History Creator / SatyajitRay

His films were at times controversial in India. His film ''Devi'' was critical of idolatry and Hinduism's treatment of women and provoked angry responses from conservatives. He was also criticized by Bollywood film-makers who resented Ray's international reputation overshadowed most of their commercial films (which they pointed out was seen far more widely and by far more people than Ray's audience) while arthouse film-makers criticized him for not taking a political stance. Nonetheless, Ray remains beloved in his native Bengal and respected and admired in India for being a major artist. He won the Padma Bhushan (India's highest civilian honor) and most famously became the first Indian, and one of two Asians[[note]]The other being Creator/AkiraKurosawa, a friend of Ray's[[/note]] to win an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement Award. He's highly admired by Creator/EliaKazan, Creator/AkiraKurosawa, Creator/MartinScorsese, and Creator/WesAnderson (whose film ''Film/TheDarjeelingLimited'' makes many references to him).

* ''Nayak'' (''The Hero'', 1966)

* ''Charulata'' (1964)[[note]]Considered by many to be his greatest single film, it was Ray's personal favorite; he humbly referred to as "the one with the fewest flaws."[[/note]]

* ''Devi'' (The Goddess, 1960)

* NoPronunciationGuide: 'Satyajit Ray' is pronounced roughly like 'Shottojeet Rye' in Bengali, but many people (including non-Bengali Indians) read the surname as if it rhymes with 'way' or 'say'.

* ''Kapurush'' (''The Coward'', 1965)

-->-- ''Creator/AkiraKurosawa''

->''"Never having seen A Satyajit Ray film is like never having seen the sun or the moon."''

Satyajit Ray (2 May 1921 - 23 April 1992) is the most prominent filmmaker to come out of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Cinema Parallel Cinema]] movement, which emerged in the 1950s as an alternative to mainstream Indian cinema with its UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} blockbusters. He was the first Indian film-maker to attract a Western audience and a global reputation, and alongside Creator/AkiraKurosawa he raised awareness to a truly international cinema beyond the confines of America, England, France, Germany, and the USSR (i.e the North-Western Hemisphere) that had previously defined the SmallReferencePools for movies. His movies inspired filmmakers in India, Iran, Africa, and other parts of the world.

* SherlockHomage: Ray had been a SherlockHolmes fan since his school days, and as such, his ''Feluda'' series of short stories and novels (and their movie adaptations) feature a Bengali private detective nicknamed Feluda (real name: Pradosh C. Mitter), who is an outright Holmes expy. In-universe, Feluda himself is a [[AscendedFanboy huge admirer of Holmes]].

* ''Mahanagar'' (''The Big City'', 1963)

Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) is the most prominent filmmaker to come out of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Cinema Parallel Cinema]] movement, which emerged in the 1950s as an alternative to mainstream Indian cinema with its UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} blockbusters. He was the first Indian film-maker to attract a Western audience and a global reputation, and alongside Creator/AkiraKurosawa he raised awareness to a truly international cinema beyond the confines of America, England, France, Germany, and the USSR (i.e the North-Western Hemisphere) that had previously defined the SmallReferencePools for movies. His movies inspired film-makers in India, Iran, Africa and other parts of the world.

The son of poet and writer Sukumar Ray, Ray was a heir to the Bengali Renaissance. He studied at Creator/RabindranathTagore's famous ashram/retreat/school of Santiniketan and grew up knowing the major artists, musicians, writers and poets of Bengal's important artistic community. From an early age, Ray was fascinated with graphic arts and interested in movies. Around the time of TheForties, Ray was working as a graphic illustrator at an agency, illustrating books and ads for a living, while during the day he would see movies and pal around with American GI stationed at Calcutta who helped a young Ray see ''Film/CitizenKane''. (He was an instant fan.) Ray was important in Calcutta's Film Society, programming films from around the world, and interacting with international film-makers who visited India. When the French film-maker Creator/JeanRenoir arrived in India to make ''The River'', Ray interviewed him and interacted with other members of Renoir's locally recruited crew, namely Bansi Chandragupta who was art director for Renoir. Ray befriended a musician for that film, Subroto Mitra who worked as an amateur photographer and piqued by his obvious talent and interest in cinema, recruited him to be his cinematographer. Ray had planned to adapt the popular novel of ''Pather Panchali'' for cinema (he had illustrated it for a commercial commission) and he and his mostly inexperienced crew made a film entirely outside of India's system over a period of three years. Their production was highly innovative, notable for cinematographer Mitra's invention and use of "bounced light" and for its poetic rhythm. The film attracted attention and played at international film festivals, receiving high acclaim, the first Indian film to ever to so.

His films were at times controversial in India. His film ''Devi'' was critical of idolatry and Hinduism's treatment of women and provoked angry responses from conservatives. He was also criticized by Bollywood film-makers who resented Ray's international reputation overshadowed most of their commercial films (which they pointed out was seen far more widely and by far more people than Ray's audience) while arthouse film-makers criticized him for not taking a political stance. Nonetheless Ray remains beloved in his native Bengal and respected and admired in India for being a major artist. He won the Padma Bhushan (India's highest civilian honor) and most famously became the first Indian, and one of two Asians[[note]]The other being Creator/AkiraKurosawa, a friend of Ray's[[/note]] to win an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement Award. He's highly admired by Creator/EliaKazan, Creator/AkiraKurosawa, Creator/MartinScorsese and Creator/WesAnderson (whose film ''Film/TheDarjeelingLimited'' makes many references to him).

* GenreRoulette: As mentioned above, Ray's resume are quite diverse, spanning across different genres. He actually even planned to make a science fiction movie in Hollywood (titled ''The Alien'') that eventually fell through thanks to ExecutiveMeddling.

** ''Literature/PatherPanchali'' (A Song of the Little Road, 1955)
** ''Film/{{Aparajito}}'' (The Unvanquished, 1956)
** ''Film/ApurSansar'' (The World of Apu, 1959)
* ''Parash Pathar'' (The Philosopher's Stone, 1958)
* ''Jalsaghar'' (Film/TheMusicRoom, 1958)

* ''Mahanagar'' (The Big City, 1963)

* ''Kapurush'' (The Coward, 1965)
* ''Mahapurush'' (The Holy Man, 1965)
* ''Nayak'' (The Hero, 1966)
* ''Chiriyakhana'' (The Zoo, 1967)

* ''Aranyer Din Ratri'' (Days and Nights in the Forest, 1970)

** ''Pratidwandi'' (The Adversary, 1970)
** ''Seemabaddha'' (Company Limited, 1971)
** ''Jana Aranya'' (The Middleman, 1976)

* ''Shatranj ke Khilari'' (The Chess Players, 1977)

* ''Sadgati'' (Deliverance, 1981, TV film)
* ''Ghare Baire'' (The Home and the World), 1984)

* ''Agantuk'' (The Stranger, 1991)

* MyGreatestFailure: During the shoot for ''Film/{{Jalsaghar}}'' a crew member was killed (and another crippled) when a camera crane fell on them. Ray (who, [[PrimaDonnaDirector in the wake of his recent success with]] ''Film/PatherPanchali'' wanted flashy crane shots) felt incredible guilt over the accident, stating “All this would not have happened if I had not set my mind on those overhead shots.”

* ''Jalsaghar'' (The Music Room, 1958)

-->I can't do all that Bergman and Fellini do. I don't have their audiences and I don't work in that kind of context. I have to contend with an audience that is used to dross. I have worked with an Indian audience for thirty years and, in that time, the general look of cinema hasn't changed. Certainly not in Bengal. You'll find directors there are so backward, so stupid, and so trashy that you'll find it difficult to believe that their works exist alongside my films. I am forced by circumstances to keep my stories on an innocuous level.