The bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray made films in his native language, Bengali, including some of the most widely seen and admired Indian films. He was also a leading exponent of the art of animation. His work is known for its intellectual depth, humanism and humane values, exploring universal themes such as love, time, suffering and existentialism. These are usually veiled under dream-like symbolism or metaphorical imagery using traditional Indian settings rendered with European cinematic tools. Ray was born to an affluent family with legal ties to British India's Elgin College which enabled him to develop his interest in Western culture and arts early on. Though his parents wanted him to become a barrister, he ultimately enrolled in the Government Arts College, Kolkata and later the University of Calcutta and went to Russia and Germany for higher studies. Ray returned to West Bengal in 1955 where he joined as a faculty member of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). Ray made his feature film debut as an independent director with "Apu" (1958), which featured Soumitra Chatterjee as the eponymous character. The film, which focused on inter-family conflict, was a commercial failure but opened many doors for Ray. Ray achieved widespread acclaim with the 1964 film "Pather Panchali", a semi-fictional account of a rural family during an extended period of rain in Bengal. It was an international success and won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, along with several other honours, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film In 1965 he directed his second feature film "Apur Sansar", which was not as successful as "Pather Panchali" but raised Ray's international profile. The film centred on a Bengali Hindu youth coming to terms with his homosexuality; it depicts universal themes such as love, death and liberation. Ray followed up with his next film "Aranyer Din Ratri" ("Days and Nights in the Forest") in 1970. It took a break from the realism of his previous films, and told a fantastic story set in a forest. It was Ray's last film made under his production company, Bhaktachitra. In 1975 Ray embarked on devoting himself to making only animation films. His first, "Sonar Kella" ("The Golden Fortress"), was released in 1974. This was a period of great political turmoil in India during which Ray felt that if he continued to make films about social reality, no one would see or care to see them. Ray's third film, "Jalsaghar", was released in 1975. It was based on the novel of the same name by Bibhutibhusan Dutta, an eminent Bengali writer. The story was set in Bengal during the Partition of India but it had little to do with the historical events involved. It also dealt with issues of modernism and alienation similar to those explored in "Aparajito". The film is based on a city where people are seeking enlightenment having failed to find it within themselves. Ray decided to move away from making films dealing with social realism and instead devoted himself entirely to animation, which he felt would be more commercially interesting. 8eeb4e9f32 36
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