Biography of Satyajit Ray: Satyajit Ray was a great Bengali film director, writer, musician, and painter in the Indian film industry. He introduced a new direction of realistic filmmaking to the Bengali and Indian film industry through his films. He is considered to be the greatest film director in India. He occupies a unique place in the history of Indian cinema. Through his life and work, he made Bengali literature and cinema known to the world. His films have been highly praised worldwide.
His birth, genealogy and early life:—
Satyajit Ray was born on 2 May 1921 in Kolkata. Kolkata is located in the state of West Bengal in India, which we also known as the “City of Joy”. His father, Sukumar Ray, was a renowned writer, painter, and children’s writer. One of Sukumar Ray’s famous poems is “Abol Tabol”. Apart from this, his other works occupy a unique place in the world of Bengali literature. His grandfather was Upendra Kishore Roychowdhury, whose role in the world of Bengali children’s literature is undeniable. Some of his famous writings are” Nakul”, “Achin Pakhi”, “Pipader Dal” etc. His mother’s name is Suprabha Devi. This famous Ray family of Kolkata was a traditional cultural and artistic environment. However, when Satyajit was only three years old, his father, Sukumar Ray, died; his mother, Suprabha Devi, raised him with great difficulty. From childhood, little Satyajit was very interested in literature and art, which later greatly influenced his imaginative mind and creative mind. His ancestors lived in Masuya village, Katiadi Upazila, Kishoreganj Subdistrict (now Bangladesh), Mymensingh District, then British India.
Educational life:—
Satyajit Ray started his primary education with his mother, Suprabha Devi. After that, he studied at Ballygunge Government High School. His educational life was extraordinary, and his creative mind started to manifest from that time. He graduated in Economics from Presidency University, Calcutta. Although he was always very weak at fine art and art.
In 1940, despite his reluctance, Satyajit Ray joined Visva-Bharati University, founded by poet Rabindranath Tagore, just to obey his mother’s orders. Born in the metropolis, Satyajit was not that interested in learning the arts of Santiniketan, but after being admitted to the Kalabhavan of Santiniketan, most of his thoughts changed. He came in contact with Nandalal Bose and Vinod Bihari Mukherjee in the ashram and learned a lot of art from them, and Nandalal Bose was quite fond of Satyajit as one of his worthy disciples.
Career and personal life:—In 1943, leaving his studies at Santiniketan unfinished, he came to Calcutta and joined the work of visual design. Then, while working with a publishing company, he worked on the book “Aam Aantir Bhepu”, a children’s version of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s historical Bengali novel “Pather Panchali”. This famous novel written by Bibhutibhushan greatly influenced Satyajit Ray and later Satyajit Ray selected it as the subject of his first film. In 1947, Satyajit Ray and several other associates founded the “Calcutta Film Society”. In 1949, Satyajit Ray married his distant aunt’s daughter and long-time friend, Bijoya Das, and a few days later, his only son, Sandip Ray, was born. Then, in 1950, he met a famous director named D. J. Kimar, and he sent Satyajit to work at their head office in London. He went to London for three months to study for the job. During his stay there, Satyajit watched about 99 films. Among them, the Italian neorealist film Ladri di biciclette (Italian: Ladri di biciclette, “Bicycle Thieves”) had a profound influence on him, and after watching this film, he developed a deep interest in filmmaking and moved forward on the path of filmmaking.
Satyajit Ray took his first step into the world of filmmaking in 1952. He started making his first film with his own savings with ‘Pather Panchali’, which was released in 1955. However, he had to face many obstacles while making this first film of his life. First, the film’s production faced financial crises repeatedly. Since he was not a well-known famous filmmaker, no company agreed to pay for his film. In such a situation, Satyajit and his film manager worked on the film whenever they could raise money. In this way, the film went on for about three years and was completed. However, after the film was released, it did not win the hearts of the audience and critics, and this film received a lot of praise as one of the best works of his life.
‘Pather Panchali’ was based on a novel by renowned writer and storyteller Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, which depicted the most ordinary aspects of village life. The film beautifully depicts the life of a simple village boy, Apu, and his childhood. The music and camerawork in the film were exceptional, which is a testament to Satyajit Ray’s artistic spirit and skills. After the success of this film, he made his next film, ‘Aparajito’ and he became widely known internationally. Many renowned directors and critics praised him. After that, he made two more films named Paras Pathar and Jalsha Ghar, which are considered to be his two most important works. Then, while giving an interview to journalists abroad, he thought of making a third part of Apu, and he made ‘Apur Sansar’ in 1959, and these three films, which are a mix of Apu’s life stories, are known together as ‘The Apu Trilogy’.
After this, he directed many films one after another, such as ‘Mahanagar’, ‘Charulata’, ‘Sonar Kella’, ‘Kanchanjungha’, ‘Devi’, ‘Jai Baba Felunath’, ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’, and ‘Nayak’. Among them, ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’ is a musical fairy tale based on children’s stories written by his grandfather, Upendrakishore Roychowdhury. He also made the film “Aranyar Dinratri”, inspired by a novel by the then young poet and writer Sunil Gangopadhyay. In 1977, this renowned filmmaker made a Hindi film named “Shatranj Ki Khiladi”. His films highlighted human feelings, relationships, social conditions and various aspects of Indian life. His fluent imagination is also particularly evident in the films. In 1983, while making the film “Ghre-Baire”, he fell ill due to heart complications. But with the help of his good son, Sandip Roy, he completed the production of this film and the film was released in 1984. After that, he directed two more films, named “Ganshatru” and “Agantuk”, and in both of them, his capable son, Sandip Roy, helped him a lot. “Agantuk” was the last film he directed.
Style of films made by Satyajit Ray:—
The production style of Satyajit Ray’s films was very realistic. His filmmaking was based on screenplay writing. He portrayed the lives of ordinary people and their personalities in screenplays without any exaggerated content. Through his films, various social issues, various streams of social consciousness, critical content, human values and elements of Bengali culture have been properly revealed. He himself worked as a composer, cinematographer and editor, which gave a unique dimension to the original nature of his films. However, the first reviewer of every screenplay he wrote was his wife, Bijoya Das. He used to take his wife’s opinion on every aspect of filmmaking. The subjects of his versatile films were criticized by critics many times, establishing him as an extraordinarily talented and talented personality.
His contribution to literature:—
Apart from directing films, Satyajit Ray also made an incomparable contribution to literature. He is the creator of two popular characters in Bengali literature. One is “Feluda” and the other is “Professor Shanku” and he has also written many short stories, novels, and plays. The most notable of his short stories is the ‘Feluda’ series, which is popular for its mystery stories. This character is one of the best fictional characters in Bengali. In Feluda’s story, his companion is the novelist “Jatayu” alias “Lalmohan Ganguly”, and his cousin Tapeshranjan Mitra alias Topse. Together, the three of them would go out to solve many mysteries in many places and the solution of each mystery creates a thrilling moment in the stories. Besides, his “Professor Shanku” was a science fiction story that basically attracts people of all ages equally. The characters he created continue to gain equal popularity even today as immortal creations of Bengali literature.
Other Contributions:—
Satyajit Ray was not only a good director and writer, he was also a talented music director. He showed another side of his extraordinary skills by directing and composing the music he composed in his films. The music he directed and wrote in the Bengali film world is an inspiration to other music directors.
Also, Satyajit Ray was a very talented painter. He was adept at using the various arts he learned at Santiniketan in his films. He used to design the posters, set designs and other various arts for his films with his own hands. These works of his established him as a multi-talented person in the world.
Awards and Honors:
Satyajit Ray has been awarded many international awards for his extraordinary and timeless creations. His first film, ‘Pather Panchali’ (1955), was widely acclaimed in the international film world, and he won 11 international awards for this film and the highest award there was the ‘Palme d’Or’ from the Cannes Film Festival. He received the Padma Shri award in 1967, the Padma Bhushan in 1972 and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1984. In addition, he received the Oscar award shortly before his death in 1992, which established him as one of the greatest directors and creators in the world of cinema.
In addition, Satyajit Ray was awarded the ‘Bharat Ratna’ honor in 1992 by the Government of India, which is India’s highest civilian honor. His other notable awards include 32 National Film Awards, 1 Golden Lion and 2 Silver Bears.
Death :—
This renowned filmmaker died in Kolkata on April 23, 1992, due to a prolonged heart condition. His death cast a deep shadow of grief on the world of Bengali and Indian cinema. The depth of thought in his films, the presentation of realistic consciousness, his future vision and creativity in literature have remained alive in the hearts of all compatriots for ages.
Conclusion :—
Satyajit Ray is an unprecedented creator of Indian cinema. His films and literature have had a profound impact not only on Indian society but also worldwide. His work has been a source of inspiration for filmmakers all over the world. Satyajit Ray’s works inspire us even today, and each of his films remains a milestone. He has highlighted the humanistic perspective of people and the social essence of different parts of the world through films. He is that great man of the film world who created a bond between art and literature. Each of his creations will be remembered forever by us.
