The Renaissance of
Wonder: On the 62 nd anniversary of Pather Panchali and 60th one of the Apu
Trilogy.. I read a few books written by both the Master himself and a few others
When you are a
Satyajit Ray fan you just don’t stop at watching his films and
documentaries .You want to know both – what went behind making these unique
films in India and what was going on in the Master’s mind too..
This piece of information is interesting ( from the book, The Master
and I) –Satyajit Ray actually mentioned that he took to films as he realized
after visiting the historical Ajanta , Ellora sites that all art forms had
reached their peak in India and hence he should take up something which was new
and untapped .. Now how many would think like this about their profession or
vocation!As they say some are really born great to even think on these lines..
My reading list of the past three months…rather randomly
chosen
1.
14 Stories that Inspired Ray- as the title
suggests these are stories that inspired Ray’s films from writers as diverse as
Rabindranath Tagore(mainly), Munshi Premchand, Ray himself .A very compelling
collection translated by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay
2.
Ray’s Biography by Mary Setton which is a
detailed chronicle of this illustrious icon’s life and even traces his family
lineage
1.
The
Master and I-Soumitro Chatterjee’s has written it straight from the heart and
describes his experiences and learnings through his long association
with Ray
4.
Speaking of Films- Ray describes in his
inimitable style about the language of films and what inspired him to take to films
5.
Then there’s Nemai Ghosh book titled-Manik Da,
Memories of Satyjit Ray.Nemai Ghosh was Ray’s photographer extraordinaire
6.
The most endearing one is The Pather Panchali
Sketchbook which has Ray’s sketches of all the sets of Pather Panchali.As we
all know he was an excellent artist and would sketch his scenes before hand ..
talk of a Director’s vision!!
Mentioning a few
books here which I read long time back and am sure all Ray films would have either
read them or would like to read them (all written by Satyajit Ray except for
one)
1.
Deep Focus - It is about how films have evolved
as an art form and the craft of film
making.
2.
My Years with Apu- details the Apu trilogy replete with nice pictures
from all the three films
3.
Our Films, Their Films (I don’t know how many
times I have read this book)– where Ray again speaks as the title suggests about the evolution of
films in the Western part of the world & how they have impacted Indian
cinema; somewhat unique features of Indian films etc
4.
Cinema of Satyajit Ray by Chidananda Das Gupta(Aparna
Sen’s father)-I found this to be one of the most compelling books so far on
Ray’s films,but can’t get a copy now..
