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To his uninformed detractors — including the late Indian actress Nargis Dutt — filmmaker Satyajit Ray was a tireless chronicler of Indian poverty whose Pather Panchali captured the attention of serious filmgoers across the world. Much before the populist and sensational Slumdog Millionaire became an unprecedented award-winning hit, one might add.
But to Ray’s admirers, he was one of the most versatile filmmakers who tackled themes dear to the middle class, made films for young adults and children — including in the mystery genre — and questioned fundamentalism of all hues.
His admirers include movie moguls like Steven Spielberg , iconoclastic directors like Akira Kurosawa and a number of Indian filmmakers including Mrinal Sen, Mira Nair and Buddhadeb Dasgupta.
‘To have not seen the films of Ray,’ asserted Kurosawa, ‘is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun.’
April 15 to 30, New Yorkers and film buffs in the tristate area have a unique opportunity to study the phenomenal filmmaker.
The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be hosting First Light: Satyajit Ray From the Apu Trilogy to the Calcutta Trilogy, a retrospective of the director’s early work. The series, which has over 18 films, is also a tribute to the work of the Satyajit Ray Preservation Project at the Academy Film Archive in Los Angeles, which together with the Satyajit Ray Film and Study Center at the University of California-Santa Cruz has done so much to preserve and promote the work of this major film artist for future generations, said Richard Penya, director, The Film Society of Lincoln Center. There are plans to offer a second series that will include the rest of Ray’s films.
The Lincoln Center festival offers at least six films in new prints from the Academy Film Archive. These include Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha), Jalsaghar (The Music Room), Kapurush Mahapurush (The Coward and the Holy Man), and Nayak (The Hero).
Many films in the retrospective will surprise those who have seen just one or two of Ray’s masterpieces. Some of these films, say for example Chiriyakhana (The Zoo, a whodunit), may not be as appealing as some of Ray’s best work including the Apu trilogy, but nevertheless they are superior to most films made around that time in India.
Though he worked outside the mainstream, Ray did not see any of his films losing money. While some of his films like Pather Panchali made most of their business in Europe and America, a few of his films like Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, which were hardly shown abroad, became resounding successes in Bengal.
‘I find I am inimical to the idea of making two similar films in succession,’ Ray had said after making over a dozen films, a tribute to him in The New York Times revealed.
Terrence Rafferty observed in the Times article: ‘Some of the films in this series like the nutty fairy-tale picaresque Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1968), can be a little baffling for non-Indian audiences; nothing travels worse than folk humour. And some might make you feel as if you needed to know a good deal more about the history and politics of the subcontinent — and specifically Ray’s native Bengal, where most of his stories are set — to understand the finer nuances of the characters’ behavior… Ray, however, has nuances to burn: you can miss quite a few and still feel as if you know his people intimately.’
In conjunction with the series, Columbia University will hold an April 25 conference on the filmmaker featuring professors of film and literature from universities in the United States and India, including a keynote lecture from Robert Young of New York University and talks by Samik Banerjee, vice chairman, National School of Drama, India.
The Columbia conference will also feature talks by filmmakers Mira Nair — who says Ray and Ritwik Ghatak are the reasons she became a filmmaker — Shyam Benegal — who while being an ad executive dreamt of making films thanks to Ray’s inspiration — and Ray’s son Sandip Ray.
Why is Satyajit Ray admired so much?
‘His films come as close to complete personal expression as may be possible in cinema,’ Helen Goritsas, a Sydney based film-maker and writer, wrote 15 years ago. ‘Ray’s style grows out of the material itself, and from an inner compulsion to express it clearly. The thread that ties the body of his work together is its strong humanist basis… He brought real concerns of real people to the screen… Above all, Ray’s is a cinema of thought and feeling, in which the feeling is deliberately restrained because it is so intense.’
A multifaceted genius
Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) made a movie every year from 1956 to 1981 and received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 1992. In a country where hardly a filmmaker in the mainstream has made more than 10 successful films, Ray made 36 films and half a dozen documentaries that either broke even or turned in a profit.
His first Hindi-language film Shantranj Ke Khilari (not part of this festival) featuring Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi and Amjad Khan ran for about six weeks in Mumbai and a few other Indian cities. But the film, called The Chess Players for the international audience, ran for more than 10 weeks in London and New York, and over two weeks in at least 12 European, Canadian and Japanese cities, leading it into profit.
Ray — who switched to films from working in an advertising agency after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and watching Vittoria De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief was — a complete filmmaker.
Ray was a prolific and successful writer too. He created a much-loved private detective, Pradosh C Mitter or Feluda — whose adventures practically every Bengali kid who can read knows by heart — wrote science fiction stories starring the ingenious scientist Professor Shonku, and a huge bunch of short stories (bizarre, macabre, funny, touching, scary, science fiction — you name it he wrote it).
‘The world knows me as a filmmaker,’ he once said in an interview, ‘but my writing brings home the bread.’
Ray, part of an illustrious family of Bengali writers and artists, would also sketch for his stories. The drawings were so much a part of the stories that the people he cast as the characters in the two Feluda films he made were mirror images of his drawings.
When MNIK has been rejected by all and sundry, why do we still have its tweets??
Kyon kuch logon ke zakham ...
IMDB user rating is 8/10 :-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606162/ 
Raju Guide..
may be with depleting bowling prowess of Indian team Akki ight be of some help... 
Akshay might bounce back big time this year.. Somehow I see Housefull doing more business than Welcome.. And Action Replay ...
Thankfully with MNIK ending its run and 3 I too, hopefully Bollywood will get 1.5 years without these 2, the ...
Can we replace MNIK twitter with Karthik calling Karthik? 
Pritam is doing the music of Action Replay. I do like Vipul Shah, and he has done some interesting ...
Som 14 April 2009
09:51:50 pm
Satyajit Ray’s World of Restless Watchfulness and Nuance
neelu 15 April 2009
04:07:08 pm
Thanks Som. Wish I were in NY at the time.
Qalandar 15 April 2009
08:02:45 pm
Yeah, I got tickets to seven of these films, beginning this saturday! Just so you feel better neelu
Som 15 April 2009
08:13:44 pm
LOL! Even I envy you,Q!
Aarohi 15 April 2009
08:23:14 pm
neelu will probably retaliate by watching Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssaat
neelu 15 April 2009
09:12:39 pm
Damn you Q. Jale par namak dalna theek nahin hai. I will have to retaliate. Yes this sounds like just the ticket:
“‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Saath’ is really a box office dud, which completely lacks coherence, logic, reason and most importantly interesting cast.”
After viewing I will write a loooong review for NG and expect comments from you and Aarohi
3 Belds 15 April 2009
09:44:34 pm
i find this guy (ray) to be quite overrated. Cinema should be about entertainement first and then everything else. I dont believe any of Satyajit Ray’s movie entertains. Just see the huge difference between realistic small movies today vs yesteryears – this is the big difference.
>>>He brought real concerns of real people to the screen… Above all, Ray’s is a cinema of thought and feeling, in which the feeling is deliberately restrained because it is so intense
Euphemism for boring movies. I would take a mumbai meri jaan or ek ruka hua faisla or saaransh or swades over any of satyajit ray’s movies. Unlike others – Q – i pity you for having to sit through 6 days of his movies. Ugggh!
3 Belds 15 April 2009
09:48:01 pm
>>>Ray was a prolific and successful writer too. He created a much-loved private detective, Pradosh C Mitter or Feluda — whose adventures practically every Bengali kid who can read knows by heart — wrote science fiction stories starring the ingenious scientist Professor Shonku, and a huge bunch of short stories (bizarre, macabre, funny, touching, scary, science fiction — you name it he wrote it).
Now this is interesting and I never knew this. Must check out this side of Ray. btw does anyone feel that Ray is a better director than ratnam or ashutosh. not by a mile imo
neelu 15 April 2009
09:59:20 pm
I recently saw Jalsaghar – talk about intensely restrained and passionate film! And Shatranj Ke Khiladi is a personal favorite of mine, fabulous story telling. It is the opposite of restraint as it takes a minimal tale by Munshi Premchand and weaves a lavish and epic tapestry around it. Charulata, the Apu trilogy, Mahanagar, Ghare Baire – these are all films I have enjoyed thoroughly. And here is so much more to see. I would put him on as high a pedestal as one can find.
Qalandar 15 April 2009
10:34:30 pm
Beld: some of the Professor Shinku stories have even been translated into English (actually many have been); in fact I got a selection for my niece as well when I was in Varanasi…
Qalandar 15 April 2009
10:36:05 pm
Re: “I dont believe any of Satyajit Ray’s movie entertains.”
He had a trilogy on the Gopi-Baagha duo that I understand are funny, and were commercial successes. I haven’t seen those though…
Re: pal pal dil ke saath: lol, i will comment if you write a long review (I think i have the better of that bargain)…
Qalandar 15 April 2009
10:36:51 pm
Re: “btw does anyone feel that Ray is a better director than ratnam or ashutosh.”
I think you know my answer, but yeah, I believe he is…
3 Belds 16 April 2009
01:52:10 am
>>I think you know my answer, but yeah, I believe he is…
yup figured as much. i feel he is far inferior and just a hyped director. unfortunately more deserving people dont get awards – but thats how life is
Aarohi 16 April 2009
05:41:17 am
Ray’s Gopi-Bagha films are a must watch. I feel they do not get the kind of attention they deserve because for the fans they are much more fun than they expect a Ray film to be and for others they are Ray films.
I love Shatranj Ke Khiladi too.
Talking about Ray’s talent, he composed music also.
Aarohi 16 April 2009
05:43:36 am
And, Q/Neelu, please don’t hurt the numerological sentiments of the producer. The name is Pal Pal Dil Ke ‘Ssaat’.
neelu 16 April 2009
08:42:56 am
I would say that Ray was the first true auteur director we had, and maybe the only real one. I am always amazed at multi-talented people, and Indian cinema has precious few. But the ones we do have are outstanding. The list is led by Ray – he wrote prolifically, painted, composed music, and directed; Gulzaar – lyrics, poetry, direction; Vishal Bharadwaj – music composition, writing and directing; and now Piyush Mishra – lyrics, music composition and acting. Am I missing names?
Ray is also “credited” with the original story that inspired ET – he claimed that his story was extensively plagiarized in that film – the claim is not unfounded as his script was doing the rounds of HW.
A C H I L L E S 16 April 2009
03:58:05 pm
“I would take a mumbai meri jaan or ek ruka hua faisla or saaransh or swades over any of satyajit ray’s movies.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
“btw does anyone feel that Ray is a better director than ratnam or ashutosh. not by a mile imo”
HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO
havent laughed so hard for a long time … u crack me up beld!
here is one from me – SRK/Hrithik/Akshay are better actors than Utpal Dutt!
Q – Ray only made 2 movies with the goopi-bagha characters … his son made the third film … Ray had two famous trilogy – The Apu ones and a trilogy of movies on Kolkata in his time … the kolkata trilogy is my fav of Ray films … the Prof Shanku and Feluda stories have been all translated to English .. recently most of them had been made into comics in english and bengali too (the artwork is far inferior than Ray’s own illustrations).
Ray in his lifetime was the editor of a children’s magazine called ‘Sandesh’ (its a special sweet dish) … his books on mystery and sci-fi remains the best-sellers in its genre in Bengali literature even after so many years after Ray’s death … Ananda publishers made a fortune through his books.
Aarohi – Ray also wrote the screenplays for all his movies … while Ravi Shankar composed music for his initial few films, Ray himself did the music for most of his films.
3 Belds 16 April 2009
09:28:10 pm
its good that you can laugh at the truth ach. that will keep you in good spirits…
regarding utpal being a better actor than srk/hrithik etc – what wierd logic is that. i wonder whether you would watch a utpal movie or a srk/hrithik movie if given a choice – no issues if you would choose the former but i presume you will admit to being in the minority there.
as i said – ray is just way too overhyped for the hindi movies he has made. To me they are all average at best – and some of them are downright boring. I dont know about his bengali work – so I assume he has done much better there – a la mani ratnam – whose tamil works are really the only reason i consider him among the top directors in india
3 Belds 16 April 2009
09:35:16 pm
and ya people should go watch nayagan before they talk about realistic cinema. Granted Kamal made it even more special but i dont believe Ray has come close to make any movie like that. I find it ridiculous that Ray is even considered in the top league – he is just a mediocre director who had goras behind him giving awards
neelu 16 April 2009
09:52:59 pm
As far as I can recall Ray made ONE Hindi film. The rest are in Bangla. This could be a matter of perception and accessibility of the language. I never thought Mani’s Tamil work was that much better than his Hindi work – because I am more able to grasp the nuances when I do not need subtitle assistance. It also has to do with sensibilities of cinema from different regions – the North South divide.
3 Belds 16 April 2009
09:56:19 pm
i would call it more the divide between entertaining cinema to serious cinema
neelu 16 April 2009
10:01:26 pm
Yes, the Gahjini Pokkiri masala entertainment vs. cinema that is more than that.
3 Belds 16 April 2009
10:04:26 pm
havent seen the hindi ghajini and the telugu pokkiri but have seen the tamil version of both and they are far superior products to shatranj ki khiladi. Or if you would prefer serious stuff – a roja or a bombay or a nayagan or a omkara and so on and so forth are better than shatranj ki khiladi.
neelu 16 April 2009
10:10:44 pm
“Or if you would prefer serious stuff – a roja or a bombay or a nayagan or a omkara and so on and so forth are better than shatranj ki khiladi.”
Have seen all of those and I disagree.
neelu 16 April 2009
10:12:32 pm
I think ALL of Ray’s Hindi films (all one of them) is better than any films thus-far listed, and his Bangla films are way beyond better
3 Belds 16 April 2009
10:25:38 pm
everyone is free to have their thoughts and tastes. doesnt change the truth unfortunately
neelu 16 April 2009
10:32:29 pm
Rightly said – there is only one universal truth, and that is that Ray is one of the finest film-makers India saw. One viewer on one forum cannot change that.
3 Belds 16 April 2009
10:37:22 pm
one viewer in one forum .. lol
last i heard – all the aforementioned movies by other directors were much more popular and made much more money. but i guess that doesnt mean much. but then for a few folks here – logic was never a criteria
neelu 16 April 2009
10:39:04 pm
Making money = quality now? So the best quality films we had in the last several years were Gahjini, OSO, Dhoom 2, RNBDJ, and SIK.
3 Belds 16 April 2009
10:43:35 pm
the argument was about entertaining cinema. quality is a mis-used word imo. and ya the list u gave above seemed to entertain more people in india – so whats wrong with that. a personal like or dislike is fine but we are talking about who makes better cinema – and my definition of ‘better’ is paisa wasool, entertaining, movies more people would go to a theater and see
neelu 16 April 2009
10:46:39 pm
Better = paisa wasool? Then why call Akshy Kumar the peddler of cheese – he should be our collective hero and the best actor out there. Quality is quality and BO cannot dictate that. Did you not mention a list of films in a previous post – Mumbai Meri Jaan, Omkara etc etc. Why this list? Are these paisa wasool? For whom? No one saw them either.
3 Belds 16 April 2009
10:48:33 pm
rocky was right
neelu 16 April 2009
10:54:54 pm
Of course – because you have no logical rejoinder. So now I expect the mirchi and aunty song to burst forth. Let me stem that at the gates by telling you and your mate that this Grandma loves mirchi – the hotter the better. Bring it on. But do answer the question – why is MMJ or Omkara on your list?
3 Belds 16 April 2009
10:58:58 pm
>>Of course – because you have no logical rejoinder.
logic with u…lol. we can use logic only with people who understand it – not you
do go read the context of the statement – i said if u prefer serious movies – a omkara, etc is better. i compared it with both paisa vasool and serious movies. this explains my first point above – which is logic is of no use with u so dont bother
3 Belds 16 April 2009
10:59:42 pm
lol Rocky – tera naam liya tho kisi ko mirchi yaad aa gayi
main kya karoon
neelu 16 April 2009
11:03:36 pm
According to you the people voice determines who is a better director – and that is at the BO. Omakar was thus deemed not good. Logical statement – but I do not expect you to get it. Because you did not even get that Ray only made one Hindi film, and you never saw any of his best work. So the logic of your rabid argument escapes me completely.
rks 16 April 2009
11:28:51 pm
Link
In logic, functions or relations A and B are considered dual if A(~x) = ~B(x), where ~ is logical negation. The basic duality of this type is the duality of the ∃ and ∀ quantifiers. These are dual because ∃x.~P(x) and ~∀x.P(x) are logically equivalent for all predicates P: if there exists an x for which P fails to hold, then it is false that P holds for all x.
From this fundamental logical duality follow several others:
A formula is said to be satisfiable in a certain model if there are assignments to its free variables that render it true; it is valid if every assignment to its free variables makes it true. Satisfiability and validity are dual because the invalid formulas are precisely those whose negations are satisfiable, and the unsatisfiable formulas are those whose negations are valid. This can be viewed as a special case of the previous item, with the quantifiers ranging over interpretations.
In classical logic, the ∧ and ∨ operators are dual in this sense, because (~x ∧ ~y) and ~(x ∨ y) are equivalent. This means that for every theorem of classical logic there is an equivalent dual theorem. De Morgan’s laws are examples. More generally, . The left side is true if and only if ∀i.~xi, and the right side if and only if ~∃i.xi.
In modal logic, means that the proposition p is “necessarily” true, and that p is “possibly” true. Most interpretations of modal logic assign dual meanings to these two operators. For example in Kripke semantics, “p is possibly true” means “there exists some world W in which p is true”, while “p is necessarily true” means “for all worlds W, p is true”. The duality of and then follows from the analogous duality of ∀ and ∃. Other dual modal operators behave similarly. For example, temporal logic has operators denoting “will be true at some time in the future” and “will be true at all times in the future” which are similarly dual.
Other analogous dualities follow from these:
Set-theoretic union and intersection are dual under the set complement operator C. That is, , and more generally, . This follows from the duality of ∀ and ∃: an element x is a member of if and only if ∀α.~x∈Aα, and is a member of if and only if ~∃α.x∈Aα.
Topology inherits a duality between open and closed subsets of some fixed topological space X: a subset U of X is closed if and only if its complement in X is open. Because of this, many theorems about closed sets are dual to theorems about open sets. For example, any union of open sets is open, so dually, any intersection of closed sets is closed. The interior of a set is the largest open set contained in it, and the closure of the set is the smallest closed set that contains it. Because of the duality, the complement of the interior of any set U is equal to the closure of the complement of U.
The collection of all open subsets of a topological space X forms a complete Heyting algebra. There is a duality, known as Stone duality, connecting sober spaces and spatial locales.
neelu 16 April 2009
11:33:23 pm
WTFish?
3 Belds 16 April 2009
11:39:00 pm
lol rks – i am sure Neelu didnt understand that either
neelu – keep ur time urs – no issues. dont waste it in lowering the quality of NG – thats all we ask.
neelu 16 April 2009
11:42:19 pm
Beld – NG quality is lowered when some losers proclaim that Mani and Gowarikar are better than Ray. I am trying to maintain NG standards – but I have an uphill task here.
Som 17 April 2009
12:35:07 pm
No personal comment, please!Stick to the topic.Or else thread will be closed.
Salim 17 April 2009
01:58:15 pm
Neelu – I would ass Kishore Da to your list of ppl who could do everything – he sang, composed, acted, directed, wrote…and was good at all of them!
S.
ritz 17 April 2009
02:03:51 pm
Just visited NG after a long time just for curiosity. And I am happy why I decided to go…maybe this comment is uncalled for / not required but something I wanted all to know…
“I am trying to maintain NG standards”
I am sorry to say Neelu but it is none other than YOU and your continuous ranting that is a big turn off for many — and just like me many others have left just because of you(some even without becoming members – they stop visiting this site after seeing your nonsense). Stop playing the “personal attack” card again here. I know I am harsh here but cant help it – your continuous diversion from main topic and useless ranting is unmatched in the world. And it is pathetic to see someone like you who is real cause of degrading a nice site like NG to a “rant-board” talk about “maintaining its standards”!!!
Alvida….Get a life!!
neelu 17 April 2009
02:14:39 pm
Salim – how could I forget Kishore da? He sang, composed, acted and directed and did it all very effectively. I just re-watched Padosan – Kishore was unmatched, absolutely hilarious.
Thanks ritz – rant for yourself and let others speak for themselves. Do not let Aamir blindness cloud your brain. BTW – Alvida, hope you have a nice life.
neelu 17 April 2009
02:35:39 pm
I cannot believe I forgot our very own Himes Bhai – composer, singer, actor
abhishekr 17 April 2009
03:51:43 pm
Recently a similar event was held at BHU too.
@beld,
no is closing the option that Ray can’t be mediocre,but a case has to be made for that rather than making some blanket statement which is apparently absurd.
Qalandar 17 April 2009
05:07:26 pm
Off-topic: I’m only familiar with Kishore in comic roles; has he done “straight” roles?
I didn’t know Kishore could compose — I always thought he was one of the gods based on his voice alone!
Qalandar 17 April 2009
05:10:18 pm
Neelu: based on the two Adoor Gopalakrishnan films I have seen (sadly, only those two are so far available on subtitled DVDs), I would definitely add him to the list of auteur directors…but Ray is certainly the most famous and widely considered the greatest director India has produced…
Thanks Achilles, didn’t know that…
neelu 17 April 2009
05:39:36 pm
Kishore was mainstream hero in a bunch of films – more what we would call B-grade films – like Hum Sab Ustaad Hain
This one had a dynamite song Ajnabee Tum Jaane Pehchane Se Lagte Ho!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIHwc_cjK1k
I do not think New Delhi was a straight comic role either – another dynamite song, Nakhrewali!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpHRIiB8MKA
He was the hero in HrishiDa’s debut film Musafir.
His singing is the stuff of legends, but I think his most soulful music was in his own films where he directed, composed the music AND sang. There were at least two that I know of – Jhumroo (with the magical Koi Humdum Na Raha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmrELTMt_Dw
AND Door Gagan ki Chaaon Mein (with the soulful Aa Chal ki Tujhe Main le ke Chaloon)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvtVoN_2efE
Regretfully I have not seen any Adoor Gopalakrishnan films – which ones are available with subtitles? I would like to see a few.
Salim 17 April 2009
06:19:26 pm
Kishore acted as hero opposite the top actresses of his time:
Meena Kumari – Shararat, Naya Andaz, Memsaahib
Sadhana – Man Mauji
Vyjayantimala – New Delhi
His wife Madhubala – Chalti Ka Naam Gadi, Half Ticket, Jhumroo
Nutan – Delhi Ka Thug
Mala Sinha – Bewaqoof (Really wanna c this one!)
At one time Nargis stated that Kishore was her favourite actor. Apparently he really hated acting though…in one interview he says that he used to dislike it so much that he would say the lines he was meant to say to Kumari in one film to Vyjayantimala in another.
My funnies Kishore song of all time is Aake Seedhi Lagi…hearing him singing in both male and female voice cracks me up every single time.
Legend
3 Belds 17 April 2009
08:06:38 pm
abhishek – huh? what case have u made that ray is a great director. just bcoz some pseudos gave him some awards. u really think slumdog is rahman’s best – that shows u how little the oscar juries know
ritz – probably i went a lil overboard yday
(all for good reason tho) but i can tell you that majority of folks empathize with ur thoughts.
3 Belds 17 April 2009
08:14:54 pm
adoor is another guy who doesnt make entertaining movies. I sometimes wonder why these guys make movies like they do. hardly a few watch them, yes they get critical acclaim but that you can get making commercial movies too. I think folks like ashutosh, vishal, mani, raju are far more accomplished to dish out realistic commercial fare that is entertaining. an adoor or a ray movie reminds me of those nfdc documentaries that they used to screen before the main movie starts
3 Belds 17 April 2009
08:36:18 pm
>>but Ray is certainly the most famous and widely considered the greatest director India has produced
what a bunch of crock! considered by who? It is funny how a lawyer can make these outlandish comments without detailing any facts to support it. maybe its cognitive dissonance at work coz q has bought tickets for the ray festival. maybe he is the best bengali director – thats pretty much it
Qalandar 17 April 2009
09:45:36 pm
Neelu: His most recent one Nizhalkuttu (Shadow Kill) and a much earlier one Elippathayam (Rat Trap) are available. The former was interesting, but the latter was superb…
On Satyamshot someone suggested that a third movie might be available on Youtube with subtitles (I haven’t seen this):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTBB6ozzqpc
Qalandar 17 April 2009
09:46:24 pm
Thanks salim and neelu for some really informative posts here — on Nakhrewaali I only know (and love) the song of the same name, have not seen the film…
Qalandar 17 April 2009
09:49:56 pm
On Ray, he is not considered great because he won an Oscar — he got that very very late in his life, and was a lifetime achievement Oscar, not for a particular film. He makes every reputed film critic’s “all time” list, whether the critic is Indian or Western. Not to mention that his influence may be seen on a whole host of other filmmakers, including so much of the acclaimed cinema coming our of Iran over the last couple of decades. Above all else, I like Ray’s work because “accessibility” is not compromised by his pursuit of artistic skill, and IMO his films can be watched by just about anybody (not something one can say about every great director — e.g. Antonioni is far less accessible).
neelu 17 April 2009
10:16:33 pm
The Nakhrewali song is from the film New Delhi, and I think it is the only one!
A C H I L L E S 18 April 2009
06:55:50 am
Beld – wud like to know which Ray movies have you watched till now?
3 Belds 18 April 2009
09:28:42 am
>>He makes every reputed film critic’s “all time” list,
what crap. when it is convenient people say that all critics are useless. then we quote the same critics to make someone what they are not. as i said – maybe he is the best bengali director. best indian director – not even close….
>>>(neelu)If that is the case then please remove my name from the list of NG members
i second that
3 Belds 18 April 2009
09:32:26 am
ach i have watched shatranj and some of pather… – very boring movies. i have no clue on his bengali work and as i have said he may be the best director of bengali movies – lets not make him to what he is not – at least not proven..
Rocky 18 April 2009
11:34:25 am
How are you Tango ? kaun jeet raha hai U.P. mein???
Som 18 April 2009
11:58:18 am
Personal comments have been deleted and I am closing the thread.