He made films that will last forever. Named as one of the ten best filmmakers across the world by the Time magazine, Satyajit Ray continues to be an enigma. He changed cinema with his universal themes that hold true in all cultures at all times. His legendary characters transcended the synthetic boundaries of celluloid and the framed confines of the screen to step into our hearts and remain there forever. Chatterji's book is an ode to Ray's cinema.
Shoma forces us to minutely examine the meaning embedded in the smaller scenes, the most silent relationships, and the characters that stay away from any stereotypical, monolithic description. She also describes his love for music through his haunting compositions in film after film and the new world he created for children through Feluda's adventure-filled journeys. This book demands a closer exploration of his work and drives the reader into watching the films discussed yet again-this time with eyes peeled for the nuances that Shoma has caught and laid out for the benefit of the reader.
Dr Shoma A Chatterji, Life- time Achievement SAMMAN awardee from Rotary Metro City in 2012, is a freelance journalist, film scholar and an author. She has been on the jury at major film festivals and has presented papers at different conferences around the world. She has also authored 27 books on various themes of Indian Cinema, Gender Studies, Short Story collections and others.
IT'S A SLAP-DASH world we live in today. We prefer movies that rush around from frame to frame in breathless tension and read books that are page-turners giving us no opportunity to pause, savour and absorb details and the pictures created by the words. Action rules.
Much has been written on Satyajit Ray's cinema: on his method of film making, his choice of subjects and stories, his depiction of characters, especially women. Every aspect of the great master's art and craft has been analysed and laid open for scrutiny by both critics and film-makers themselves. His work continues to inspire, and the odd film that breaks away from the breathless pace of modern popular cinema owes at least one nod to Ray as guru.
Shoma A Chatterji's latest book adds to her considerable contribution to making cinema a more complete experience. Taking a step further into her understanding of Ray's films, this book demands a closer exploration of his work and drives the reader into watching the films discussed yet again-this time with eyes peeled for the nuances that Shoma has caught and laid out for the benefit of the reader.
AS A FILM journalist, I corresponded with Satyajit Ray between 1964 the first time we exchanged a few letters- and 1984, when I received the last letter from him. We met at film festivals every year but I found it difficult to approach him because he was surrounded by around three rings of Chaperones, cutlery, media persons and photographers. I once called him up asking for a one-on-one at his residence but his response was: 'You know me already quite well. We have corresponded. You are also writing about my films. So, what do you need an interview for?' And that was it. He was just too big and I much too small for me to persist.
I first watched Pather Panchali when I was around thirteen years at Maratha Mandir in Bombay (now Mumbai) with a young production assistant from RK Studios who wanted to watch this film everyone was talking about and which was winning awards left, right and centre. The theatre was almost empty.
'That Ray is so tall,' is all he was able to say about Ray by way of introduction. He was a nice guy-I do not recall his name-but he went to sleep as soon as the film began and woke up just a few minutes before it ended. 'Boring film hai bhai, kaise isko itna award mila?" (It's a boring film, how did it get so many awards?) he yawned as we walked out. He escorted me to the bus stop from where I would ride to Shivaji Park as he had promised my mother. I did not understand the film either and wondered why everyone was falling all over it.
My parents were naturally disappointed with my cold response to Pather Panchali. They were huge cinebuffs who watched every English film screened at Bombay's Shree Cinema and Chitra Talkies, where Bangla films were screened only on Sunday mornings. Later, Bangla films began to be screened at Lotus Cinema in Worli.
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