Bengali Literature No Longer Fit Enough To Make Movies

The second wave of the pandemic robbed film buffs of the chance to celebrate the birth centenary of Satyajit Ray. This year, however, people from all walks of life are flocking to 1/1 Bishop Lefroy Road, Kolkata—Ray’s home for the last two decades of his life—to pay homage to the maestro. Ray’s son, Sandip, who is also a famous director, stays here now. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Sandip opens up about his father and explains the attempts being made to preserve and protect his legacy.

- Rabi Banerjee

INTERVIEW / Sandip Ray, director & Satyajit Ray’s son

Edited excerpts:

Q/ Do you remember the making of Pather Panchali?

A/ I was quite young when Pather Panchali was filmed. But I have heard several stories from my father, enough to fill a book. He thought he would never finish the movie. It took him three years to complete it.

Q/ Your father became a filmmaker despite not having a theatre background.

A/ He was an advertisement executive. He got exposed to European and Hollywood films after his company sent him abroad. He became a foreign film buff and saw at least 90 films before making Pather Panchali.

Q/ The movie was a milestone in Indian cinema. What about his films after that?

A/ His second film, Aparajito, was hugely appreciated and won the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. But it somehow did not do well at the box office. Apur Sansar, too, met with the same fate. But he came back with Parash Pathar and Jalsaghar.

Q/ Was Ray very economical while making films?

A/ He was very economical and methodical. His homework was phenomenal. So he took much less time for shooting. He hardly wasted time discussing things like camera positions. He was an expert in getting things done quickly. He never formally learned filmmaking. People were surprised how he mastered the art of filmmaking quickly and that, too, at the international level.

Q/ Ray made art films, but he was successful commercially as well.