Satyajit Ray: An Intimate Master is an invaluable sourcework for studies in the work of Satyajit Ray and offers fascinating reading at the same time. Specially commissioned articles by experts and some of Ray’s closest associates, relations and friends provide insights into the entire range of the creativity of Satyajit Ray, one of the world’s greatest filmmakers— as artist and designer, writer and filmmaker— and the environment that nurtured him.
The contributions unravel features never before touched upon— all those subterranean elements that went into the making of his films and his artistic character. They should serve to open up new approaches to and possibilities for fresh readings of Ray’s works in film making, fiction and design alike.
The 400-odd illustrations in black-and-white and in colour— several of them appearing in print for the first time— bring together a wide range of film stills, working stills, book illustrations, early drawings and sketches, layouts for advertisement insertions, film posters, brochures, portraits, caricatures, book jacket design, giving viewers a rare chance of studying the entirety of Ray’s visual imagination and artistic craftsmanship.
The memoiral, and analytical and critical pieces are supplemented by a comprehensive and thoroughly authenticated documentation covering: (i) Ray’s biography; (ii) a chronology of his films; (iii) filmography; (iv) synopses and cast/credits; (v) awards and honours, culminating with the Special Oscar Award for life time achievement in filmmaking (USA), and the Bharat Ratna (India); (vi) his contributions to works by others; (vii) discography; (viii) bibliography; (ix) citations received on several occasions; (x) the text of his earliest literary work; (xi) reproductions of his earliest artistic works; (xii) portfolios on making of Pather Panchali (Song of the Road), his masterpiece; (xiii) and his involvement with Sandesh, the popular children’s periodical launched by his grandfather (Upendrakishore Raychaudhuri) in 1913, that Ray revived in 1961 from a passionate concern for the enlightenment of children. (xiv) A selection of reviews of Ray’s films, national and international, arranged chronologically and filmwise, offers a record of the world’s perception of and response to his films over four decades, in his! torical perspective.
The volume as a whole, the product of several years’ research, has drawn on the rich collection of relevant documentary and archival material and memorabilia lying with the Ray family; and with the thoroughness that has gone into its documentation, it will be, for several years to come, the most authoritative, exhaustive and reliable work on Satyajit Ray
The contributors include artists Dinkar Kowshik, Paritosh Sen and K.G. Subrmanyan, filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, musician and music critic Adi Gazdar, film critics Gaston Roberge and Charles Tesson, advertising and public relations men R. P. Gupta and Subrata Banerjee, social activist Kalyani Karlekar, and literary critic Saroj Bandyopadhyaya.
