Satyajit Ray - The Master Storyteller

Satyajit Ray was born on May 2, 1921 in Calcutta to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray. He graduated from the Ballygunge Government School and studied Economics at Presidency College. He then attended Kala Bhavan, the Art School at Tagore's University, Santiniketan during 1940-1942. Without completing the five-year course, he returned to Calcutta in 1943, to join the British-owned advertising agency D. J. Keymer as a visualizer. Within a few years, he rose to be its art director.

In 1948, he married Bijoya Das, a former actress/singer who also happened to be his cousin. Their only offspring, Sandip, was born in 1953. In 1983, Satyajit Ray suffered a massive heart attack. He died on April 23, 1992 in Calcutta after having some 40 films and documentaries and numerous books and articles to his credit.

Satyajit Ray, the master storyteller, has left a cinematic heritage that belongs as much to India as to the world. His films demonstrate a remarkable humanism, elaborate observation and subtle handling of characters and situations. The cinema of Satyajit Ray is a rare blend of intellect and emotions. He is controlled, precise, meticulous, and yet, evokes deep emotional response from the audience. His films depict a fine sensitivity without using melodrama or dramatic excesses. He evolved a cinematic style that is almost invisible. He strongly believed - "The best technique is the one that's not noticeable".

Though initially inspired by the neo-realist tradition, his cinema belongs not to a specific category or style but a timeless meta-genre of a style of story telling that touches the audience in some way. His films belong to a meta-genre that includes the works of Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin, David Lean, Federico Fellini, Fritz Lang, John Ford, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Renoir, Luis Bunuel, Yasujiro Ozu, Ritwik Ghatak and Robert Bresson. All very different in style and content, and yet creators of cinema that is timeless and universal.

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Malayalam

Chemmeen

Chemmeen

Chemmeen was directed by Ramu Kariat and released in 1965. It won the Indian President's Gold Medal for the Best Film of 1965. Sheila, Madhu,Kottarakkara and Sathyan play the lead characters in the film.

The screenplay was written by S. L. Puram Sadanandan, with cinematography by Marcus Bartley, and editing by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Songs were set to music by Salil Chowdhury, with lyrics by Vayalar, and featuring voices of Manna Dey, K. J. Yesudas and P. Leela.


"Chemmeen", renowned Malayalam novel by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai has been translated into more than thirty languages. The theme of the novel is a myth among the fishermen communities along the coastal Kerala State in the Southern India. The myth is about chastity. If the married fisherwoman was infidel when her husband was in the sea, the Sea Goddess ('Kadalamma' literally means Mother Sea)the Goddess wouls consume him. It is to perpetuate this myth that Thakazhi wrote this beautiful novel. The film version is somewhat successful with endearing acting performances by Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair (Chemban Kunju), Sheela (Karuthamma), Sthyan (Palani) and Adoor Bhavani (Chakki, Chemban Kunj's wife).



Chemmeen was recognized as a technically and artistically brilliant cinema. Incidentally, it was also one of the first Malayalam movies in colour. It was also a prominent instance of collaborative work involving technicians from Bollywood such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Manna Dey with those of South India. The commercial success of this movie is believed to have brought a sea-change in the way Malayalam films were made. When Chemmeen won the President's gold medal, it was the first time a film from South India did so. At the Chicago Film Festival, the movie won a Certificate of Merit. At the 2005 Brisbane International Film Festival, the movie was screened in a retrospective on 50 years of Malayalam Cinema.

Hindi

Sholay (1975)

Hollywood

The Great Escape

Sholay (1975)

Director Ramesh Sippy


Two convicts and small time crooks (Amitabh and Dharmendra) are picked by Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar), a former police officer, to seek vengeance on the dangerous bandit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) because he killed all of Thakur's family (except a daughter-in-law) and maimed Thakur for life.This was a result of an earlier incident in which Thakur -- acting as a police officer -- had captured Gabbar and helped in his conviction in the court. Gabbar managed to escape and wreaked havoc in Thakur's life. Now Thakur seeks the help of these two crooks to get Gabbar. The ensuing action makes for one of the most exciting Indian movies made to date

Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar) seeks to avenge the cold-blooded massacre of his family at the hands of notorious bandit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan). Since he is unable to do so on his own, he recruits Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jaidev (Amitabh Bachchan). Both are jailbirds and have in and out of various jails. They are reportedly known to carry out any work provided the compensation is right. Both agree to capture Gabbar Singh live and hand him over to Baldev Singh. Things do not go as planned. Veeru falls for the local horse carriage driver Basanti (Hema Malini); and Jai starts to have romantic feelings for Baldev Singh's widowed daughter-in-law, Radha (Jaya Bhaduri). To make matters worse, Gabbar has sworn to kill both Jai and Veeru, and holds Basanti as a hostage, to lure them to him

The Great Escape

Director:
John Sturges

Cast
Steve McQueen
James Garner
Richard Attenborough
James Donald
Charles Bronson
Donald Pleasence
James Coburn

The Great Escape tells the amazing story of a whole bunch of allied prisoners who accomplish a mass breakout during World War II, some of whom actually did make it to freedom and the allied armed forces once again. The film is so good that you do not mind the fact that some American players were tossed into the story as the real story was one accomplished by the British.

To insure that the American movie public would be buying tickets, several American players got into The Great Escape. Charles Bronson, James Coburn, and a pair of American TV cowboys just breaking into big screen star status, James Garner and Steve McQueen were put in the film. Director John Sturges had worked with McQueen, Coburn, and Bronson in his last film The Magnificent Seven. Sturges does a grand job in never letting his audiences attention flag for one minute in this almost three hour length film.

What the Nazis have done in this film is to build a brand new prison camp and have put all the perennial escape artists in this one. Of course by doing so a whole lot of talented escape artists in one place.

And the organized effort is led by Richard Attenborough. Without going overboard into a whole lot of flag waving, Sturges and Attenborough give us the portrayal of a deeply patriotic man who if he can't back into the fight himself, is going to do what he can from a POW camp to bedevil the people making war on his country. He leads the mass escape attempt with an almost corporate efficiency.

The opposite of course is Steve McQueen. I've always thought of Captain Virgil Hills as the ultimate Steve McQueen role of individualism. He and flight officer Angus Lennie are going to get out, no matter what, on their own or with the group. Angus Lennie is the former jockey now RAF flight officer and his death amidst a Fourth of July party that McQueen, Garner, and Jud Taylor have is one of the most moving scenes ever put on film. McQueen decides to play for the team after that.

The Great Escape allowed McQueen to indulge in one of his hobbies of motorcycling. His race through the German country side on a stolen Nazi uniform and motorcycle is a spectacular one, aided and abetted by Elmer Bernstein's magnificent film score.

James Garner bonds with Donald Pleasance in the film. Garner is an American in the RAF Eagle Squadron, Americans who couldn't wait for their own country to get into the war who enlisted in the RAF. A lot of Garner's TV character of Bret Maverick is in his role as Hendley the scrounger/con artist.


Pleasance is his room mate, the shy bird watcher who does the work of forging documents for the escaping prisoners. He's going blind as it turns out, my guess would be from untreated glaucoma. It's nice to see Donald Pleasance for once as a nice guy on the screen. His death due in part to his incipient blindness is also a moving one.

Charles Bronson is also another foreign volunteer for the RAF, from Poland as befitting Bronson who is of Polish origin. He's the tunnel digger who suffers from claustrophobia and his scenes are primarily with British teen idol John Leyton. This was another of a long series of great character roles for Bronson on his way to stardom.

James Coburn shows that like Robert Mitchum, he too had a good ear for accents. His Aussie speech pattern is as good as Mitchum's was in The Sundowners.

The Germans here are also portrayed three dimensionally. Robert Graf is the not too bright corporal who isn't exactly happy to be at war, but is grateful he ain't serving in Russia. He gets unmercifully conned by Garner. Hannes Messemer is the commandant of the POW camp, an officer in the Luftwaffe. The prisoners are nearly all RAF officers and enlisted men and the Luftwaffe is in charge of the camp. Messemer is as fearful of the S.S. and the Gestapo as his prisoners are. He's also as very conscious of the atrocities those worthy organizations are capable of and my favorite scene in the film is him having to tell of one to the Senior British officer in the camp, James Donald. Messemer is conscious also of his failure to watch the basket of rotten eggs put in his charge very closely.

The Great Escape does the one essential thing for a movie to do, it moves. Even in just the scenes of planning and preparation you are aware of movement. I mentioned Elmer Bernstein's film score. It's one of Bernstein's best, maybe one of the best known of any film in cinema history.

The Great Escape is one of those films you can watch dozens of times and never tire of. It's a wonderful film, a real tribute to the best in mankind under some of the worst circumstances.

Aparajito (The Unvanquished)

Producer: Epic Films (Satyajit Ray)
Screenplay & Direction: Satyajit Ray; based on the novel "Aparajita" by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee.
Cinematography: Subrata Mitra
Editing: Dulal Dutta
Art Direction: Bansi Chandragupta
Sound: Durgadas Mitra
Music: Pandit Ravi Shankar
U.S. Distributor: Merchant-Ivory/Sony Pictures Classics


1920. Harihar, Sarbajaya and their ten-year-old son Apu, live in the Temple City of Bananas (Varanasi) on the banks of the holy river Ganga (Ganges). Harihar earns a meager living by reciting religious scriptures. The film opens with Apu wandering and exploring the city. He also encounters their neighbor Nanda Babu, who would soon make a pass at Sarbajaya.

Harihar falls ill with fever and collapses at the riverbank. In the early hours of the next morning, Sarbajaya wakes Apu to fetch holy water from the river to put in his father's mouth as he is dying. Harihar's death leaves mother and son to fend for themselves.

The mother decides to return with Apu to live in a village where an old uncle works as a priest. Apu's mother works to support the family. Apu is initiated into priesthood and takes over the old man's work. He is unhappy because he wants to go to school. Apu persuades his mother to send him to school. She makes sacrifices so that he might pursue his studies.

Apu, now sixteen, wins a scholarship and departs for Calcutta, leaving her alone. It breaks Sarbajaya's heart, but she relents. Her health is failing, and the loneliness in the village takes its toll.

Engulfed in city life - studying during the day and working in a printing press at night to pay for his expenses - Apu grows away from his mother. His visits get shorter as the time passes. This emotional distance unnoticed by the growing Apu, hurts Sarbajaya deeply. She waits silently for her son's visit as her illness accelerates and falls into a depression.

On a night sparkling with dancing fireflies, Sarbajaya dies. Apu comes back to an empty house. He grieves for his mother, but soon finds strength to leaves the village for the last time, to carry on with his new life in the city...

Aparajito is the second film in "The Apu Trilogy", preceded by Pather Panchali and followed by Apur Sansar. The film is basically about Apu growing up and growing away from his mother. The highlight of the film is the mother-son relationship and conflict. The characterization of Apu and mother are a treat. Karuna Banerjee gives a brilliant performance as Sarbajaya.

As usual, the film is devoid of excesses both in form and content. The two deaths, of Harihar and Sarbajaya, are handled with great elegance.

At dawn Harihar lies ill with Sarbajaya sitting beside him though the night. He mumbles, "Ganga". He is asking for a sip of holy water from the river 'Ganga'. Sarbajaya wakes Apu to fetch water from the holy river. Apu brings the water. Sarbajaya lifts Harihar's head and pours the water in his mouth. Harihar's head drops back on the pillow. Cut to a shot of a flock of pigeons taking off and whirling in the sky. Harihar has been freed of his misery...



In the sequence of Sarbajaya's death - Evening, Sarbajaya is sitting leaning against a tree outside her house, awaiting Apu's return. A train passes but she does not react, as she knows Apu is not on this train. Next, we see her sitting in the verandah of the house, expressionless. Suddenly, she hears Apu calling her. She is hallucinating. Hoping that Apu has returned, she drags herself out. As she stands looking for Apu, she sees a group of fireflies swirling by the pond.

Filming of this scene posed a Teknical challenge, as even the fastest available film stock could not capture the light emitted by the fireflies. Ray and his crew overcame the problem with an indigenous solution. Ray recounts in his 'My Years with Apu', "... We chose the toughest members of our crew, had them dressed up in black shirt and trousers and let each of them carry a flashlight bulb and a length of wire and a battery. The bulbs were held aloft in their right hands while they illustrated the swirling movements of fireflies in a dance, alternately connecting and disconnecting the wire to the bulbs..."
Awards

* Golden Lion of St. Mark, Venice, 1957
* Cinema Nuovo Award, Venice, 1957
* Critics Award, Venice, 1957
* FIPRESCI Award, London, 1957
* Best Film and Best Direction, San Francisco, 1958
* International Critic' Award, San Francisco, 1958
* Golden Laurel for Best Foreign Film of 1958-59, USA
* Selznik Golden Laurel, Berlin, 1960
* Bodil Award: Best Non-European Film of the Year, Denmark, 1967

Bengali

Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)

Aparajito (The Unvanquished)

Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)

Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)

Producer: Government of West Bengal
Screenplay & Direction: Satyajit Ray, based on the novel "Pather Panchali" by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee.
Cinematography: Subrata Mitra
Editing: Dulal Dutta
Art Direction: Bansi Chandragupta
Sound: Bhupen Ghosh
Music: Pandit Ravi Shankar

Summary
The time is early twentieth century, a remote village in Bengal.The film deals with a Brahmin family, a priest - Harihar, his wife Sarbajaya, daughter Durga, and his aged cousin Indir Thakrun - struggling to make both ends meet.

Harihar is frequently away from home on work. The wife is raising her mischievous daughter Durga and caring for elderly cousin Indir, whose independent spirit sometimes irritates her... Apu is born. With the little boy's arrival, happiness, play and exploration uplift the children's daily life.

Durga and Apu share an intimate bond. They follow a candy seller whose wares they can not afford, enjoy the theatre, discover a train and witness a marriage ceremony. They even face death of their aunt - Indir Thakrun. Durga is accused of a theft. She fall ill after a joyous dance in rains of the monsoon. On a stormy day, when Harihar is away on work, Durga dies.

On Harihar's return, the family leaves their village in search of a new life in Benaras. The film closes with an image of Harihar, wife and son - Apu, slowly moving way in an ox cart.


Pather Panchali is Ray's debut film, and the first film of his 'The Apu trilogy'. The remaining two films of the trilogy, Aparajito and Apur Sansar, follow Apu as the son, the man and finally the father. Pather Panchali has a universal humanist appeal. Though the film deals with the grim struggle for survival by a poor family, it has no trace melodrama. What is projected in stead is the respect for human dignity.

The most loveable character is that of Indir Thakrun, an old, cynical, loving and storytelling aunt of Apu and Durga. It was played by an 80-year-old Chunibala, a retired theatre performer who relished coming back into the limelight after 30 years of obscurity.

The sequences of Apu and elder sister Durga, exploring their little world and sharing secrets are most remarkable aspect of the film. These include the scenes of - discovery of train by Durga and Apu in field of white Kash flowers, the candy seller sequence, and Indir Thakrun's death.

In the inspired 'candy-seller' sequence, as Durga and Apu secretly relish tamarind paste, their mother is complaining about hardships to their father. Durga hears a faint bell. She knows it is the candy-seller. Both go out and look longingly at the the pots with sweets in them. Durga sends Apu to ask for money from their father. Mother intervenes, and Apu returns empty handed. But the site of the pot-bellied candy-seller caring two bobbing pots of sweets is too tempting to resist. Both start following him. A stray dog joins the procession as it is reflected in a shimmering pond.



The film develops its characters and the atmosphere slowly and resolutely. The narrative builds up to a powerful climax as we begin to empathise with the characters.

Some critics found the film to be too slow. Satyajit Ray wrote about the slow pace -
"The cinematic material dictated a style to me, a very slow rhythm determined by nature, the landscape, the country. The script had to retain some of the rambling quality of the novel because that in itself contained a clue to the authenticity: life in a poor Bengali village does ramble."

Towards the end of the film, after death of Durga, we see Apu brushing his teeth, combing his hair... going about performing tasks, which would have involved his sister or mother. Sarbajaya (mother) has a lost look...

Harihar returns, unaware of Durga's death. In a jovial mood he calls out his children. Without any reaction, Sarbajaya fetches water and a towel for him. Harihar begins to show the gifts he has brought for them. When he shows a sari that he has bought for Durga, Sarbajaya breaks down. We hear the high notes of a musical instrument "Tarshahnai" symbolising her uncontrollable weeping. Realising Durga's loss, Harihar collapses on his wife.

We see speechless Apu, for the first time taking the centre stage in the story. Till now the story was seen through the point of view of either Sarbajaya or Durga. It is only in these final moments that we see Apu as an independent individual.

In the USA, Pather Panchali played at the 5th Avenue Playhouse for a record 36 weeks, breaking the previous record held by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Awards

• President's Gold & Silver Medals, New Delhi, 1955
• Best Human Document, Cannes 1956
• Diploma Of Merit, Edinbugh, 1956
• Vatican Award, Rome, 1956
• Golden Carbao, Manila, 1956
• Best Film and Direction, San Francisco, 1957
• Selznik Golden Laurel, Berlin, 1957
• Best Film, Vancouver, 1958
• Critics' Award - Best Film, Stratford, (Canada), 1958
• Best Foreign Film, New York, 1959
• Kinema Jumpo Award: Best Foreign Film, Tokyo 1966
• Bodil Award: Best Non-European Film of the Year, Denmark, 1966

Indian English Movies

Indian English Movies

Mitr My Friend

Mitr My Friend

Mitr is the story of a dedicated wife and mother who, after getting terribly frustrated with her home finds a new perspective to life in an online
friend by the name of 'Mitr'.

The story begins with Prithvi (Nasir Abdullah), a successful computer engineer getting married to Lakshmi (Shobhana). They are settled in California. Soon, they have a daughter, Divya (Preeti Vissa). Thereafter, Lakshmi's world narrows down to her husband and daughter alone who she looks after with tremendous dedication. Unfortunately, cultural difference and a generation gap sets in between Lakshmi and her daughter as the latter grows up. Lakshmi is unable to understand Divya's role in having an American boyfriend. She tries to correct her and Divya is unable to take this. She leaves the house. Meanwhile, Prithvi is too busy in his work and doesn't have time for his wife. This is when Lakshmi realises that she has been taken for granted all this while by her husband and her daughter. She happens to make an online friend by the name of 'Mitr' who understands her, shares her joys and sorrows. At the same time, Lakshmi makes friends with Steve and Paul, her young neighbours.
This makes Prithvi worried and feel insecured. Meanwhile, Divya too gets back after a bad fallout with her boyfriend. She realises how she has wronged her mother all this while. Things get settled between them when Lakshmi and Divya decide to meet 'Mitr' who has helped Lakshmi all this while. Well, the meeting turns out to be a comedy of errors.



Mitr happens to be Revathy's debut film as a director. She has done a pretty good job and her work is indeed impressive. The characters are simple and straightforward. Shobhana is at her best here. Nasir Abdullah makes his presence felt. Preeti Vissa does a fair job as the rebellious daughter. Cinematography in the movie is alright and the U.S. locales are marvellously shot. Technically, the dubbing isn't all that good.


The movie has been dubbed in five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam and English. Another major drawback in the film is the slow pace with which it moves. Dialogues by Sudha Kongara is OK. Bhavatharini scores the music and the lyrics are by Thamarai. Beena is the editor and Vasundhara Das has sung the songs. Camera is by Fouzia Fathima, who was the assistant of P.C.Sriram.

Overall, the movie is a cute one but will appeal mostly to women. alone.