SATYAJIT RAY

Legendary director Satyajit Ray was born on 2nd May 1921 in Kolkata in a family known for its interest in art and literature. His grandfather was a big name in the world of literature. After doing his schooling, he moved to Presidency College & thereafter entered Kalabhavan, the arts section of the Visva Bharati University, where he learnt a lot from the famous painters Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee. In his illustrious career, Ray directed 37 films, which included feature films, documentaries and shorts. His first film, Pather Panchali, won 11 international awards. Besides direction, he was involved in scripting, casting, scoring, cinematography, art direction, editing and advertising. In addition, Satyajit Ray was also a novel writer, publisher, illustrator, graphic designer and film critic.

He initially worked as a graphic artist, before moving on to filmmaking. He founded the Calcutta Film Society in 1947. During the Second World War, he became friendly with many American soldiers stationed in Kolkata from whom he learnt about the latest American films being shown in Kolkata. Ray got married to Bijoya Das in 1949. In the same year Ray came into contact with Jean Renoir who had come to Kolkata to shoot his movie The River. He started working with the firm D.J. Keymer and was sent to London in 1950 to work at its head office. During his stay in London, he watched numerous films, one of which Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica had a tremendous impact on him.

He wrote detective stories for children and two of his characters Feluda, a professional detective and Professor Shonku a scientist became very famous. Satyajit Ray received many awards during his lifetime. He was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1985. The French government awarded him their highest civilian award, Le'gion d'honour in 1989. He received the honorary Oscar for lifetime achievements in 1991 and in the same year he was awarded the Bharat Ratna. Besides, he received honorary doctorates from many famous universities around the globe, including the Oxford University. He passed away on 23rd April 1992.