Satyajit Ray’s death anniversary today

Right from the first shot of Pather Panchali, the first of the Apu trilogy which announced the arrival of a highly refined, educated and versatile film maker called Satyajit Ray- the interplay betweeb poignant social realism and nostalgia left an indelible print which has made him one of the 10 great masters of cinema. The film, based on a novel by Bibhutibhushan Bhattacharya, has as its main protagonist an aesthetically divided middle class father who works out his living from the rents he can collect from his ancestral home. A young girl named Durga(Rumki Banerjee) goes across to where her neighbour’s orchard, in a house which was once by the family that she was born into, and picks up some fruits which she wants to share with her favourite, her great aunt, Indir (Chunibala Devi). The neighbors happen to witness the scene, and in the tradition of a wannabe bhadralok attitude, politely complain about the young girl’s alleged indiscipline. Durga’s mother, taken aback, shows her anger by briefly leaving in an abrubt, stubborn manner, but the arrival of Apu, the first son in this honourable but not-so-well-to-do family, brings cheer all around. The well intentioned but often helpless father, played with considerable pathos by Kanu banerjee takes a long, arduous, journey from Banaras back to his ancestors place, only to find that while most things have remained the same, they have now become strangers in their own homeland. This theme, which obsessed Ray till the last-his film based on ‘The Home and the World’ is a case in point, has shown the master craftsman, who knew aspects from film making, including music, though he often relied on great masters to help him out till the very end, which came in April 1992. Coming back to Pather Panchali, the film’s depiction of a poor Bengali family’s grim struggle for survival, ends on the note where even the ancestral home has to be abandoned. Aparajito(The Unvanquished) and Sansar(the world of Apu) saw the strange but very Indian phenomenon where Ray’s greatness was was established first by all-round The subtle sense of humour- the brilliant flashes of photography- in fact, as is well known, Ray used to first sketch the film on paper and prepare himself before starting his new venture. The struggle between the old and the new- between traditional values and the post-modern thos, informed almost every venture by this great Indian film-maker. Hopeful, some day a maker like Utpalendu or Sudhir Mishra- or even Sanjay Bhansali- will undertake the task of adapting some of the great man’s films. His own limited foray into the Hindi film world, “Shatranj ke Khiladi’ was a beautiful and excellenly crafted film, it won critical aclaim even as the masses, already into the angry young man world started by Amitabh Bachchan, found the film too ’soft’, although the film captures a splendid Amjad Khan ( as Wajid Ali Shah) play ahighly refined role, with those two brilliant actors, Sajeev Kumar and Saee Jaffrey, chipping in with their own brand of fine acting. The often brooding, neglected wife that Shabana played in the film was as usual brilliant. Devi (The goddess), where the protagonist starts believing that she has turned into a goddess, was way ahead of its times. Nayak ( which saw Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore play their roles impeccably) as also Teen Kanya saw the master’s increasing repertoire, which saw its culmination in the unforgettable Charulata, As a critic observed, *this is a film with the fewest flaws. Even Ray for a change expressed great satisfaction with the fil, in which our very own Kishore Kumar sang a beautiful song. In fact, Kishore also financed Pather Panchali, and both he and his Iftekhar saw the film and were inspired to make their own very beautiful Door Gagan ki Chhaon Mein.

There have been few makers like Ray who have shown such total control over their chosen craft. From directing to even designing the posters, Ray did everything- but he never failed to underestimate the great help from friends and fellow unit members. Ray’s cinema is one of thought and feeling. his restraint the consistency he showed down the line showed that he was never complacent. He never let success go to his head. Today, where techniques and epistemological factors have given a new dimension to film making, Ray’s own world is still widely respected.

As his several films reveal, Satyajit Ray maintained that the best technique of film making was the one that was not noticeable, that technique was merely a means to an end. He disliked the idea of a film that drew attention to its style rather than the contents. That is why his work touches one as a revelation of artistry. For at the same time, he reveals his attitude, his sympathies, and his overall outlook in a subtle manner, through hints and via undertones. There are no direct messages in his films. But their meanings are clear, thanks to structural coherence.

Ray makes us re-evaluate the commonplace. He has the remarkable capacity of transforming the utterly mundane into the excitement of an adventure. There is the ability to recognize the mythic in the ordinary, such as in the train sequence of Pather Panchali where the humming telegraph poles hold Durga and Apu in a spell. In addition, he has the extraordinary capacity of evoking the unsaid. When viewing one of his films we often think we know what one of his characters is thinking and feeling, without a single word of dialogue. This ability to create a sense of intimate connection between people of vastly different cultures is Ray’s greatest achievement. More than any of his contemporaries in world cinema, he can create an awareness of the ordinary man, and he doesn’t do it in the abstract, but by using the simplest, most common and concrete details such as a gesture or glance.

Another distinctive feature of Ray’s work is that the rhythm in his films seems almost meditative. There is a contemplative quality in the magnificent flow of images and sounds that evokes an attitude of acceptance and detachment, which is profoundly Indian. His compassionate work arises from a philosophical tradition that brings detachment and freedom from fear, celebrates joy in birth and life and accepts death with grace. This perspective attempts to create the whole out of a fineness of detail. Ray succeeded in making Indian cinema, for the first time in its history, something to be taken seriously, and in so doing, created a body of work of distinct range and considerable cinematic value.