Satyajit Ray Birth Anniversary: Man Who Created New Wave In Indian Cinema

2 May, 2022 10:43 IST

Satyajit Ray, a name that needs no introduction. An Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, lyricist, magazine editor, essayist,  calligrapher, illustrator, and music composer. He made many wonderful creations in the world of cinema and created a new wave in Indian cinema. He directed the films that passed a message and he will be remembered forever.

On Satyajit Ray's 101st birth anniversary, let us know about some interesting facts and cult classics made by the legendary director.

Interesting facts about Satyajit Ray:

Satyajit Ray worked as a junior visualiser for a British advertising agency. He worked with DJ Keymer company from 1943 till the release of his first movie.

Satyajit Ray can be called an ad-man as well. He made many stunning advertising campaigns.

Before stepping into the films, he worked as a graphic designer and designed covers for books including Jawahar Lal Nehru’s Discovery of India.

For the film, Pather Panchali, Satyajit Ray even sold his life insurance policy and his wife pawned her jewellery to get out of the financial crisis.

He founded the first film club in Kolkata in 1947.

Kanchenjunga, the first coloured film in Bengali cinema was helmed by Satyajit Ray.

Satyajit Ray won numerous awards in his career. He was honoured with the Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) in 1987 by the President of France.

After Charlie Chaplin, Satyajit Ray was the only second filmmaker to be esteemed with an honorary doctorate from Oxford.

Satyajit Ray won awards for ‘Chiriyakhana’ (1967), ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’ (1968), ‘Pratidwandi’ (1969), ‘Sonar Kella’ (1974), ‘Jana Aranya’ (1975) and ‘Agantuk’ (1991). He even won the National Award for Best Music Director twice – for ‘Ashanti Sankt’ (1973) and ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’ (1980).

Satyajit Ray's documentary named "Sikkim" was banned by the Indian government in 1975 when Sikkim came under India's control. However, the ban was lifted in 2010.

Satyajit Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts and authored several short stories and novels, primarily for young children and teenagers.

The legendary director is known for his written works, such as the Feluda Somogro, where he created one of the most famous detective characters for children, Feluda aka Pradosh Chandra Mitter.

Here are three masterpieces from Satyajit Ray:

Pather Panchali:

Pather Panchali, an epic drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and bankrolled by the Government of West Bengal. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name. The film marks Satyajit Ray's directorial debut. Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta, Pinaki Sengupta, Chunibala Devi acted in the lead roles and the first film in Apu Trilogy.

The World of Apu:

Apur Sansar, also known as The World of Apu, an epic drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. The story of the film was based on the last half of the Bengali novel, Aparajito, by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. The World of Apu is the third part of The Apu Trilogy, about the childhood and early adulthood of a young Bengali named Apu in the early twentieth-century Indian subcontinent. The first two parts of the trilogy are Pather Panchali and Aparajito.

Jalsaghar:

Jalsaghar, a Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. The movie was based on a famous short story by Bengali writer Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay. Chhabi Biswas acted in the lead roles in the film. Jalsaghar won the Presidential Award for best film in New Delhi. After this movie, he got international recognition as a director. The movie was regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.

Not only the aforementioned films but there are also other movies like Mahanagar, Charulatha, Aranyer Din Ratri and many other movies of Satyajit Ray that turned out as superhits.

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