Filmography of Satyajit Ray

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Satyajit Ray is mainly known as director of cinemas. However, he was also credited as writer (both as the writer of the story, or , the screenplay), composer and producer in many cinemas, besides other minor credits in a few films. The filmography of Satyajit Ray is listed here.

Contents

[edit] Filmography - as director

[edit] Filmography - as writer

[edit] Filmography - as composer

[edit] Filmography - as producer

[edit] Short description

[edit] Pather Panchali

By then Ray was convinced that he should become a filmmaker, and also convinced that Pather Panchali would be his first film. Bandopadhyay was deceased at that point, but his widow was generous enough to allow a complete novice to shoot her husband's masterpiece. The film never had a complete script, it was made from Ray's drawings and notes. Shooting started in early 1953. In retrospect, the technical team was immensely talented, even apart from Ray; both Subrata Mitra (cinematographer) and Bansi Chandragupta (art director) would later be considered undisputed masters of their craft. However, at that point, Ray had never directed anything and Mitra had never operated a movie camera, though Chandragupta was a young professional.

The father Harihar, was played by a professional film actor, but Sarbajoya, the mother, was interpreted by Karuna Banerjee, an amateur theater actress and wife of a friend of Ray's. Apu was spotted on a neighbor's terrace by Bijoya Ray, while Durga was chosen from an interview. The hardest to cast was of course the character of the Aunt, as Bibhutibhusan described an 80 year old with features to go with. Both existence of such an actress and her ability to act was suspect, but Ray ultimately spotted his most inspired casting of the film in Chunibala Devi, and old retired stage actress, then living in a brothel.

Funding was a problem from the beginning, as no producer agreed to produce the film. Ray kept working in Keymer, exhausted his last penny, and sold the LP records close to his heart. His production manager Anil Chowdhury was reduced to sleeping in a taxi at one point, and he (Chowdhury) convinced Bijoya to pawn her jewels as well (Ray's life insurance policy had already been pawned). Still, partway through filming Ray ran out of funds; the Government of West Bengal loaned him the rest, allowing him to finish the film. The money was loaned on record for 'roads improvement' (Pather Panchali translates as 'song of the road').

While it was in making, a number of westerners, like Monroe Wheeler from the Museum of Modern Art, saw the rushes and immediately saw that a film of invigorating originality was being produced. However, when it went to Cannes, it was screened towards the end of the festival and at the same time as a party thrown by the Japanese delegation. A small number of critics gathered to see the film bored by the propect to see yet another Indian melodrama, when they found "the magic horse of poetry" slowly invading the screen.[1] The film was awarded the Best Human Document prize at the 1955 Cannes film festival.

In general Pather Panchali was reviewed worldwide with great praise. Akira Kurosawa said, "I can never forget the excitement in my mind after seeing it (Pather Panchali). It is the kind of cinema that flows with the serenity and nobility of a big river."[2] Newsweek critic reviewed the film as , "One of the most stunning first films in movie history. Ray is a welcome jolt of flesh, blood and spirit." L.A. Weekly wrote that the film was "As deeply beautiful and plainly poetic as any movie ever made. Rare and exquisite".[3] "This tale, as crafted by Ray, touches the souls and minds of viewers, transcending cultural and linguistic barriers." was to write James Berardinelli.[4]

The reaction was not uniformly positive, though. After a Cannes screening, François Truffaut is reported to have said: "I don’t want to see a movie of peasants eating with their hands."[5] In fact Ray movies started being appreciated in France only starting in 1980's after Music Room was released there. Bosley Crowther, then the most influential critic of New York Times, also wrote a review of Panchali that some thought would kill off the film when it was released for a year (it had an exceptionally long run).

[edit] The next decade

The woman and the goddess, dichotomy in the poster for Devi
The woman and the goddess, dichotomy in the poster for Devi
Reversal of the gaze, Charulata looking at Amal
Reversal of the gaze, Charulata looking at Amal

The rest of the next decade (1956-1965) saw Ray complete the Apu Trilogy. But this period also showcases his exceptional range as a filmmaker, and his increasing control on the medium of his choice. Ray composed films on the Raj period (Devi, Music Room), a documentary on Tagore, two comic films (Parash Pathar, Mahapurush) and his first film from an original screenplay (Kanchenjungha). He also made a number of films (some based on stories of Tagore), that are among the most deeply felt portrayal of Indian women on screen, moving Pauline Kael to comment that she could not believe that Ray was a man, and not a woman.[6]

In 1957, Ray completed Aparajito, the second installment of the Apu films. This films follows the family in Varanasi, where the ailing Harihar dies. This prompts Sarbojoya to return to Bengal with Apu, back to a village life (though not the same village as in Pather Panchali). Apu starts going to school, turns out to be a rather good student, and finally the opportunity comes for him to go Calcutta. From this point the film becomes increasingly poignant, as Ray films an eternal struggle, between the young man and his ambitions and the mother who loves him, but finds him increasingly alienated from herself. The film is strikingly modern, which probably explains its lack of box office success, but many critics, notably Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak rank it even higher than the first film. Aparajito won the Golden Lion in Venice, removing any doubt that Ray's first film was a fluke.

Apur Sansar was made in 1959. Just like the two previous films, numerous critics find this to be the supreme achievement of the Trilogy (Robin Wood, Aparna Sen). One critic went as far as saying, "The World of Apu ... probably the most important single film made since the introduction of sound".[7] Ray introduces two of his favorite actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore in this film. The film finds Apu (Soumitra) living in a non-descript Calcutta house in near-poverty. He gets involved in a unusual marriage with Aparna, the scenes of the their life together forming "one of the cinema's classic affirmative depiction of married life".[8] But Aparna's death devastates Apu, causing him to reject his newborn son, but five years later, he finally comes back. Life has again truimphed over death.

Before the completion of the Trilogy, Ray completed two other films. The first is the comic Parash Pathar (The Philosopher's Stone), made in 1958. In his performance of a lifetime, Tulsi Chakrabarti plays a poor Calcutta clerk who suddenly stumbles upon a stone than turns iron into gold. Ray follows his rise and inevitable fall with candid humor and humanism. Parash Pathar was then followed by Jalsaghar (The Music Room), widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of his ouvre.[9] In this film, Ray studied a bygone era, that of the Zamindars. Bishwambhar Roy, the protagonist of the film, is a zamindar on brink of financial destruction, and has lost touch with everything after the death of his wife and son, except his passion for music. Ray followed this poignant story by Devi, a film in which studies the deep superstitions in the Hindu society with characteristic subtlety. Sharmila Tagore gives an outstanding performance as Doyamoyee, a young wife who is deified by her father-in-law. She commented later, "Devi was what a genius got out of me, not something I did myself".

In 1961, Ray made a documentary on Rabindranath Tagore, on the occasion of the poet's birth centennial, a tribute to the person who probably influenced him most. This was followed by Teen Kanya, a collection of three small films made based on stories of Tagore. The first installment, Postmaster, "a small gem", is the most acclaimed of the three. Bosley Crowther, who previously wrote a scathing review of Pather Panchali, conceded in New York times that it "says almost all that can be managed about the loneliness of the human heart." In 1962, Ray directed Kanchenjungha, which was his first original screenplay and colour film. Kanchenjungha tells a story of a upper class Bengali family spending an afternoon in Darjeeling, a mountain resort, thus film time coincides with real time. Complex and musically composed, the film tells the story of the family members revolt against the dominating family-head Indranath Roy, and his final humbling.

By now, Ray had found in Madhabi Mukherjee (introduced in film by Mrinal Sen) the perfect actress to interpret the main character in a film he long wanted to make, Mahanagar (The Big City). Mahanagar was the among the most contemporary of Ray's work to date, telling a story of a house wife who decides to work to support her family, and the conflicts and emotions that leads to. Ray won Silver Bear in Berlin for the film.

In 1964 Satyajit Ray made Charulata, regarded as many critics as his masterpiece.[10] Based on Nastanirh, a short story of Tagore, the film tells the tale of a lonely wife, Charu, in 19th century Bengal, and her growing feelings for her brother in law, Amal. This Mozartian film is often called "perfect" to the minutest detail, Ray himself famously said the film contained "least flaws" among his work, and his only work, that given a chance, he would make exactly the same way.[11] Madhabi Mukherjee, as the lead actress, gives a stunning performance in the film, accompanied by excellent ones by everyone else. The film also showcases the craft of both Subrata Mitra and Bansi Chandragupta at their best, the cinematography has influenced many films since. Almost all passages of the film have entered Bengali movie lore, but two scenes have received special critical attention: The first seven wordless minutes of the film, depicting Charu's ennui, and the "Garden-swing sequence", where Charu confronts her love for Amal. Charulata was followed by a number of minor films that complete Ray's work till 1965.

[edit] Later work

A poster of Seemabaddha
A poster of Seemabaddha
A poster for Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Ray's popular fantasy film
A poster for Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Ray's popular fantasy film

In 1966, Satyajit Ray cast Uttam Kumar, the iconic hero of Bengali film industry in a film of his for the first time. The film was called Nayak or "The Hero", which examines the life of a successful cinema star. Arindam, the star, is on a train to Delhi to pick a national award. Though almost everyone else on the train either lionizes him or hates him, he finds a sypathetic listener in Aditi (Sharmila Tagore), an editor for a women's magazine, and reveals his inner angst to her. The film was shown in Berlin to somewhat lukewarm reception, which saddened Ray.[12] Nayak was followed by Chiriakhana, a whodunit again starring Uttam Kumar. Ray, who directed the film at the request of his assistants who tried to film it but later lost nerve, essentially discounted the film from his ouvre.

In 1969, Ray made what would be commercially the most successful of his films. Based on a children's story written by his grandfather, Goopy Gaine Bagha Byne is a musical fantasy. Goopy the singer and Bagha the drummer meet each other in a forest after being outcast from the villages for terrible performances. Here they meet the King of Ghosts, who, pleased with them allows them three boons. Equipped with the power of magically getting food, shoes that carry them instantly to any place they wish, and most importantly marvelous singing and drumming skills, the duo set out to a fantastic journey in which they finally stop an impending war between two neighboring states, Shundi and Halla. Ray made a sequel to this film in 1980, a somewhat overtly political Hirak Rajar Deshe (where the kingdom of the evil Diamond King or Hirok Raj is an allusion to India during Indira Gandhi's emergency period).[13]

After this fantasy film, Ray made a film that again (like many others) has been called his masterpiece. Featuring a musical structure arguably even more complex than Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in a Forest) was based on a story of the relatively new poet and writer, Sunil Gangopadhyay. It traces four Calcuttan young men going to the forests for a vacation, trying to leave their petty urban existence behind. All but one of them get engaged into revealing encounters with women, which becomes a deep study of the Indian middle class, but done with virtuouso humor and wit. According to Robin Wood, "a single sequence [of the film] ... would offer material for a short essay",[14] but the "memory game sequence" where the four men and two women play a game of memory where they have to name famous people (revealing much about themselves in the process) has been the most acclaimed one.

Often accused, at least in Bengal of ignoring the contemporary realities of the Indian urban experience, Ray finally made his emphatic statement on the topic in 1970's. He completed the so-called Calcutta trilogy: Pratidwandi (The Adversary), Seemabaddha (Company Limited), and Jana Aranya (The Middleman), three films which were conceived separately, but whose thematic connections form a loose trilogy. Though made in that order, the class and age of the protagonist imposes an alternative order on them (which critics often use): Pratidwandi about an idealist young graduate; if dillusioned, still uncorrupted at the end of film, Jana Aranya about how a young man gives in to the culture of corruption to make a living, and Seemabaddha about an already successful man giving up morals for further gains. Of this, the first, Pratidwandi uses an elliptical narrative style previously unseen in Ray films, such as scenes in negative, dream sequences and abrupt flashbacks. The other two have a more simple narrative style. This difference reflects the superior imagination and sensitibility of the protagonist of Pratidwandi, Siddhartha, a character Ray deeply identified with.[15] On the other hand, Jana Aranya is the bleakest, displaying a dark humor hithertho unseen in a Ray film.

In 1973, Ray returned to rural India after more than a decade with his Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder). Here the filmmaker studies one of the great tragedies of recent Bengali history, the famine in 1943 that caused at least 3 million deaths. It was caused by a combination of ruthless speculation, apathy of the British rulers and disrupted communication due to the second world war. The film continues to confirm Ray's unique artistic perspective, he decides to look at the famine from the viewpoint of the village dwellers affected by it, caught unaware in the vortex of events they have no idea about.[16] The nature is lush, green photographed beautifully, to contrast against the impending danger. Ray cast Babita, a Bangladeshi actress, as Ananga (the main female role), which launched her career as the leading actress of Bangladesh.

In 1977, Ray completed Shatranj Ke Khiladi (The Chess Players), an Urdu movie about chess players of Lucknow. This was Ray's first feature film in a language other than Bengali, something he previously said he would not do. This is also his most expensive and star-studded film, featuring likes of Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Amjad Khan, Shabana Azmi, Victor Bannerjee and Richard Attenborough. It was based on a story by Munshi Premchand, an important writer of Hindi literature. The film studies the decadence of the Lucknow gentry and the helpless surrender of its Nawab to the British in 1859. Ray infuses humanism and warmth in to these decadent characters, contrasting that of the acrid sarcasm of Premchand. This is characteristic of Ray, who was "bored by villains". In fact, at some point he thought about giving up the project as he was completely repulsed by the Nawab, but only finally went through it when he found his saving grace (after a long period of research), his love for music and arts.

In 1981, after being denied by the Indian government to make a film on child labor (on the ground that it was illegal in India), Ray reacted by making a Hindi film called Sadgati (Deliverance), dealing with arguably the equally depressing fact of untouchability. Based on a story of Premchand, this is his "cruelest film",[17] and varied very little from the literary work, somewhat uncharateristic of Ray. The film presents, with excruciating detail, the life of Dukhi, an untouchable, and his death while working for the merciless Ghansiram, a Brahmin, who manages to throw his body in an animal dumping ground without ever touching him.

During making Ghare Baire in early eighties, Ray suffered a heart attack that would severely restrict his creative output in the years to come. Nevertheless with the help of his son (who would operate the camera from then on), he completed this film in 1984. He wanted to film this Tagore novel on the dangers of fervent nationalism for a long time, and even wrote a (weak, by his own admission) script for it in the 1940s. In spite of ineveitable rough patches due to his illness, the film did receive some critical acclaim, and it contained the first full-blown kiss in Ray's films.

Ray's last three films, made after his recovery, have a very distinctive style, largely due to the strictures put on him by doctors. Shot mostly indoors, they are much more verbose than his earlier films. Ganashatru, the first of the trio, is based on An Enemy of the People of Henrik Ibsen. Ray transfers the story of the lone doctor to Bengal. Ganashatru is regarded by some as a weak film by Ray standards, and seen as an exercise to get beack into filming after prolonged illness.[18] In Shakha Proshakha, made from an original screenplay, Ray is back to form. In this film of "distressing beauty",[19] three sons come to see their ailing father, who lives with a fourth son, who has mental problems. The father, who has lived a life of utmost honesty, comes to learn the corruption of his sons, and the final scene shows him finding solace only in the companionship of the fourth, uncorrupted but mentally ill son. Agantuk, Ray's last, is another original screenplay, based on a short story he had written earlier.

[edit] Documentaries and short films

In addition to the documentary made on Tagore in 1981, Ray made a number of others. Most of these are on artists he admired. His favorite, and the one to achieve most critical acclaim, was "The Inner Eye", on the blind painter Benode Behari Mukherjee, who was Ray's teacher at Santiniketan. The name of the film would later supply the title to Ray's biography by Andrew Robinson. Ray made a documentary on Bala Saraswati, the virtuouso Bharatnatyam dancer, then in her late fifties. Though it contains a beautiful performance by Bala, her lack to discuss her early life left Ray dissatisfied with the project. In 1987 Ray made a documentary on his father Sukumar Ray. He also made a film of Sikkim before it was annexed by India, but very few copies of the prints exist as the Indian government was adverse to its distribution.

Apart from the hours longs films in Kapurush-Mahapurush and Teen Kanya, Ray also made two shorter films. The first one, Two, is worldless 15 minute film on two boys, one rich and one poor. The rich boy tries to trump the poor boys modest toys by his more expensive ones, with apparent success, but the last passage of the film features the poor boy playing a beautiful flute in the background. The second and longer one, Pikoo, enjoys something of a cult status among its admirers. According to Ray, it was "a poetic statement that cannot be reduced to concrete terms". Based on an earlier short story written by himself, Ray explores a days of a small boy Pikoo and his uncomplicated approach to life while his mother seduces a friend of his father, and his grandfather lies dying.

[edit] Unfilmed

In 1967, Ray wrote a script for a movie to be entitled The Alien, with Columbia Pictures as producer for this planned US/India co-production, and Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando as the leading actors. However Ray was surprised to find that the script he had co-written had already been copyrighted and the fee appropriated. Marlon Brando dropped out of the project and though an attempt was made to bring James Coburn in his place, Ray became disillusioned and returned to Calcutta.[20] Columbia expressed interest in reviving the project several times in the 70s and 80s but nothing came of it. When E.T. was released in 1982, many saw striking similarities in the movie to Ray's earlier script - Ray discussed the collapse of the project in a 1980 Sight & Sound feature, with further details revealed by Ray's biographer Andrew Robinson (in The Inner Eye, 1989). Ray believed that Spielberg's movie "would not have been possible without my script of The Alien being available throughout America in mimeographed copies."[21]

Other films Ray expressed interest to make but never did for various reasons include a short documentary on Ravi Shankar, a film based on Mahabharata, the great Indian epic and E. M. Forster's A Passage to India.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Seton 1971, pp. 33
  2. ^ Critics on Ray URL accessed on 3 April, 2006.
  3. ^ Critics on Pather Panchali URL accessed on 3 April, 2006
  4. ^ Berardinelli J. Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road). colossus.net. Retrieved on April 29, 2006.
  5. ^ "Filmi Funda Pather Panchali (1955)", The Telegraph, 2005-04-20. Retrieved on April 29, 2006.
  6. ^ Palopoli S. Ghost 'World'. metroactive.com. Retrieved on June 19, 2006.
  7. ^ Harker 1960
  8. ^ Wood 1972
  9. ^ Malcolm D. Satyajit Ray: The Music Room. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved on June 19, 2006.
  10. ^ Robinson 2003, pp. 157
  11. ^ Palopoli S. Charulata. Slant magazine. Retrieved on June 19, 2006.
  12. ^ Dasgupta 1996, pp. 91
  13. ^ Robinson 2003, pp. 188-189
  14. ^ Wood 1972, pp. 13
  15. ^ Robinson 2003, pp. 208-209
  16. ^ Robinson 2003, pp. 221-223
  17. ^ Robinson 2003, pp. 257
  18. ^ Dasgupta 1996, pp. 134
  19. ^ Robinson 2003, pp. 353
  20. ^ Neumann P. Biography for Satyajit Ray. Internet Movie Database Inc. Retrieved on April 29, 2006.
  21. ^ Newman J. "Satyajit Ray Collection receives Packard grant and lecture endowment", UC Santa Cruz Currents online, 2001-09-17. Retrieved on April 29, 2006.

[edit] External link

[edit] See Also

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