Page 13 - Seniors Today - April Issue

Cover Story | Ray Top 10
Essential
Satyajit Ray
It goes without saying that Satyajit Ray features on every film buff’s palate.
Deepa Gahlot selects 10 of his works to put on your list
Satyajit Ray is the only Indian filmmaker
whose name features on every list of great
international directors, and a couple of his
films make it to every ‘best of’ compilation.
Now that access to movies in all languages
is easy and inexpensive, his films are a
must watch. Ray was a complete filmmaker
in the sense that he scripted, composed
music, wrote lyrics for many of his films—
the storyboards of his films are works of
art.
He directed 29 feature films, five
documentaries and two shorts; if that
seems like a daunting task, at least try to
catch these 10, and then go on from there.
This list of ten could be debatable, but it’s a
personal choice.
Pather Panchali (1955):
Inspired by the Italian Neo Realism and
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #22 | APRIL 2021
the New Wave cinema
making a mark the world
over, Ray made a simple
and stunningly lyrical
film about a poor rural
family in Bengal, seen
through the eyes of a
little boy Apu (Subir
Banerjee), and forming the first of what
came to be known as the Apu Trilogy.
Based on a Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay
novel that Ray (till then a visualiser in an
ad agency and designer for a publishing
company), found deeply moving, the film
had mostly non-professional actors and
was shot on real locations. Due to funding
problems, the film took almost three years
to make, and was completed with a loan
from the West Bengal Government. When
it was finally released in 1955, it became
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