Remembering Master Filmmaker Satyajit Ray on his 97th birth anniversary

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian filmmakers of the 20th centure, Satyajit Ray was born on 2 May 1921.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian filmmakers of the 20th centure, Satyajit Ray was born on 2 May 1921. (Express Archives)

Updated on:

02 May 2018, 2:30 pm

2 min read

Ray was born in Kolkata Calcutta into a Bengali family and was drawn into independent filmmaking after he meet French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948) during a visit to London. (Express Archives)

Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, music composer, graphic designer and film critic. (Express Archives)

Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. This film, along with Aparajito (1956), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. (Express Archives)

A shot from Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' which won many national and international awards.(Express Archives)

Recording chief Devadas and Satyajit Ray with actor Gopalakrishnan at the studios. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a Golden Lion, a Golden Bear, 2 Silver Bears, a number of additional awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. The Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna, its highest civilian award, in 1992. (Express Archives)

Stamps released in honor of the legendary Director Satyajit Ray and his masterpiece 'Pather Panchali'. He considered script-writing to be an integral part of direction. Initially he refused to make a film in any language other than Bengali. In his two non-Bengali feature films, he wrote the script in English; translators interpreted it in Hindi or Urdu under Ray's supervision. (Express Archives)

He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents. Feluda, the sleuth, and Professor Shonku, the scientist in his science fiction stories, are popular fictional characters created by him. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University. (Express Archives)

In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das, his first cousin and long-time sweetheart.[12] The couple had a son, Sandip, who is now a film director. Here Satyajit Ray is with his son Sandip Ray (extreme right) (Express Archives)

Satyajit Ray talking to Shyam Benegal. (Express Archives)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Ray an Honorary Oscar in 1992 for Lifetime Achievement. It was one of his favourite actresses, Audrey Hepburn, who represented the Academy on that day in Calcutta. Ray, unable to attend the ceremony due to his illness, gave his acceptance speech via live video feed from the hospital bed. Ray passed away on 23 April 1992. (Express Archives)

A still from Satyajit Ray's film, Sonar Kella. Feluda, played by Soumitra Chatterjee (right) and his assistant Topshe played by Siddhartha Chatterjee. Express Photo]