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Portaying India: Bengal with Satyajit Ray
Portraying India
Perceptions of India, inspired by the lives of those who embody its most authentic spirit
In this edition, we look at Bengal from the perspective of artist Satyajit Ray.
A country as diverse and vast as India has many intellectual centres, one of the most prominent of which is Bengal. Satyajit Ray was born in Kolkata, the region’s largest city and capital of West Bengal. In addition to being recognised as one of the all-time great film directors, he was arguably one of the most versatile creative geniuses of Bengal, if not India, in modern times. He received many coveted awards like the Bharat Ratna, Honorary Oscar (for lifetime achievement), Legion d’ Honor (the highest civilian award in France) and the Kurosawa Award (for lifetime achievement as a film director), apart from numerous others at international film festivals.
Through his lens, Satyajit Ray captured his hometown of Kolkata (then Calcutta) like no other. In his work, the city came alive in his cinema not merely as a backdrop, but as a character in itself. At a time when movies were being mass-produced in the country, Satyajit Ray carefully crafted every piece of work in his mother tongue Bengali. Ray wrote, produced drawings, and composed music, and in 1947, the year of independence, he started the first film club in Calcutta. In a symbiotic relationship between the artist and muse, Calcutta and Ray inspired each other and continue to do so even today.
Tracing Satyajit Ray’s early life across Kolkata & Santiniketan
Born in Kolkata and educated in Ballygunge, Satyajit Ray grew up around the printing business U Ray & Sons set up by his grandfather, Upendrakisor. After completing his BA in Economics at Presidency College in Kolkata, his mother insisted he study at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, founded by Rabindranath Tagore. In Santiniketan, Ray came to appreciate Oriental art and became a serious student of film-making: Paul Rotha’s The Film Till Now, and two books on theory by Rudolf Arnheim and Raymond Spottiswoode. During World War II, Ray befriended the American soldiers stationed in Calcutta, who kept him informed about the latest American films showing in the city. He was a regular in the addas at Coffee House where several intellectuals frequented. Along with film critic Chidananda Dasgupta and others, Ray founded the Calcutta Film Society in 1947.
“Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.”
A Peek at Bengal through the Lens of Satyajit Ray
In his bid to authentically represent Bengali culture, Ray shot many movies in the Bengal countryside. Some of them have changed beyond recognition but continue to bear resemblance to locales once portrayed in Ray movies. In the village of Boral, near Kolkata, Ray shot his debut Pather Panchali which was nominated for the Palme d’Or for the best film and won the Prix du Document Humain (best human document). In Birbhum district, well known for socio-cultural movements and Viswa Bharati University at Santiniketan, was where films like ‘Ashani Sanket’, ‘Agantuk’ and “Abhijaan’ were shot – the first two near Bolpur and the last in Dubrajpur. An ode to his love for music, Jalsaghar or The Music Room, was shot at a palace called Nimtita Rajbari, in Nimtita near Murshidabad.
Where to Begin
Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali, Aparajito & The World of Apu
Set in a small village outside Kolkata, Ray’s debut film, Pather Panchali, was a landmark release for Indian cinema, drawing attention away from mass-produced movies and bringing it to more auteur-driven pieces of work. Beginning what became known as the Apu trilogy, this poetic and touching film introduced the young protagonist, Apu, in a delightful coming-of-age story set in a Bengali village in the 1920s.
The two following instalments, Aparajito and The World of Apu, followed Apu as he left his village to seek an education and career in the city. Together, the films document the development of a life from childhood to adulthood in the midst of a nation that is quickly modernising. They are an ode to Ray’s reverence for each discipline of the filmmaking process, from the beautiful cinematography of Subrata Mitra to the transporting original scores by Ravi Shankar.
Kolkata, the City of Joy
Throughout his cinematic career, Satyajit Ray was determined to portray the true essence Bengali culture in the countryside, but Kolkata held a special place in his heart, and with good reason. On one hand, Kolkata is home to the Bonedi Baris, about 200-odd households dating back to anywhere between 150 to 400 years ago, which were mansions of rich businessmen who started the tradition of lavish Durga Puja celebrations, some of which continue to date. On the other hand, there are British cemeteries which are the resting place of several prominent personalities, including Henry Louis Vivian Derozio and Sir William Jones. In the midst of all this is the constant flux of art, culture and revolution at Tollygunge, Ballygunge and Old Kolkata. In the sweetness of its language and the delicacy of its food, Kolkata is a hotbed for culture.
Recommendations for Further Exploration
To Listen
Soundtrack from Satyajit Ray’s Jalsaghar composed by Ustad Vilayat Khan
Soundtrack from Ghare Baire composed by Satyajit Ray
At Tushita, we marvel at India with you. After 45 years of travelling the country, we’re still enamoured by its beauty every day. From Ladakh, where Tushita was anointed by a Buddhist monk in 1977, to Tamil Nadu, where we worked with locals to showcase one of the oldest cultures in the world, we are partners in your journey to discover our part of the world.
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