My Memories - Satyajit Ray

This was the logo which Satyajit Ray designed for his film Devi, through which Sahrmila Tagore came into the film industry

Photo Courtesy : Nimoy Ghosh

Even though 02 May is his birthday, I am punching in the lines now which I hold so close to my heart.

It was 1991 and I was working as Staff Reporter for a weekly tabloid called City Tab. I was covering Cinema, Theatre and Music. It was the time for an International Film Festival. Almost all the biggies of the cinema movemement were there at the festival. Somehow, I caught hold of Adoor Gopalakrishnan through my contacts. It was so strange, that I requested Adoor to help me in connecting with Satyajit Ray who was part of the festival. Adoor gave one curly look at me and smilingly said "why? don't you want to interview me?". Was it intentional ? Not sure. However, I got an opportunity to shake hands with Satyajit Ray during a retrospective of his films. I still remember very clearly that his movie Ghare Bhaire was being screened.

Me, a 5 feet 1 inch character was standing in front of Satyajit Ray, who was 6 feet 4 inch tall, clad in white kurta. I, who was in disbelief that I met him, did not know what to talk to him and Adoor said "this man wants to meet you". Satyajit Ray looked at me through his angled spectacles and said "what are you?". That question brought me back into this world. I told him " I am staff reporter from the local weekly tabloid and would like to talk to you about your films". The moment I told him local news paper, his expression changed. "Haan, teek hai. Dekhenge". I was sure by now that, I lost the opportunity. Next day, I again went behind him and said "sir, time milega?" He just looked at me and said chalo, kahin baitenge". We sat in one of the corner and he told me. "Before you ask me questions, let me check your knowledge on my films. What do you know about my films? What do you think I am trying to convey to people?". This came in as a shocking thing for me. I blabbered whatever I knew about his films beginning from Pather Panchali (which has 5 characters of Apu, Harihar, Sarbajaya, Durga , and the old Indira who comes into their life to make their life even tougher) till Gana Shatru. He said, hmmmm... ask me now what you want. It was like god standing in front of a devotee asking him what boons he want. This time I was prepared and the interview went for 40 minutes where must have talked at least 25 minutes. He mentioned about Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, the film which inspired him to get into the world of cinema to make a difference.

In the end, he shook my hand and said you have a long way to go. You have raw talent. I think you should polish it quite a lot...

This was my memory of Satyajit Ray. I can never forget his baritone voice and I felt so small infront of him. We fellows, who have so little talent, behave as if the world is because of us. and here is a person who is so down to earth and so simple, that he spoke to me, who knew so little, but was thinking myself so big. Interaction changed my perspective on how human being should live.

These moments, I will always cherish and today, after 53 years, when Pather Panchali created a history and a trend, he will always remain a person who from being advertising and graphic designing, came into the film industry and totally changed the cinematic world forever across the globe. He was a director, set designer, composer, editor, and what not? A great soul whom we miss in today's big bad world of insensitive cinema.