Saluting the Auteur
Satyajit Ray was one of the greatest filmmakers the world has ever seen. He had created some masterpieces during the early years of talkies. Besides doing filmmaking he also had remarkable contributions in art and literature. We remember the maestro on his 93rd birth anniversary.
Born in 2nd May, 1921 Satyajit Ray was the son of renowned Bengali poet and author Sukumar Ray
Ray started his career as a commercial artist and worked in several advertising companies
During his stay in London in 1950 Ray watched 99 films
The neorealist film ‘Bicycle Thief’ had a profound impact on him
He said that after watching the film he came out of the theatre determined to become a filmmaker
Ray started to shoot his first film Pather Panchali with his personal savings in 1952.
With a loan from the West Bengal government, Ray finally completed the film which achieved huge critical acclaim
Later he completed the Apu trilogy by making Aparajito (1956) and Apur Shangshar (1959)
The trilogy brought him international recognitions and numerous awards such as the Golden Lion award
He rarely responded to critics during his filmmaking career, but also later recognized his film Charulata, his personal favourite
Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and short films
Ray directed a short film on the life of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1961
In 1964 Ray made Charulata (The Lonely Wife) which is regarded by many critics as his most accomplished film
In many of his films such as the Apu trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity materials
Ray also revived Sandesh, the most popular children's magazine in Bengali language
He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents
Ray also designed the covers for many books, including Jibanananda Das's Banalata Sen
Satyajit Ray designed four typefaces for roman script named Ray Roman, Ray Bizarre, Daphnis, and Holiday Script
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