Satyajit Ray | GETTY IMAGES
My first meeting with Satyajit Ray, sometime in early 1986, is vividly etched in my memory. I had corresponded with him earlier, written on his work and reviewed his book, Our Films, Their Films. Ray was very cordial and we chatted for over an hour on various aspects of his craft. Like the quiet power exuded by his female protagonists and the role coincidence can play in art creation. I remember pointing out to him the similarity between a scene in his film Devi (1960) and one in Jean-Luc Godard’s Vivre Sa Vie (1962).
For Bengalis, Ray (May 2, 1921—April 23, 1992) is the most prominent cultural icon after Rabindranath Tagore. In the west, especially in France, the UK and the US, Ray is ranked as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His cinematic style has influenced legions of filmmakers, from Martin Scorsese to Christopher Nolan and Abbas Kiarostami. Writers like Saul Bellow in Herzog, J.M. Coetzee in Youth, and Salman Rushdie in Haroun and the Sea of Stories make loving references to his work.
He was not only a filmmaker, but also a prolific writer, a music composer, an illustrator and a calligrapher (having created four typefaces: Ray Roman, Ray Bizarre, Daphnis and Holiday). Unfortunately, outside Bengal, Ray's impact on cinema and literature is limited.
Celebrating his birth centenary in style would provide a unique opportunity to rectify this. Some ways to do this, at the global level, would be for important film academies, like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Film Institute and La Cinematheque Francaise, to restore and preserve Ray's films using the latest technology. Renowned international journals, like the Sight & Sound, Film Quarterly and Cahiers du Cinéma, should bring out special issues familiarising the current generation, especially in Europe and the US, with Ray's work. Major international film festivals at Cannes, Venice, Berlin and London should commemorate the occasion suitably.
The ministry of information and broadcasting and the ministry of culture should set up Ray Film Centres in different states, the way Rabindra Bhavans were set up as part of the Tagore centenary. We could also organise an international seminar with leading filmmakers, translate his select literary works into English and other regional languages, show a retrospective of his films on television with suitable subtitles, and declare May 2 to 8 as national film week.
A Ray archive should be set up in Kolkata, in association with the Ray Society. Ray's films should be perpetually screened in a small auditorium for researchers and others interested. Film societies under the Federation of Film Societies of India, once spearheaded by Ray, should be revived and encouraged to show and discuss his works.
I met him again in January 1990. Though not in the best of health, his enthusiasm and creativity had not waned. He died two years later. Ray’s deep humanism was influenced by the noblest of Indian and western traditions. Yet, there were limitations to his vision, which should also be reflected upon. Then only will the legacy of Ray be more alive and enduring. His birth centenary should give us a chance to immerse ourselves in his work, and to pause and ponder over his majestic artistry.