Jalsaghar satyajit ray biography

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May Archived from the original on 25 January Retrieved 8 November World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. Wilson Company. Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 11 August Strictly Film School. Retrieved 31 May New York: Hyperion, , p. JP's Box-Office. Archived from the original on 31 January Retrieved 29 January Retrieved 14 September Red Bull Music Academy.

Archived from the original on 16 January Retrieved 29 October The Guardian. The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 15 June Retrieved 20 June The Criterion Collection. Academy Film Archive. Further reading [ edit ]. He considered the incomplete footage to be of high quality and encouraged Ray to finish the film so that it could be shown at a MoMA exhibition the following year.

With a loan from the West Bengal government , Ray finally completed the film; it was released in to critical acclaim. It earned numerous awards and had long theatrical runs in India and abroad. The Times of India wrote, "It is absurd to compare it with any other Indian cinema [ Ray's international career started in earnest after the success of his next film, the second in The Apu Trilogy , Aparajito The Unvanquished.

Ray directed and released two other films in the comic Parash Pathar The Philosopher's Stone , and Jalsaghar The Music Room , a film about the decadence of the Zamindars , considered one of his most important works. While making Aparajito , Ray had not planned a trilogy, but after he was asked about the idea in Venice, it appealed to him.

Ray introduced two of his favourite actors, Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore , in this film. It opens with Apu living in a Calcutta house in near-poverty; he becomes involved in an unusual marriage with Aparna. The scenes of their life together form "one of the cinema's classic affirmative depictions of married life". After Apur Sansar was harshly criticised by a Bengali critic, Ray wrote an article defending it.

He rarely responded to critics during his filmmaking career, but also later defended his film Charulata , his personal favourite. It is like a prayer, affirming that this is what the cinema can be, no matter how far in our cynicism we may stray". Despite Ray's success, it had little influence on his personal life in the years to come. He continued to live with his wife and children in a rented house on Lake Avenue in South Calcutta, [ 67 ] with his mother, uncle, and other members of his extended family.

During this period, Ray made films about the British Raj period, a documentary on Tagore , a comic film Mahapurush , and his first film from an original screenplay Kanchenjungha. He also made a series of films that, taken together, are considered by critics among the most deeply felt portrayals of Indian women on screen. Ray followed Apur Sansar with 's Devi The Goddess , a film in which he examined the superstitions in society.

Sharmila Tagore starred as Doyamoyee, a young wife who is deified by her father-in-law. Ray was worried that the Central Board of Film Certification might block his film, or at least make him re-cut it, but Devi was spared. Upon international distribution, the critic from Chicago Reader described the film as, "full of sensuality and ironic undertones".

In , on the insistence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru , Ray was commissioned to make Rabindranath Tagore , based on the poet of the same name , on the occasion of his birth centennial, a tribute to the person who likely most influenced Ray. Due to limited footage of Tagore, Ray was challenged by the necessity of making the film mainly with static material.

He said that it took as much work as three feature films. In the same year, together with Subhas Mukhopadhyay and others, Ray was able to revive Sandesh , the children's magazine which his grandfather had founded. A duality in the name Sandesh means both "news" in Bengali and also a sweet popular dessert set the tone of the magazine both educational and entertaining.

Ray began to make illustrations for it, as well as to write stories and essays for children, including his detective stories about Feluda and the humorous poetry collection, Toray Bandha Ghorar Dim. Writing eventually became a steady source of income. In , Ray directed Kanchenjungha. Based on his first original screenplay, it was also his first colour film.

It tells the story of an upper-class family spending an afternoon in Darjeeling , a picturesque hill town in West Bengal. They try to arrange the engagement of their youngest daughter to a highly paid engineer educated in London. Ray had first conceived shooting the film in a large mansion, but later decided to film it in the famous town.

He used many shades of light and mist to reflect the tension in the drama. Ray noted that while his script allowed shooting to be possible under any lighting conditions, a commercial film crew in Darjeeling failed to shoot a single scene, as they only wanted to do so in sunshine. One of Ray's favourite films, it was regarded by many critics as his most accomplished.

In retrospective reviews, The Guardian called it "extraordinarily vivid and fresh", [ 76 ] while The Sydney Morning Herald praised Madhabi Mukherjee 's casting, the film's visual style, and its camera movements. The first of these, Mahanagar , drew praise from British critics; Philip French opined that it was one of Ray's best. Also in the s, Ray visited Japan and took pleasure in meeting filmmaker Akira Kurosawa , whom he highly regarded.

In the post- Charulata period, Ray took on various projects, from fantasy , science fiction , and detective stories to historical dramas. Ray also experimented during this period, exploring contemporary issues of Indian life in response to the perceived lack of these issues in his films. The first major film in this period is 's Nayak The Hero , the story of a screen hero travelling in a train and meeting a young, sympathetic female journalist.

Although the film received a "Critics Prize" at the Berlin International Film Festival , it had a generally muted reception. In , Ray wrote a script for a film to be called The Alien , based on his short story "Bankubabur Bandhu" "Banku Babu's Friend" , which he wrote in for Sandesh magazine. It was planned to be a U. Ray found that his script had been copyrighted and the fee appropriated by Mike Wilson.

Wilson had initially approached Ray through their mutual friend, author Arthur C. Clarke , to represent him in Hollywood. Ray later said that he never received compensation for the script. In , Ray directed one of his most commercially successful films, a musical fantasy based on a children's story written by his grandfather, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha.

One of his most expensive projects, the film was also difficult to finance. Ray abandoned his desire to shoot it in colour, as he turned down an offer that would have forced him to cast a certain Hindi film actor as the lead. Next, Ray directed the film adaptation of a novel by the poet and writer, Sunil Gangopadhyay.

Jalsaghar satyajit ray biography

Featuring a musical motif structure acclaimed as more complex than Charulata , [ 88 ] Aranyer Din Ratri Days and Nights in the Forest follows four urban young men going to the forests for a vacation. They try to leave their daily lives behind, but one of them encounters women, and it becomes a deep study of the Indian middle class. He completed what became known as the Calcutta trilogy: Pratidwandi , Seemabaddha , and Jana Aranya , three films that were conceived separately but had similar themes.

Seemabaddha Company Limited portrays a successful man giving up his morality for further gains. Jana Aranya The Middleman depicts a young man giving in to the culture of corruption to earn a living. In the first film, Pratidwandi , Ray introduces new narrative techniques , such as scenes in negative, dream sequences , and abrupt flashbacks.

Also in the s, Ray adapted two of his popular stories as detective films. Ray considered making a film on the Bangladesh Liberation War but later abandoned the idea, saying that, as a filmmaker, he was more interested in the travails of the refugees and not the politics. It was set in Lucknow in the state of Oudh , a year before the Indian Rebellion of A commentary on issues related to the colonisation of India by the British , it was Ray's first feature film in a language other than Bengali.

When E. Ray said that Steven Spielberg 's film "would not have been possible without my script of ' The Alien ' being available throughout America in mimeographed copies". Spielberg denied any plagiarism by saying, "I was a kid in high school when this script was circulating in Hollywood". Spielberg actually graduated high school in and released his first film in Forster 's novel A Passage to India.

In , while working on Ghare Baire Home and the World , Ray suffered a heart attack ; it would severely limit his productivity in the remaining nine years of his life. Ghare Baire , an adaptation of the novel of the same name , was completed in with the help of Ray's son , who served as a camera operator from then onward. It is about the dangers of fervent nationalism ; he wrote the first draft of a script for it in the s.

The final scene shows the father finding solace only in the companionship of his fourth son, who is uncorrupted but mentally ill due to a head injury sustained while he was studying in England. Ray's last film, Agantuk The Stranger , is lighter in mood but not in theme; when a long-lost uncle arrives to visit his niece in Calcutta, he arouses suspicion as to his motive.

It provokes far-ranging questions in the film about civilisation. A heavy smoker but non-drinker, Ray valued work more than anything else. He would work 12 hours a day, and go to bed at two o'clock in the morning. He also enjoyed collecting antiques, manuscripts, rare gramophone records, paintings, and rare books. In , Ray's health deteriorated due to heart complications.

He was admitted to a hospital but never recovered. Twenty-four days before his death, Ray was presented with an Honorary Academy Award by Audrey Hepburn via video-link; he was in gravely ill condition, but gave an acceptance speech, calling it the "best achievement of [my] movie-making career". Ray created two popular fictional characters in Bengali children's literature—Pradosh Chandra Mitter Mitra , alias Feluda , a sleuth, and Professor Shonku , a scientist.

The science fiction stories of Shonku are presented as a diary discovered after the scientist mysteriously disappeared. Ray also wrote a collection of nonsense verse named Today Bandha Ghorar Dim , which includes a translation of Lewis Carroll 's " Jabberwocky ". He wrote a collection of humorous stories of Mullah Nasiruddin in Bengali. His short stories were published as collections of 12 stories, in which the overall title played with the word twelve for example, Aker pitthe dui , literally "Two on top of one".

Ray's interest in puzzles and puns is reflected in his stories. Ray's short stories give full rein to his interest in the macabre, suspense, and other aspects that he avoided in film, making for an interesting psychological study. Most of his screenplays have been published in Bengali in the literary journal Eksan. During the mids, Ray's film essays and an anthology of short stories were also published in English in the West.

Our Films, Their Films is an anthology of film criticism by Ray. The book contains articles and personal journal excerpts. The book is presented in two sections, first discussing Indian film before turning its attention toward Hollywood , specific filmmakers e. It contains a compact description of his philosophy of different aspects of the cinemas.

Ray designed four typefaces for roman script named Ray Roman, Ray Bizarre, Daphnis, and Holiday script, apart from numerous Bengali ones for Sandesh magazine. In certain circles of Calcutta , Ray continued to be known as an eminent graphic designer , well into his film career. Ray illustrated all his books and designed covers for them, as well as creating all publicity material for his films.

For example, Ray's artistic experimentation with Bengali graphemes is highlighted in his cine posters and cine promo-brochures' covers. He also designed covers of several books by other authors. Thus, the verisimilar division between classical and folk art is blurred in Ray's representation of Bengali graphemes. The three-tier X-height of Bengali graphemes was presented in a manner of musical map, and the contours, curves in between horizontal and vertical meeting-point, follow the patterns of alpana.

As a graphic designer, Ray designed most of his film posters, combining folk art and calligraphy to create themes ranging from mysterious and surreal to comical; an exhibition for his posters was held at the British Film Institute in Ray subconsciously paid tribute throughout his career to French director Jean Renoir , who influenced him greatly.

He also acknowledged Italian director Vittorio De Sica as an important influence, whom he thought represented Italian Neorealism best, and who taught him how to cram cinematic details into a single shot and how to use amateur actors and actresses. He had deep respect and admiration for his contemporaries Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman , whom he considered giants.

Although he admired Godard's "revolutionary" early phase, he thought his later phase was "alien". He was also impressed with Stanley Kubrick 's work. Ray also owned sketches of Eisenstein. Ray considered script-writing to be an integral part of direction. Initially, he refused to make a film in any language other than Bengali. In his two non-Bengali feature films, he wrote the script in English; translators adapted it into Hindustani under Ray's supervision.

Ray's eye for detail was matched by that of his art director Bansi Chandragupta. His influence on the early films was so important that Ray would always write scripts in English before creating a Bengali version, so that the non-Bengali Chandragupta would be able to read it. Subrata Mitra 's cinematography garnered praise in Ray's films, although some critics thought that Mitra's eventual departure from Ray lowered its quality.

Mitra stopped working for him after Nayak Mitra developed " bounce lighting ", a technique to reflect light from cloth to create a diffused, realistic light, even on a set. Ray's regular film editor was Dulal Datta , but the director usually dictated the editing while Datta did the actual work. Due to finances and Ray's meticulous planning, his films apart from Pather Panchali were mostly cut in-camera.

He found that their first loyalty was to musical traditions, and not to his film. He obtained a greater understanding of Western classical forms , which he wanted to use for his films set in an urban milieu. Kanchenjunga , Nayak , and Aranyer Din Ratri are examples of this structure. Ray cast actors from diverse backgrounds, from well-known stars to people who had never seen a film as in Aparajito.

Depending on the actor's skill and experience, Ray varied the intensity of his direction, from virtually nothing with actors such as Utpal Dutt , to using the actor as a puppet e. Actors who worked for Ray trusted him but said that he could also treat incompetence with total contempt. He takes his timing from the nature of the people and their environment; his camera is the intent, unobtrusive observer of reactions; his editing the discreet, economical transition from one value to the next".

No amount of technical polish can make up for artificiality of the theme and the dishonesty of treatment". Ray's work has been described as full of humanism and universality, and of a deceptive simplicity with deep underlying complexity. Kurosawa defended him by saying that Ray's films were not slow; rather, "His work can be described as flowing composedly, like a big river".

The writer V. Ray's obituary in The Independent included the question, "Who else can compete? His work was promoted in France by the Studio des Ursuline cinema. French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson described Ray as, "undoubtedly a giant in the film world". Praising his contribution to the world of cinema, American filmmaker Martin Scorsese said, "His work is in the company of that of living contemporaries like Ingmar Bergman , Akira Kurosawa and Federico Fellini ".

I think it is one of the best films ever made. It is an extraordinary piece of work". Politics and ego have also influenced debate regarding Ray's work. Certain advocates of socialism claim that Ray was not "committed" to the cause of the nation's downtrodden classes, while some critics accused him of glorifying poverty in Pather Panchali and Ashani Sanket Distant Thunder through lyricism and aesthetics.

They claim he provided no solution to conflicts in the stories and was unable to overcome his bourgeois background. During the Maoist Naxalite movements in the s, agitators once came close to causing physical harm to his son, Sandip. In early , Ray was criticised by Indian M. She wanted him to make films that represented "Modern India". That Akash Kusum bore some resemblance to Parash Pathar , a film Sen had admitted to not liking, may have played a role in fracturing their previously cordial relationship.

Ray would continue to make films on this "easy target" demographic, including Pratidwandi and Jana Aranya set during the Naxalite movement in Bengal , and the two filmmakers would continue to trade praise and criticism the rest of their careers. Ray is considered one of the greatest film directors of all time. Across the spectrum, filmmakers such as Budhdhadeb Dasgupta , Mrinal Sen , and Adoor Gopalakrishnan have acknowledged his seminal contribution to Indian cinema.

Other references to Ray's films are found, for example, in 's Sacred Evil , [ ] and the Elements trilogy by Deepa Mehta. Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi has expressed deep admiration for Ray. While discussing the inspiration for his first feature film on India, Beyond the Clouds , Majidi said, "I have learned a lot about India based on the works of remarkable Indian director Satyajit Ray so it was my dream to make a film in his land.

His view point is very valuable to me and I love whatever he has done, so one of the main reasons behind making this film is my admiration for Satyajit Ray and his work". Coetzee 's Youth. In , the BBC declared that two Feluda stories would be made into radio programs. A number of documentary films have been produced about Ray in India.

On 23 February on the year of Satyajit Ray's birth centenary, the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that the central government would institute an award in the name of Satyajit Ray. The award is to be on par with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Ray received many awards, including 36 National Film Awards by the Government of India and awards at international film festivals.

At the 11th Moscow International Film Festival in , he was awarded with the Honorable Prize for contributions to cinema. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. Indian filmmaker and writer — Calcutta , Bengal Presidency , British India.

Calcutta , West Bengal , India. Film director writer illustrator music composer lyricist author essayist calligrapher. Every film he made bring him a huge success. He made total 37 films. Satyajit Ray also left his mark on literature. He wrote many science fictions, thriller, detective stories and also many short stories. He wrote 35 stories about Feluda.

Satyajit Ray earned many awards in his life for his work. Moreover, he got the Honorary Oscar in for lifetime achievement. Satyajit married Bijoya Ray. They had a son Sandip Ray who is also a filmmaker. This legend died on April 23, , at the age of Satyajit Ray May 2,