Satyajit Ray: The finest film maker.

[tamizharasan]

Ray's Literary Career

1961-1992, Writer of non-fiction, stories and novels
In 1961, Ray revived Sandesh, a children's magazine founded by his grandfather, to which he continued to contribute illustrations, verses and stories throughout his life.

Ray wrote numerous short stories, articles, and novels in Bengali.

He made a significant contribution to children's literature in Bengali. Most of his fiction was written for teen age children. His detective stories and novels were particularly popular with them.

His stories are unpretentious and entertaining. The subjects included: adventure, detective stories, fantasy, science fiction and even horror.

See http://www.satyajitray.org/booksandv...oks_by_ray.htm for the available English translations of his Bengali fiction and other books by Ray.

[tamizharasan]

Final Offerings


1984-1992
About forty years of filmmaking, with a film a year, was interrupted by his fragile health in the mid-1980s. Ray's Ghare-Baire (Home and the World, 1984) based on a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, was a return to his first screen adaptation. While shooting, he suffered two heart attacks and his son, Sandip Ray, completed the project from his detailed instructions.

1989-1992
Ill health kept Satyajit Ray away from active filmmaking for about four years. In 1989, he resumed making films with Ibsen's An Enemy of the People as the basis for his Ganashatru (Enemy of the People, 1989). This was followed with Shakha Prashakha (Branches of the Tree, 1990) and Agantuk (The Stranger, 1991).

This series of three films were to be his last. Many film critics and film historians found these films a marked departure from his earlier work.

In 1992, He accepted a Lifetime Achievement Oscar from his sickbed in Calcutta through a special live satellite-television event and Bharat Ratna (the Jewel of India), the ultimate honour from India.

Satyajit Ray died on April 23, 1992.

[tamizharasan]

The Apu trilogy



Satyajit Ray's first film, Pather Panchali, is one among the finest films ever made. The film won about a dozen awards at various film festivals world-over. Pather Panchali, eventually, became the first film of a trilogy.

After the critical and commercial success of Pather Panchali, Ray made Aparajito. The novel itself was a sequel to Pather Panchali. Ray recounts in "My Years with Apu" on what finally led him to do another film about Apu was, "One single attitude of Apu in the second novel Aparajita ... After Sarbajaya's (mother) death Apu feels relief... he felt happy to be free of a bondage. ... The idea of Apu growing up and away from his mother... and much stress is laid on Sarbajaya's slow realization of the fact."After a special screening for Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India and Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the President of India, Nehru is said to have asked Ray, "what happens to Apu now?" Ray replied that he did not have a third Apu film in mind.

The film was not very successful with the Bengali audience at the time of its first release. Ray read many Bengali stories and novels, looking for a future film. He wrote a screenplay based on a short story by Tarasankar Bannerji, Jalsaghar (The Music Room) . However, he had to postpone the project as the actor he had in mind for the lead role was going to be abroad for a few months. Meanwhile, he made a comedy fantasy, Parash Pather (The Philosopher's Stone). Just before the film's release, Ray and Aparajito were invited to the Venice Film Festival. Aparajito was hailed as a masterpiece. Despite the bad subtitling, the film won the Golden Lion for the best feature film at the Venice Film Festival. Ray was asked if he had a trilogy in mind at a press conference during the festival. And to his surprise, Ray found himself saying yes.

His two subsequent films - Parash Pather (The Philosopher's Stone) and Jalsaghar (The Music Room) were commercial failures. Ray says in his book 'My years with Apu', "After three consecutive failures at the box office, I badly needed a film which would not only make the critics happy but the public as well." Satyajit remembered his statement at the Venice Film Festival about a trilogy. In just one reading of the novel Aparajita, he had found a subject for his fifth and the final film of the Apu Trilogy.

Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road, 1955)
Pather Panchali tells the story of a poor family living in a Bengal village. A priest - Harihar, his wife - Sarbajaya, his two children - Apu and Durga, and his aged cousin - Indir Thakrun, struggle to make both end meet.

Harihar is frequently away from home on work. The wife is raising her mischievous daughter Durga and caring for elderly cousin Indir. Apu is born. Soon, Durga and Apu build a bond as they explore the world around the village. The sequences of Durga and Apu are the most cinematic moments in the film. On a stormy day, following a joyous dance in the monsoon rains, Durga dies. On Harihar's return, the family leaves their village in search of a new life in Benaras. The film closes with an image of Harihar, wife and son - Apu, moving way in an ox cart.
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Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956)
Aparajito opens in the city of Benaras. The father dies after an illness. Apu's mother decides to return with Apu to the countryside. Young Apu and his widowed mother struggle for existence. She wants him to become a priest like his father, but he persuades her to send him to school. She makes sacrifices to make it possible for Apu to study. Apu wins a scholarship and leaves for the city, Calcutta. Sarbajaya, the mother, falls ill. Delayed by his exams, Apu arrives too late. She has died. He leaves again for Calcutta.
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Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959)
Apur Sansar is about Apu the man. Soumitra Chatterji, who would act in several later Ray films, played Apu. Apu has to give up studies and look for work. Unable to find a job, he is writing a novel based on his life. He gets married unexpectedly to a village girl (played by Sharmila Tagore in her debut role). Young wife finds herself disoriented in the new city life. Both soon develop a companionship and fall in love. They are blissfully happy for a year. She is pregnant and leaves to be with her family for childbirth. She dies while giving birth to their son. Apu blames the infant for its mother's death and refuses to see it. At last, he gives up his novel and goes to meet his son. Reunited, the two of them leave for Calcutta.
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Comments
All the trilogy films have their share of cinematic magic movements - Discovery of train by Apu and Durga, the candy seller sequence, Indir Thakrun's death, Durga's death and Harihar's realization of Durga's death in Pather Panchali; Harihar's death, Sarbajaya's (Apu's mother) death on a night sparkling with fire flies and Apu's encounter with the empty house in the village in Aparajito; and Apu's marriage, developing of bond with wife and the first encounter with his son in Apur Sansar. These sequences are pure cinema, handled with Ray's usual understatement

Despite being rooted deep in Indian culture, these films evoke a universal humanistic response. That is because the trilogy is all about human relationships. In Pather Panchali - Apu and his sister Durga, in Aparajito - Apu and his mother, and in Apur Sansar - Apu, his wife and his son form the core of the films. Death too plays a pivotal role in all the films.

[P_R]

Seemabadhdha
Easily the weakest of the Calcutta trilogy.
Very superficial, predictable and unidimensional.
Sharmila Tagore- quite a subtle actress I say!

[P_R]

Ghanashatru - tedious and quite boring.
Ray has put no effort at all to make the movie interesting, nor has he made the effort to portray the complexities. Totally dropped the ball on this one.

[tamizharasan]

Ganashatru (Enemy of the People)


1989, India. 100 min., Color, In Bengali with subtitles.
Credits
Producer: NFDC, National Film Development Corporation of India
Screenplay & Direction: Satyajit Ray; Adapted from the play: 'An Enemy of the People' by Henrik Ibsen.
Cinematography: Barun Raha
Editing: Dulal Dutta
Art Direction: Ashoke Bose
Sound: Sujit Sarkar
Music: Satyajit Ray

Cast
Character: Performer
Dr. Ashoke Gupta: Soumitra Chatterjee
Maya, Dr. Gupta's wife: Ruma Guha Thakurta
Indrani, Dr. Gupta's daughter: Mamata Shankar
Nisith: Dhritiman Chatterjee
Haridas Bagchi: Dipankar Dey
Biresh: Subhendu Chatterjee
Adhir: Manoj Mitra
Summary
The film is an adaptation of a play by Henrik Ibsen: An Enemy of the People.It is set in a small town in Bengal. Dr. Ashoke Gupta (Soumitra Chatterjee) is the head of a town hospital. Gupta's younger brother, Nisith (Dhritiman Chatterjee), is the head of the committees running the hospital and a temple. Both were built by a local Industrialist. The temple is also a big tourist attraction.

Dr. Gupta is convinced that the holy water of the temple is contaminated due to faulty pipe-laying. It is causing an epidemic in the town. He warns his brother Nisith.

Nisith, the Industrialist and other town officials reject the idea that holy water might be the cause of the epidemic. They refuse to close the temple to carry out the repairs.

Dr. Gupta wants to write an article in the newspaper to warn people, but giving-in to the pressure from the powerful people, the editor refuses to publish it.

Left with no alternative, Dr. Gupta organises a public meeting that is also sabotaged. And Dr. Gupta is proclaimed an enemy of the people.
Comments
Due to his medical condition after a heart-attack during making of Ghare-Baire, Satyajit Ray was told by the doctors not to do any location work. He was forced make a film totally in studio. For this, he thought a play would be more suitable rather than a story or a novel. Unfortunately, this constraint of shooting only in studio does mar the film as a whole. Ironically, when he began making films, Ray himself had said that he wanted to remove "the last trace of theatricality" from his work. In fact, Pather Panchali was so refreshingly fresh due to its location sequences.

Having said that, Ganashatru has its merits. As Ray commented in an interview with Andrew Robinson, his biographer:

"I found that for once one could play with human faces and human reactions, rather than landscapes, Nature in its moods, which I have done a lot in my films. Here I think it is the human face, the human character which is predominant."

This is true of not only Ganashatru but also Shakha Prashakha (Branches of the Tree) and Agantuk (The Stranger).

Soumitra Chatterjee, the young romantic Apu of Apur Sansar, now much matured and many more lines on his face, plays Dr. Gupta. As always, a superb performance. Ruma Guha and Mamata Shankar, as Dr. Gupta's supportive wife and daughter, also give commendable performances.
What others say...
Its message, about the perils of greed, religious fanaticism, and environmental pollution, may be topical, but the film is too static to have total impact. Still, there are enough flashes of Ray's brilliance to make it worthwhile.
- Leonard Maltin
Awards
Best Bengali Film, New Delhi, 1989
Other Online Reviews
Ganashatru, Satyajit Ray Film & Study Collection

[P_R]

adhellAnjari, unga karuththai sollunga.
I found it very stagey, uninteresting, simplistic. Quite unlike Ray.

[P_R]

Aranyer Din Ratri - avvaLO oNNum piramAdhamA illeengaLE.

k-g, what is this Carnivalesque?

[kid-glove]

MP - Woody's own personal favorite of his oeuvre,

ADR - Ray's own favorite film. Sublime filmmaking.

[KV]

P_R, here's in case you haven't read kittu's old post on ADR.