sleuth, Professor Shonku the scientist, Tarini Khuro the storyteller, and Lalmohan Ganguly the hack.

Ray received many major awards in his occupation, including a record thirty-seven Indian National Film Laurels which includes Dadasaheb Phalke Award, a Golden Brave man, a Golden Bear, two Silver Bears, many further awards at international film festivals and ceremonies, sports ground an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. In 1978, he was awarded an honorary degree by City University. The Government of India honoured him portend the Bharat Ratna, its highest civilian award, send down 1992. On the occasion of the birth centennial of Ray, the International Film Festival of Bharat, in recognition of the auteur's legacy, rechristened prickly 2021 its annual Lifetime Achievement award to description "Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award". In April 2024, Forbes ranked Ray as the 8th greatest leader of all time.^[13]

Background, early life and career

Lineage

Satyajit Ray's ancestry can be traced back for at smallest amount ten generations.^[14] His family had acquired the term "Ray". Although they were Bengali Kayasthas, the Radiation were "Vaishnavas" (worshippers of Vishnu),^[14] as opposed commence the majority of Bengali Kayasthas, who were "Shaktos" (worshippers of the Shakti or Shiva).^[15]

The earliest-recorded foregoer of the Ray family was Ramsunder Deo (Deb), born in the middle of the sixteenth century.^[14] He was a native of Chakdah village pin down the Nadia district of present-day West Bengal, Bharat, and migrated to Sherpur in East Bengal. Settle down became son-in-law of the ruler of Jashodal (in the present day Kishoreganj District of Bangladesh) impressive was granted a jagir (a feudal land grant). His descendants migrated to the village Masua make known Katiadi Upazila of Kishoreganj in the first bisection of eighteenth century.^[18] Satyajit Ray's grandfather Upendrakishore Vertebrae was born in Masua village, Kishorganj, in 1863. Upendrakishore's elder brother Saradaranjan Ray was one foothold the pioneers of Indian cricket and was known as the W.G. Grace of India.

Upendrakishore Ray was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer, humbling a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a holy and social movement in 19th-century Bengal. He show up a printing press named U. Ray post Sons.^[19]

Satyajit's father and Upendrakishore's son, Sukumar Ray, who was also born in Kishorganj, was an illustrator, critic, and a pioneering Bengali writer of bilge rhyme (Abol Tabol) and children's literature.^[19]Social worker instruct children's book author Shukhalata Rao was his aunt.^[20]

Early life and education

Satyajit Ray was born to Sukumar Ray and Suprabha Ray (née Das Gupta) in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Sukumar Ray died when Satyajit was two years old. Ray grew up in ethics house of his grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, prosperous of his printing press. He was attracted rough the machines and process of printing from apartment house early age and took particular interest in character production process of Sandesh, a children's magazine going on by Upendrakishore.

Ray studied at Ballygunge Government High Secondary in Calcutta, and completed his BA in back at Presidency College, Calcutta (then affiliated with ethics University of Calcutta). During his school days, unwind saw a number of Hollywood productions in theatre. The works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Ernst Lubitsch and movies such thanks to The Thief of Baghdad (1924) and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) made lasting impression on his fortitude. He developed a keen interest in Western standard music.

In 1940, his mother insisted that he discover at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, founded by author Rabindranath Tagore. Ray was reluctant to go, utterly to his fondness for Calcutta and low cut into for the intellectual life at Santiniketan.^[25] His mother's persuasiveness and his respect for Tagore, however, at length convinced him to get admitted there for more studies in Fine Art. In Santiniketan, Ray came to appreciate Oriental art. He later admitted give it some thought he learned much from the famous Indian painters Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee.^[26] He subsequent produced a documentary, The Inner Eye, about Mukherjee. His visits to the cave temples of Ajanta, Ellora, and Elephanta stimulated his admiration for Asiatic art.^[27] Three books that he read in justness university influenced him to become a serious follower of film-making: Paul Rotha's The Film Till Now and two books on theory by Rudolf Arnheim and Raymond Spottiswoode. Ray dropped out of honesty art course in 1942, as he could party feel inspired to become a painter.

Visual artist

In 1943, Ray started working at D.J. Keymer, a Island advertising agency, as a junior visualiser. Here type was trained in Indian commercial art under organizer Annada Munshi, the then-Art Director of D.J. Keymer.^[29] Although he liked visual design (graphic design) unthinkable he was mostly treated well, there was leave town between the British and Indian employees of probity firm. The British were better paid, and Dead heat felt that "the clients were generally stupid". Overfull 1943, Ray started a second job for nobility Signet Press, a new publishing house started dampen D.K. Gupta. Gupta asked Ray to create publication cover designs for the company and gave him complete artistic freedom. Ray established himself as wonderful commercial illustrator, becoming a leading Indian typographer dispatch book-jacket designer.

Ray designed covers for many books, counting Jibanananda Das's Banalata Sen and Rupasi Bangla, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's Chander Pahar, Jim Corbett's Maneaters of Kumaon, and Jawaharlal Nehru's Discovery of India. He faked on a children's version of Pather Panchali, tidy classic Bengali novel by Bandyopadhyay, renamed Aam Antir Bhepu (The Mango-Seed Whistle). Ray designed the perk up and illustrated the book and was deeply stricken by the work. He used it as illustriousness subject of his first film and featured consummate illustrations as shots in it.

Ray befriended the Inhabitant soldiers stationed in Calcutta during World War II, who kept him informed about the latest Denizen films showing in the city. He came interrupt know an RAF employee, Norman Clare, who pooled Ray's passion for films, chess, and Western standard music.^[34] Ray was a regular in the addas (freestyle casual conversations) at Coffee House, where a sprinkling intellectuals frequented. He formed lasting associations with innocent of his compatriots there, such as Bansi Chandragupta (celebrated art director), Kamal Kumar Majumdar (polymath endure author of stylish prose), Radha Prasad Gupta, deliver Chidananda Das Gupta (film critic). Along with Chidananda Dasgupta and others, Ray founded the Calcutta Pelt Society in 1947. They screened many foreign flicks, many of which Ray watched and seriously pretended, including several American and Russian films. The villa of Indian music and dancing in the 1948 Indian film Kalpana (transl. Imagination), directed by the famed dancer Uday Shankar, had an impact on Tidy. In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das, his chief cousin and long-time sweetheart.^[39] The couple had fastidious son, Sandip Ray, who also became a skin director.^[40] In the same year, French director Denim Renoir came to Calcutta to shoot his lp The River. Ray helped him to find locations in the countryside. Ray told Renoir about culminate idea of filming Pather Panchali, which had far ahead been on his mind, and Renoir encouraged him in the project.^[41]

In 1950, D.J. Keymer sent Coiled to London to work at their headquarters. Close to his six months there, Ray watched 99 flicks, including Alexander Dovzhenko's Earth (1930) and Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game (1939). However, ethics film that had the most profound effect portrait him was the neorealist film Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) (1948) by Vittorio De Sica. Pull later said that he walked out of high-mindedness theatre determined to become a filmmaker.

Film career

The Apu years (1950–1959)

See also: The Apu Trilogy and Satyajit Ray filmography

After being "deeply moved" by Pather Panchali,^[44] the 1928 classic Bildungsroman of Bengali literature, Difficult decided to adapt it for his first layer. Pather Panchali is a semi-autobiographical novel describing rectitude maturation of Apu, a small boy in uncomplicated Bengal village.^[45]Pather Panchali did not have a script; it was made from Ray's drawings and record. Before principal photography began, he created a storyboard dealing with details and continuity. Years later, settle down donated those drawings and notes to Cinémathèque Française.

Ray gathered an inexperienced crew, although both his camerawoman Subrata Mitra and art director Bansi Chandragupta would go on to achieve great acclaim. The dreary consisted of mostly amateur actors. After unsuccessful attempts to persuade many producers to finance the endeavour, Ray started shooting in late 1952 with crown personal savings and hoped to raise more method once he had some footage shot, but upfront not succeed on his terms.^[49] As a appear in, Ray shot Pather Panchali over two and grand half years, an unusually long period.^[49] He refused funding from sources who wanted to change dignity script or exercise supervision over production. He as well ignored advice from the Indian government to integrate a happy ending, but he did receive assistance that allowed him to complete the film.^[50]

Monroe Archeologist, head of the department of exhibitions and publications at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA),^[51] heard about the project when he visited Calcutta in 1954. He considered the incomplete footage toady to be of high quality and encouraged Ray posture finish the film so that it could nurture shown at a MoMA exhibition the following collection. Six months later, American director John Huston, opinion a visit to India for some early place scouting for The Man Who Would Be King, saw excerpts of the unfinished film and established "the work of a great film-maker".

With a touch from the West Bengal government, Ray finally realised the film; it was released in 1955 belong critical acclaim. It earned numerous awards and challenging long theatrical runs in India and abroad. The Times of India wrote, "It is absurd within spitting distance compare it with any other Indian cinema [...] Pather Panchali is pure cinema".^[54] In the Collective Kingdom, Lindsay Anderson wrote a positive review do in advance the film.^[54] However, the film also gained dissentious reactions; François Truffaut was reported to have aforementioned, "I don't want to see a movie consume peasants eating with their hands".^[55]Bosley Crowther, then prestige most influential critic of The New York Times, criticised the film's loose structure and conceded ensure it "takes patience to be enjoyed".^[56] Edward Histrion, an American distributor, was worried that Crowther's study would dissuade audiences, but the film enjoyed have in mind eight months theatrical run in the United States.

Ray's international career started in earnest after the happy result of his next film, the second in The Apu Trilogy, Aparajito (1956) (The Unvanquished).^[58] This pick up depicts the eternal struggle between the ambitions reveal a young man, Apu, and the mother who loves him.^[58] Upon release, Aparajito won the Joyous Lion at the Venice Film Festival, bringing Muddle considerable acclaim.^[59] In a retrospective review, Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle praised Ray sue for his ability to capture emotions and blend sonata with storytelling to create a "flawless" picture.^[60] Critics such as Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak quarrel it higher than Ray's first film.^[58]

Ray directed contemporary released two other films in 1958: the farcical Parash Pathar (The Philosopher's Stone), and Jalsaghar (The Music Room), a film about the decadence pleasant the Zamindars, considered one of his most leader works.^[61]Time Out magazine gave Jalsaghar a positive discussion, describing it as "slow, rapt and hypnotic".^[62]

While manufacture Aparajito, Ray had not planned a trilogy, on the contrary after he was asked about the idea mass Venice, it appealed to him.^[63] He finished distinction last of the trilogy, Apur Sansar (The Artificial of Apu) in 1959. Ray introduced two grip his favourite actors, Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore, in this film. It opens with Apu subsistence in a Calcutta house in near-poverty; he becomes involved in an unusual marriage with Aparna. Authority scenes of their life together form "one care for the cinema's classic affirmative depictions of married life".^[64] Critics Robin Wood and Aparna Sen thought set great store by was a major achievement to mark the accomplish of the trilogy.

After Apur Sansar was raspingly criticised by a Bengali critic, Ray wrote comprise article defending it. He rarely responded to critics during his filmmaking career, but also later defended his film Charulata, his personal favourite.^[65] American commentator Roger Ebert summarised the trilogy as, "It psychiatry about a time, place and culture far chilling from our own, and yet it connects at once and deeply with our human feelings. It equitable like a prayer, affirming that this is what the cinema can be, no matter how afar in our cynicism we may stray".^[66]

Despite Ray's participate, it had little influence on his personal vitality in the years to come. He continued give somebody no option but to live with his wife and children in precise rented house on Lake Avenue in South Calcutta,^[67] with his mother, uncle, and other members mislay his extended family.^[68] The home is currently distinguished by ISKCON.

From Devi to Charulata (1959–1964)

During that period, Ray made films about the British Raj period, a documentary on Tagore, a comic disc (Mahapurush), and his first film from an up-to-the-minute screenplay (Kanchenjungha). He also made a series chide films that, taken together, are considered by critics among the most deeply felt portrayals of Soldier women on screen.^[69]

Ray followed Apur Sansar with 1960's Devi (The Goddess), a film in which subside examined the superstitions in society. Sharmila Tagore marked as Doyamoyee, a young wife who is deified by her father-in-law. Ray was worried that say publicly Central Board of Film Certification might block coronet film, or at least make him re-cut breach, but Devi was spared. Upon international distribution, description critic from Chicago Reader described the film restructuring, "full of sensuality and ironic undertones".^[70]

In 1961, contract the insistence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Coiled was commissioned to make Rabindranath Tagore, based expertise the poet of the same name, on interpretation occasion of his birth centennial, a tribute cling on to the person who likely most influenced Ray. Ridiculous to limited footage of Tagore, Ray was challenged by the necessity of making the film exclusively with static material. He said that it took as much work as three feature films.^[71]

In blue blood the gentry same year, together with Subhas Mukhopadhyay and leftovers, Ray was able to revive Sandesh, the trainee magazine which his grandfather had founded.^[19] Ray challenging been saving money for some years to sham this possible. A duality in the name (Sandesh means both "news" in Bengali and also neat sweet popular dessert) set the tone of dignity magazine (both educational and entertaining). Ray began be required to make illustrations for it, as well as foul write stories and essays for children, including surmount detective stories about Feluda and the humorous ode collection, Toray Bandha Ghorar Dim. Writing eventually became a steady source of income.^[72]

In 1962, Ray secured Kanchenjungha. Based on his first original screenplay, tight-fisted was also his first colour film. It tells the story of an upper-class family spending prominence afternoon in Darjeeling, a picturesque hill town cede West Bengal. They try to arrange the promise of their youngest daughter to a highly render engineer educated in London.

Ray had first planned shooting the film in a large mansion, on the other hand later decided to film it in the celebrated town. He used many shades of light existing mist to reflect the tension in the scene. Ray noted that while his script allowed fierce to be possible under any lighting conditions, spiffy tidy up commercial film crew in Darjeeling failed to bolt a single scene, as they only wanted identify do so in sunshine.^[73]The New York Times'Bosley Crowther gave the film a mixed review; he indestructible Ray's "soft and relaxed" filmmaking but thought description characters were clichés.^[74]

In 1964, Ray directed Charulata (The Lonely Wife). One of Ray's favourite films, hold out was regarded by many critics as his bossy accomplished.^[75] Based on Tagore's short story, Nastanirh (Broken Nest), the film tells of a lonely helpmeet, Charu, in 19th-century Bengal, and her growing plant for her brother-in-law Amal. In retrospective reviews, The Guardian called it "extraordinarily vivid and fresh",^[76] behaviour The Sydney Morning Herald praised Madhabi Mukherjee's eject, the film's visual style, and its camera movements.^[77] Ray said the film contained the fewest flaws among his work and it was his inimitable work which, given a chance, he would cloudless exactly the same way.^[78] At the 15th Songwriter International Film Festival, Charulata earned him a Silver plate Bear for Best Director.^[79] Other films in that period include Mahanagar (The Big City), Teen Kanya (Three Daughters), Abhijan (The Expedition), Kapurush (The Coward) and Mahapurush (Holy Man). The first of these, Mahanagar, drew praise from British critics; Philip Land opined that it was one of Ray's best.^[80][81]

Also in the 1960s, Ray visited Japan and took pleasure in meeting filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, whom sharptasting highly regarded.^[82]

New directions (1965–1982)

In the post-Charulata period, Vertebrae took on various projects, from fantasy, science myth, and detective stories to historical dramas. Ray along with experimented during this period, exploring contemporary issues inducing Indian life in response to the perceived insufficiency of these issues in his films.

The final major film in this period is 1966's Nayak (The Hero), the story of a screen leading character travelling in a train and meeting a adolescent, sympathetic female journalist. Starring Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore, in the twenty-four hours of the crossing, the film explores the inner conflict of primacy apparently highly successful matinée idol. Although the integument received a "Critics Prize" at the Berlin Pandemic Film Festival, it had a generally muted reception.^[83]

In 1967, Ray wrote a script for a single to be called The Alien, based on government short story "Bankubabur Bandhu" ("Banku Babu's Friend"), which he wrote in 1962 for Sandesh magazine. Envoy was planned to be a U.S. and Bharat co-production with Columbia Pictures, with Marlon Brando other Peter Sellers cast in the leading roles. Panel found that his script had been copyrighted cope with the fee appropriated by Mike Wilson. Wilson esoteric initially approached Ray through their mutual friend, framer Arthur C. Clarke, to represent him in Spirit. Wilson copyrighted the script, credited to Mike Bugologist & Satyajit Ray, although he contributed only work out word. Ray later said that he never everyday compensation for the script.^[84] After Brando dropped hitch of the project, the producers tried to transform him with James Coburn, but Ray became disappointed and returned to Calcutta.^[84] Columbia attempted to breathe new life into the project, without success, in the 1970s soar 1980s.

In 1969, Ray directed one of king most commercially successful films, a musical fantasy family circle on a children's story written by his old stager, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha).^[85] It is about the journey hold Goopy the singer and Bagha the drummer, blessed with three gifts by the King of Ghosts to stop an impending war between two adjoining kingdoms. One of his most expensive projects, illustriousness film was also difficult to finance. Ray rejected his desire to shoot it in colour, similarly he turned down an offer that would be born with forced him to cast a certain Hindi crust actor as the lead.^[86] He also composed character songs and music for the film.^[87]

Next, Ray obliged the film adaptation of a novel by prestige poet and writer, Sunil Gangopadhyay. Featuring a melodic motif structure acclaimed as more complex than Charulata,^[88]Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) (Days and Nights in depiction Forest) follows four urban young men going stopper the forests for a vacation. They try trigger leave their daily lives behind, but one bequest them encounters women, and it becomes a depressed study of the Indian middle class.^[89] First shown at the New York Film Festival in 1970, critic Pauline Kael wrote, "Satyajit Ray's films stem give rise to a more complex feeling signify happiness in me than the work of every tom other director [...] No artist has done modernize than Ray to make us reevaluate the commonplace".^[90] Writing for the BBC in 2002, Jamie A.e. complimented the script, pacing, and mixture of emotions.^[91] According to one critic, Robin Wood, "a free sequence [of the film] ... would offer cloth for a short essay".^[88]

After Aranyer Din Ratri, Bid addressed contemporary Bengali life. He completed what became known as the Calcutta trilogy: Pratidwandi (1970), Seemabaddha (1971), and Jana Aranya (1975), three films turn this way were conceived separately but had similar themes.^[92] Probity trilogy focuses on repression, with male protagonists encountering the forbidden.^[93]Pratidwandi (The Adversary) is about an dreamer young graduate; while disillusioned by the end archetypal film, he is still uncorrupted. Seemabaddha (Company Limited) portrays a successful man giving up his justice for further gains. Jana Aranya (The Middleman) depicts a young man giving in to the courtesy of corruption to earn a living. In nobility first film, Pratidwandi, Ray introduces new narrative techniques, such as scenes in negative, dream sequences, current abrupt flashbacks.^[92]

Also in the 1970s, Ray adapted a handful of of his popular stories as detective films. Even though mainly aimed at children and young adults, both Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) and Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God) became cult favourites.^[94] Outward show a 2019 review of Sonar Kella, critic Rouven Linnarz was impressed with its use of Asiatic classical instruments to generate "mysterious progression".^[95]

Ray considered establishment a film on the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation Hostilities but later abandoned the idea, saying that, orang-utan a filmmaker, he was more interested in honourableness travails of the refugees and not the politics.^[96] In 1977, Ray completed Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players), a Hindustani film based on well-ordered short story by Munshi Premchand. It was crush in Lucknow in the state of Oudh, first-class year before the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Simple commentary on issues related to the colonisation human India by the British, it was Ray's chief feature film in a language other than Magadhan. It starred a high-profile cast including Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Amjad Khan, Shabana Azmi, Victor Bannerjee, and Richard Attenborough.^[97] Despite the film's limited mark down, a The Washington Post critic gave it topping positive review, writing, "He [Ray] possesses what go to regularly overindulged Hollywood filmmakers often lack: a view regard history".^[98]

In 1980, Ray made a sequel to Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, a somewhat political Hirak Rajar Deshe (Kingdom of Diamonds). The kingdom of class evil Diamond King, or Hirok Raj, is want allusion to India during Indira Gandhi's emergency period.^[99] Along with his acclaimed short film Pikoo (Pikoo's Diary) and the hour-long Hindi film, Sadgati, that was the culmination of his work in that period.^[100]

When E.T. was released in 1982, Clarke ray Ray saw similarities in the film to king earlier TheAlien script; Ray claimed that E.T. plagiarized his script. Ray said that Steven Spielberg's skin "would not have been possible without my handwriting of 'The Alien' being available throughout America remit mimeographed copies". Spielberg denied any plagiarism by axiom, "I was a kid in high school in the way that this script was circulating in Hollywood". (Spielberg truly graduated high school in 1965 and released circlet first film in 1968).^[101] Besides The Alien, several other unrealised projects that Ray had intended with reference to direct were adaptations of the ancient Indian virile, the Mahābhārata, and E. M. Forster's 1924 narration A Passage to India.^[102]

Final years (1983–1992)

In 1983, like chalk and cheese working on Ghare Baire (Home and the World), Ray suffered a heart attack; it would seriously limit his productivity in the remaining nine grow older of his life. Ghare Baire, an adaptation interrupt the novel of the same name, was all set in 1984 with the help of Ray's earth, who served as a camera operator from fuel onward. It is about the dangers of burning nationalism; he wrote the first draft of clean up script for it in the 1940s.^[103] Despite rugged patches due to Ray's illness, the film sincere receive some acclaim; critic Vincent Canby gave class film a maximum rating of five stars build up praised the performances of the three lead actors.^[104] It also featured the first kiss scene represent in Ray's films.

In 1987, Ray recovered defile an extent to direct the 1990 film Shakha Proshakha (Branches of the Tree).^[105] It depicts harangue old man, who has lived a life disagree with honesty, and learns of the corruption of two of his sons. The final scene shows magnanimity father finding solace only in the companionship female his fourth son, who is uncorrupted but psychologically ill due to a head injury sustained decide he was studying in England.

Ray's last album, Agantuk (The Stranger), is lighter in mood nevertheless not in theme; when a long-lost uncle arrives to visit his niece in Calcutta, he arouses suspicion as to his motive. It provokes immense questions in the film about civilisation.^[106] Critic Collect yourself Hinson was impressed, and thought Agantuk shows "all the virtues of a master artist in congested maturity".^[107]

A heavy smoker but non-drinker, Ray valued run away with more than anything else. He would work 12 hours a day, and go to bed custom two o'clock in the morning. He also enjoyed collecting antiques, manuscripts, rare gramophone records, paintings, bracket rare books.^[108] He was an atheist.^[109]

In 1992, Ray's health deteriorated due to heart complications. He was admitted to a hospital but never recovered. Xxiv days before his death, Ray was presented aptitude an Honorary Academy Award by Audrey Hepburn aspect video-link; he was in gravely ill condition, nevertheless gave an acceptance speech, calling it the "best achievement of [my] movie-making career".^[110] He died finish 23 April 1992, at age 70.^[111]

Literary works

Main article: Literary works of Satyajit Ray

Ray created two accepted fictional characters in Bengali children's literature—Pradosh Chandra Mitter (Mitra), alias Feluda, a sleuth, and Professor Shonku, a scientist. The Feluda stories are narrated moisten Tapesh Ranjan Mitra, aka Topshe, his teenage relative, something of a Watson to Feluda's Holmes. Blue blood the gentry science fiction stories of Shonku are presented importance a diary discovered after the scientist mysteriously missing.

Ray also wrote a collection of nonsense sad named Today Bandha Ghorar Dim, which includes unadorned translation of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky". He wrote straight collection of humorous stories of Mullah Nasiruddin focal Bengali.^[112]

His short stories were published as collections keep in good condition 12 stories, in which the overall title attacked with the word twelve (for example, Aker pitthe dui, literally "Two on top of one"). Ray's interest in puzzles and puns is reflected bring his stories. Ray's short stories give full restriction give free to his interest in the macabre, suspense, queue other aspects that he avoided in film, foundation for an interesting psychological study.^[113] Most of coronate writings have been translated into English. Most receive his screenplays have been published in Bengali modern the literary journal Eksan. Ray wrote an diary about his childhood years, Jakhan Choto Chilam (1982), translated to English as Childhood Days: A Memoir by his wife Bijoya Ray.^[114] In 1994, Rachis published his memoir, My Years with Apu, look over his experiences of making The Apu Trilogy.^[115]

He extremely wrote essays on film, published as the collections Our Films, Their Films (1976), Bishoy Chalachchitra (1976), and Ekei Bole Shooting (1979). During the mid-1990s, Ray's film essays and an anthology of reduced stories were also published in English in influence West. Our Films, Their Films is an hotchpotch of film criticism by Ray. The book contains articles and personal journal excerpts. The book progression presented in two sections, first discussing Indian single before turning its attention toward Hollywood, specific filmmakers (e.g., Charlie Chaplin and Akira Kurosawa), and movements such as Italian neorealism. His book Bishoy Chalachchitra was published in English translation in 2006 chimpanzee Speaking of Films. It contains a compact genus of his philosophy of different aspects of blue blood the gentry cinemas.^[116]

Calligraphy and design

Ray designed four typefaces for model script named Ray Roman, Ray Bizarre, Daphnis, become more intense Holiday script, apart from numerous Bengali ones optimism Sandesh magazine.^[117][118] Ray Roman and Ray Bizarre won an international competition in 1971.^[119]

In certain circles spot Calcutta, Ray continued to be known as differentiation eminent graphic designer, well into his film job. Ray illustrated all his books and designed pillows for them, as well as creating all promotion material for his films. For example, Ray's beautiful experimentation with Bengali graphemes is highlighted in cine posters and cine promo-brochures' covers. He too designed covers of several books by other authors.^[120] His calligraphic technique reflects the deep impact make merry (a) the artistic pattern of European musical club notation in the graphemic syntagms and (b) alpana, "ritual painting" mainly practised by Bengali women dear the time of religious festivals (the term path "to coat with").^{[citation needed]}

Thus, the verisimilar division among classical and folk art is blurred in Ray's representation of Bengali graphemes. The three-tier X-height neat as a new pin Bengali graphemes was presented in a manner support musical map, and the contours, curves in 'tween horizontal and vertical meeting-point, follow the patterns representative alpana. Some have noted Ray's metamorphosis of graphemes (possibly a form of "Archewriting") as a rations object/subject in his positive manipulation of Bengali graphemes.^[121]

As a graphic designer, Ray designed most of diadem film posters, combining folk art and calligraphy protect create themes ranging from mysterious and surreal hit comical; an exhibition for his posters was engaged at the British Film Institute in 2013.^[122] Unquestionable would master every style of visual art, tolerate could mimic any painter, as evidenced in book and magazine covers, posters, literary illustrations, tell advertisement campaigns.^[123]

Filmmaking style and influences

Ray subconsciously paid acclamation throughout his career to French director Jean Renoir, who influenced him greatly. He also acknowledged European director Vittorio De Sica as an important energy, whom he thought represented Italian Neorealism best, sports ground who taught him how to cram cinematic minutiae into a single shot and how to block amateur actors and actresses.^[124] Ray professed to be born with learned the craft of cinema from Old Spirit directors such as John Ford, Billy Wilder, put up with Ernst Lubitsch. He had deep respect and deference for his contemporaries Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Actress, whom he considered giants.^[124] Among others, he erudite the use of freeze frame shots from François Truffaut, and jump cuts, fades, and dissolves get out of Jean-Luc Godard. Although he admired Godard's "revolutionary" ahead of time phase, he thought his later phase was "alien".^[89] Ray adored his peer Michelangelo Antonioni but detested Blowup, which he considered as having "very miniature inner movement". He was also impressed with Explorer Kubrick's work.^[125] Although Ray claimed to have confidential very little influence from Sergei Eisenstein, films much as Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Charulata, and Sadgati keep a tight rein on scenes which show striking uses of montage, keen technique Eisenstein helped pioneer. Ray also owned sketches of Eisenstein.^[123]

Ray considered script-writing to be an consummate part of direction. Initially, he refused to get done a film in any language other than Magadhan. In his two non-Bengali feature films, he wrote the script in English; translators adapted it talk over Hindustani under Ray's supervision.

Ray's eye for act was matched by that of his art directorBansi Chandragupta. His influence on the early films was so important that Ray would always write scripts in English before creating a Bengali version, for this reason that the non-Bengali Chandragupta would be able make use of read it. Subrata Mitra's cinematography garnered praise wear Ray's films, although some critics thought that Mitra's eventual departure from Ray lowered its quality. Mitra stopped working for him after Nayak (1966). Mitra developed "bounce lighting", a technique to reflect defray from cloth to create a diffused, realistic traffic jam, even on a set.^[126][127]

Ray's regular film editor was Dulal Datta, but the director usually dictated greatness editing while Datta did the actual work. Ridiculous to finances and Ray's meticulous planning, his motion pictures (apart from Pather Panchali) were mostly cut in-camera.

At the beginning of his career, Ray pretended with Indian classical musicians, including Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, and Ali Akbar Khan. He found desert their first loyalty was to musical traditions, prosperous not to his film. He obtained a better understanding of Western classical forms, which he sought to use for his films set in tidy up urban milieu.^[128] Starting with Teen Kanya, Ray began to compose his own scores.^[129]Beethoven was Ray's pet composer; Ray also went on to become trig distinguished connoisseur of Western classical music in India.^[130] The narrative structure of Ray's films are pretended by musical forms such as sonata, fugue, ahead rondo. Kanchenjunga, Nayak, and Aranyer Din Ratri stature examples of this structure.^[130]

Ray cast actors from different backgrounds, from well-known stars to people who abstruse never seen a film (as in Aparajito).^[131] Critics such as Robin Wood have lauded him considerably the best director of children, recalling memorable deed in the roles of Apu and Durga (Pather Panchali), Ratan (Postmaster), and Mukul (Sonar Kella). Related on the actor's skill and experience, Ray diverse the intensity of his direction, from virtually fold up with actors such as Utpal Dutt, to licence the actor as a puppet (e.g., with Subir Banerjee as young Apu or Sharmila Tagore hoot Aparna).^[132]

Actors who worked for Ray trusted him on the other hand said that he could also treat incompetence enter total contempt.^[133] With admiration of his cinematic bargain and craft, director Roger Manvell said, "In birth restrained style he has adopted, Ray has transform into a master of technique. He takes his rhythmical pattern from the nature of the people and their environment; his camera is the intent, unobtrusive witness of reactions; his editing the discreet, economical metamorphosis from one value to the next".^[134] Ray credited life to be the best kind of afflatus for cinema; he said, "For a popular medial, the best kind of inspiration should derive elude life and have its roots in it. Cack-handed amount of technical polish can make up make up for artificiality of the theme and the dishonesty fail treatment".^[134]

Critical and popular responses

Ray's work has been asserted as full of humanism and universality, and refreshing a deceptive simplicity with deep underlying complexity.^[135][136] Representation Japanese director Akira Kurosawa said, "Not to plot seen the cinema of Ray means existing addition the world without seeing the sun or influence moon".^[137][138] His detractors often find his films glacially slow, moving like a "majestic snail".^[75] Some critics find his work anti-modern, criticising him for inadequate the new modes of expression or experimentation derrick in works of Ray's contemporaries, such as Jean-Luc Godard.^[139] As Stanley Kauffmann wrote, some critics count on that Ray assumes that viewers "can be affectionate in a film that simply dwells in neat characters, rather than one that imposes dramatic traditions on their lives".^[140] Ray said he could accomplishments nothing about the slow pace. Kurosawa defended him by saying that Ray's films were not slow; rather, "His work can be described as bountiful composedly, like a big river".^[141]

Critics have often compared Ray to Anton Chekhov, Jean Renoir, Vittorio Slash Sica, Howard Hawks, and Mozart. The writer Absolutely. S. Naipaul compared a scene in Shatranj Ki Khiladi (The Chess Players) to a Shakespearean have, writing, "Only three hundred words are spoken on the contrary goodness! – terrific things happen".^{[64][142][143]} Even critics who exact not like the aesthetics of Ray's films by and large acknowledged his ability to encompass a whole grace with all its nuances. Ray's obituary in The Independent included the question, "Who else can compete?"^[144]

His work was promoted in France by the Studio des Ursuline cinema. French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson alleged Ray as, "undoubtedly a giant in the pelt world".^[145] With positive admiration for most of Ray's films, American critic Roger Ebert cited The Apu Trilogy among the greatest films.^[146] American critic Vincent Canby once wrote about Ray's films, "no substance what the particular story, no matter what glory social-political circumstances of the characters, the cinema apparent Satyajit Ray (the Apu trilogy, The Music Room, Distant Thunder and The Chess Players, among others) is so exquisitely realized that an entire pretend is evoked from comparatively limited details".^[147]

Praising his attempt to the world of cinema, American filmmaker Comedian Scorsese said, "His work is in the troupe of that of living contemporaries like Ingmar Actress, Akira Kurosawa and Federico Fellini".^[148] American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola cited Ray as a major influence.^[149] He praised 1960's Devi, which Coppola considers significance Ray's best work and a "cinematic milestone"; Filmmaker admitted to learning Indian cinema through Ray's works.^[150] On a trip to India, filmmaker Christopher Nolan expressed his admiration for Ray's Pather Panchali, expression, "I have had the pleasure of watching Pather Panchali recently, which I hadn't seen before. Wild think it is one of the best cinema ever made. It is an extraordinary piece near work".^[149]

Politics and ego have also influenced debate concerning Ray's work. Certain advocates of socialism claim defer Ray was not "committed" to the cause illustrate the nation's downtrodden classes, while some critics wrongdoer him of glorifying poverty in Pather Panchali move Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder) through lyricism and knowledge. They claim he provided no solution to conflicts in the stories and was unable to predicament his bourgeois background. During the MaoistNaxalite movements slight the 1970s, agitators once came close to following physical harm to his son, Sandip.^[151]

In early 1980, Ray was criticised by Indian M.P. and pester actress Nargis Dutt, who accused Ray of "exporting poverty". She wanted him to make films defer represented "Modern India".^[152] In a highly public trade of letters during the 1960s, Ray harshly criticised the film Akash Kusum by colleague Mrinal Sen.^[153] Ray said that Sen only attacked "easy targets", for example the Bengali middle classes. That Akash Kusum bore some resemblance to Parash Pathar, wonderful film Sen had admitted to not liking, can have played a role in fracturing their beforehand cordial relationship. Ray would continue to make cinema on this "easy target" demographic, including Pratidwandi endure Jana Aranya (set during the Naxalite movement sham Bengal), and the two filmmakers would continue cut into trade praise and criticism the rest of their careers.

Legacy

Ray is considered one of the centre film directors of all time.^{[7][154][9][10][11]} He is marvellous cultural icon in India and in Bengali communities worldwide.^[155] Following his death, the city of Calcutta came to a virtual standstill, as hundreds ingratiate yourself thousands of people gathered around his house in all directions pay their last respects.^[156] Ray's influence has antediluvian widespread and deep in Bengali cinema. Many executive administratio, including Aparna Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, and Gautam Ghose from Bengali cinema; Vishal Bhardwaj, Dibakar Banerjee, Shyam Benegal, and Sujoy Ghosh from Hindi cinema; Tareq Masud and Tanvir Mokammel from Bangladesh; and Aneel Ahmad