Satyajit Ray

02.05.1921, Calcutta, India - 23.04.1992, Calcutta, India

 

Director
Ray is an Indian screenwriter, director and film music composer. After studying science and economy at the Calcutta University, he enrolled to Viswa-Bharati University where he studied art. He founded the first film association in Calcutta in 1947 and three years later he met Jean Renoir when Renoir was filming The River India. Starting with his first film, Pather Panchali (1955), Ray attracted attention of the international public. Pather Panchali together with the film The Unvanquished (Aparajito, 1956), won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1957. Those two films and The World of Apu (Apur Sansar, 1959) make up the famous “Apu trilogy”. Afterwards, he made The Goddess (Devi, 1960), Three Daughters (Teen Kanya, 1961) and Kanchenjungha (1962), his first film in color and the first film for which he composed the music. His other films include The Expedition (Abhijaan, 1962), The Big City (Mahanagar, 1963) and The Lonely Wife (Charulata, 1964). These films are part of his early realistic creation period (1955-1966) characterized by long shots and slow camera movements. During his middle creation period (1969-1977) he paid more attention to editing and created a more complex style in films such as The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha (Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, 1968), Ashani Sanket (1973), which won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 1973, Jana Aranya (1976) and The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari, 1977). The most important films from his final period (1978-1991) are The Elephant God (Joi Baba Felunath, 1978), The Home and the World (Ghare-Baire, 1984) and Agantuk (1991).He won many international film awards as a director and screenwriter and won the Golden Lion for life-time achievement in Venice in 1982.

Filmography


Films by this director

The Visitor

(Agantuk, 1991)

Directed by: Satyajit Ray
PHOTOGRAPHY: Barun Raha
Synopsis:

A married couple, Anila and Sudhindra, receive an unexpected visitor - Anila’s uncle, Manmohan. Their eleven-year-old son Satyaji is enchanted with Manmohan’s stories about countries that he had visited during his thirty-year-long absence. However, Satyaji’s parents are skeptical of their unknown relative. After one dinner Manmohan gets offended because of his family’s many questions and he disappears. Anila and Sudhindra set out to look for him…

color, 120 min

The Home and the World

(Ghare baire, 1984)

Directed by: Satyajit Ray
PHOTOGRAPHY: Soumendu Roy
Synopsis:

The story takes place in the beginning of the twentieth century in India. Bimala is married to a rich nobleman Nikhilesh, a peaceful man and a loving husband. Even though their marriage was prearranged, Bimala’s husband truly cares for her and since he was educated in the west, he encourages her to educate herself and wishes more for her than to merely live as a housewife. Their relationship will be put to a test when Nikhilesh’s colleague from college Sandip visits them.

35 mm, color, 140 min

Song of the Road

(Pather panchali, 1955)

Directed by: Satyajit Ray
PHOTOGRAPHY: Subrata Mitra
Synopsis:

Pather panchali is Satyajit Ray’s directing debut and the first part of his trilogy that tells the story of a boy Apu and his poor family living in Bengal in the 1920s. His father is a priest who does not earn enough to feed his family while at the same time dreams about becoming a successful writer. His mother constantly fights with his aunt who lives with them and Apu’s older sister steals fruit from the neighbor’s orchard.

35 mm, b/w, 115 min
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