| Satyajit Ray was a master storyteller. In the same league as Kurusova or Miyazaki. His stories seemed simple and yet had some unknown power that gripped your heart. I remembering crying the first time I saw the Pather Panchali trilogy as a kid. I never understood why. Some little know facts about Ray : 1. His first movie Pather Panchali (Song of the Road) faced financial issues. A good friend of Ray convinced the Communist Chief Minister of his state to provide some funding. Upon learning the name of the movie the Minister (who was art blind) asked the Public Works Department (Road construction department) to finance it. (because there is a Road in the name) 2. The Chief minister was furious to see the ending. He demanded the ending should be changed and they must show that the family finally gets benefited from a communist government scheme where they get free house and everything. Ray however flat out refused. 3. Satyajit ray penned down Feluda who is Indian Sherlock Holmes told from the perspective of his teenage sidekick. Feluda movies were utterly brilliant. 4. Satyajit Ray also wrote a number of science fiction stories. He would easily feature among the top 5 Sci-Fi writers from India any day. 5. Though India has such a vibrant movie industry called Bollywood, Satyajit Ray never became mainstream. A lot of his contemporaries hated him for unknown reasons and one even called his movies "poverty porn". 6. Ray introduced some great actors to the world. From Sharmila Tagore to Western movie makes very often make poverty porn movies about India, the best example being Slumdog Millionaire. Here is a wonderful comparison of Boyle and Ray. https://greatbong.net/2009/01/17/of-ray-and-boyle/ Here is the best ever review of Pather Panchali
https://greatbong.net/2005/07/27/pather-panchali-an-intensel... |