High time to celebrate Satyajit Ray

By: Aribam Bishwajit
“Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon,” celebrated Japanese director Akira Kurosawa had famously said. Even today, on the occasion of the birth centenary of one of India’s greatest film directors, Satyajit Ray, the remark holds true. Three of his finest films – Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956), and Apur Sansar (1959) – are concrete examples, among many, that spoke volumes about emotion, society, culture, and tradition. In fact, Ray had rewritten the grammar of Indian cinema forever, deviating from the conventional style of filmmaking.
India witnessed its first short film in 1907 and its first feature-length six years later, in 1913. Indian cinema could not make a mark globally from the infant stage till 1954 with its formulaic style of filmmaking. It was only in 1955 that Ray’s Pather Panchali inscribed India on the map of world cinema.
Before his foray into filmmaking, Ray worked in a reputed advertising agency. Little did his employer know that he would become a great filmmaker instead of a full-fledged advertising man when they sent him to work in London for six months to gain global exposure in advertising. Even Ray didn’t know what was in the store for him in London until a few days when he watched the neo-realist masterpiece of Vittorio de Sica, The Bicycle Thieves. Italian Neorealist films focused on the poor and the working class’ stories, choosing primarily non-professional actors and shooting in locations rather than studios. In addition, on a low budget. Bicycle Thieves inspired Ray so much that it convinced him to end his advertising career and take up filmmaking. In his “Our Film Their Films,” Ray writes: “Within three days of arriving in London, I saw Bicycle Thieves. I knew immediately that if I ever made Pather Panchali – and the idea had been at the back of my mind for some time – I would make it in the same way, using natural locations and unknown actors.”
It came as no surprise when acclaimed Hollywood director Martin Scorcese said – “Marvel movies are not cinema.” His remark reflects his taste in films and being one of the great admirers of Ray’s films and other films that spoke for people of all walks of life and their conditions. “It (Marvel movies) isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being,” the Academy Award Winning-director had told the Empire magazine.
Inspired by Italian neorealism and an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s novel, Ray’s debut film presented a rural Bengali life through a family to the spectators of the world. This masterpiece concentrates on the relation between a brother and a sister, Apu and Durga, and how the passing of the sister ravages the family, especially their mother, Sarbajaya. The second of the three films – Aparajito – shows the efforts of Apu to prove himself as a good student, get a scholarship to study further in Calcutta, and get a roof over his head. The agonies of a widowed mother and her longing to stay with his son have been accentuated clearly in this film by Ray. The concluding installment – Apur Sansar- details Apu’s adult life and his regaining the reason to smile again after having gone through a sea of despair. These timeless films portrayed human emotions and vehemence surrounding the character of Apu.
In Manipur, barring a handful of filmmakers, most film directors make films with the only intention: to make money; as a result, audiences have had enough of a myriad of intolerable and mediocre cinemas. Even though more than 50 films are churned out every year in the state, the cinemas failed to get national recognition, let alone the international ones. Will the state’s filmmakers be brave enough to make good films, as did Satyajit Ray, shying away from targeting box-office successes? Pondering this grave concern is the need of the hour.
In a nutshell, the three films that make the Apu Trilogy have amassed numerous accolades and acknowledgments for the Indian cinema meriting to be the must-see film list for everyone. However, at a time when Manipur celebrates its 50 years of cinema and the cinephiles across the world pay tributes to the maverick filmmaker on his birth centenary, the screening of films has stopped as theatres around the globe, sans few, have shut given the mounting threat of COVID-19 that has brought the world to its knees. But, it should not be a hurdle given the fast-flourishing OTT platforms. Withstanding all, now is high time to celebrate Ray and his treasures.
(Aribam Bishwajit has been associated with Imphal Times since its inception. He had worked with Tehelka, Narada News, and TOI before pursuing his research in Film Studies. The writer can be contacted at [email protected])