Happy Birthday Satyajit Ray

We don’t call Satyajit Ray, a legend without a reason. Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa had once rightfully said, “Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.” He is one of the primary reasons why Bengalis get addicted to films at an early age.

In a Bengali household, childhood begins with films like Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne followed by Hirok Rajar Deshe, followed by the last one in the series, Goopy Bagha Firey Elo. Later comes other films like Sonar Kella, Joy Baba Felunath and the never ending list continues till the next generation. Also with books like Our Films Their Films, Feluda series, the filmmaker has remained one of the cultural icons of India, who has set an unsurpassable standard for Indian cinema.

Satyajit Ray hails from a family of litterateurs and was a skilled calligrapher. He had designed four typefaces for the Roman script – Ray Roman, Ray Bizarre, Daphnis, and Holiday Script, in addition to several others for the Bengali script. The Ray Roman and Ray Bizarre had won an international competition in 1971.

Before becoming a filmmaker, Satyajit Ray worked with an advertising firm. It is probably one of the pure reasons, the actor has never criticised commercial films in his books. He understood the importance of a commercial film in an industry while making films with content.

Across his 35-year-long career as a filmmaker, he made over 30 films. He bagged prestigious awards like Dada Saheb Phalke, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Golden Lion, Golden Bear, Bharat Ratna, 23 National Awards, and Honorary Oscar Award for revolutionising Indian cinema and introducing the nation on screen to audiences worldwide.

Source : Agencies