SATYAJIT RAY : WHO ELSE CAN COMPETE
iView Author: SATYENDRA JHA (Pune, India)
Email:satyendrajha30 [at] gmail [dot]com
SATYAJIT RAY : WHO ELSE CAN COMPETE?
So much has been written about the great man Satyajit Ray, saying anything would be stating the obvious, and chances are, someone else has already touched that facet of the exemplary filmmaker that he was. Still, I personally feel there are many of us (including myself) who have read about him in bits and pieces, and have watched his movies in sporadic bursts. I had been toying with the idea of writing about him on PFC for a long time, but I was always so overawed by his multi-faceted achievements, I would get apprehensive and bogged down by the quantum of information available on him, and whether any write-up can do justice to his talent and achievements.
His each and every movie deserves a separate post and numerous comments, and the sum of all would still not scratch the surface of his multi-layered story-telling. But that’s a tough task by any standards. So, let’s attempt whatever comes to mind straight away, even at the cost of being one among many.
Probably the best thing about Satyajit Ray was that he was adept at all aspects of film-making, he was a complete package in himself. What it meant was that hypothetically speaking, he could complete a film on his own, and bring it to the stage of readiness for release in theatres. Yeah, that included acting as well, though fortunately or unfortunately, he never tried it in his lifetime. Legend has it that he was offered a role in a Hollywood production by a very famous production house, but he gracefully declined. The role later went to Omar Sharif.
Coming back to his movie-making prowess, Satyajit Ray was a script-writer, film editor, cinematographer, music director (background score), set designer, costume designer, graphics designer, and of course a director. It was not the collection of talent that he merely possessed, but in most of his films, he actually used to start with the conceptualisation by way of graphics, and end up making the promotional posters prior to the film’s release, and almost everything in between that was required for the film to see the light of the day.
He was also a film critic, a biographer, a poet (especially of non-sense verse for children, much on the lines of his famous father Sukumar Ray, who wrote, among others, “Baapre Ki Daanpite Chhele…”), an author (the famous creator of Feluda and Professor Shonku), and a copy editor (he revived the Children’s Bengali Magazine ‘Sandesh’ that was started by his father, and carried on with it during his lifetime). He was also an exponent of western classical music and knew to play a few musical instruments as well, as the tradition in Bengali household generally demands.
Akira Kurosawa once famously said: “Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the Sun or Moon”. The variety that Satyajit Ray provided to the connoisseurs of cinema was unparalleled. His films depicted both tradition and modernity with equal ease. He also made movies depicting the lifestyle of people from all strata of society. Sample this:
Upper Urban Class: Kanchenjunga, Nayak
Upper Zamindari Class: Ghare Baire
Middle Class: Jana Aranya, Aranyer Din Ratri
Lower / Poor / Rural Class: Pather Panchali, Teen Kanya, Aparajito, Asani Shanket, Sadgati
Small-town Life: Abhijan, Ganashatru
Big-Bad City Life: Pratidwandi, Seemabaddha, Mahanagar
Distant Past: Charulata, Devi, Shatranj Ke Khiladi
Nostalgic Reminiscence: Apur Sansar, Jalsaghar
Intellectual & Psychological: Agantuk, Shakha-Proshakha
Comedy: Paras Pathar, Kapurush o Mahapurush
Satirical Fantasy: Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Hirak Rajar Deshe
Detective: Sonar Kella, Joy Baba Felunath, Chiriyakhana
However, there were many detractors of Ray who maintained that his films are very slow, character-driven and extremely self-indulgent. Kurosawa, hugely enamoured by Ray, countered this by saying: “His (Ray’s) work can be described as flowing composedly, like a big river”. He was commemorated with numerous awards for his contribution to films, most famously the Academy Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the field of Cinema. He received thirty-two National Film Awards, a record in itself, Honorary Doctorate by Oxford University, Legion of Honour by France, Dada Saheb Phalke Award, Bharat Ratna, as well as the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime Achievement at San Francisco International Film Festival. There is a regular Satyajit Ray Award constituted for London Film Festival, and the Film & Television Institute in Kolkata is named after him.
All this, however, does not talk about the genius that he possessed besides his cinematic genius. Very few people know that he was an instrumental force in the children’s literature in West Bengal for almost three decades. Satyajit Ray created a detective character named Feluda (Prodosh Ranjan Mitter) on the lines of Sherlock Holmes, and his nephew, sidekick and narrator of most of his escapades: Topshe (Tapesh Ranjan Mitter) a la Dr. Watson, and a unique character named Jatayu (Lal Mohan Ganguly) predominantly for comic relief. The stories were written with children in mind, so they were required not to have any adult theme for the crimes, especially crime de passionale. However, the stories (which used to be published as episodic instalments in Sandesh, a family magazine that he edited) were read by the parents as well, and enamoured by the escapades of Feluda, the parents frequently requested Ray to incorporate more crime, passion and violence to make it even more interesting. However, Ray never obliged them, because he didn’t want to do a disservice to the growing-up years of the susceptible children.
He also wrote science-fiction for children by creating Professor Shonku, and the stories unfolded in true suspense-mode through the pages of his diary found long after he had himself disappeared. The stories were not only entertaining; they also had lots of information unfolding the wonders of science for the kids and junior students. Ray had an unusual way with children. He tried to make them comfortable in their own way, rather than thrusting information on them. No wonder then, that whenever Ray directed children in his movies, he brought out such original and uninhibited performance from them that others could not even dream of. Those who are privileged to have watched Pather Panchali or Sonar Kella or Teen Kanya or even Pinku can never forget the moments that Ray captured with all its innocence coming out of the frame.
Ray also wrote extensively about the world film scenario, most famous being Our Films, Their Films and Bishoy Chalchitra (Speaking of Films). He wrote his childhood-memories autobiography – Jokhun Chhoto Chhilam (When I Was Young), as well as short stories for children, often replete with quizzes, puzzles and riddles. Not many would know that he was one of the founder members of a school in Kolkata, Patha Bhavan, which was modelled more on Shantiniketan, where he had studied for some time, and he wanted to send across a positive signal to the society about his intentions, and let his son Sandeep study there for as long as he could.
The matter available to write about Ray is overwhelming, so it’s imperative to come to a halt here, but I sincerely hope that the readers would make a positive contribution by way of comments and discussions to bring forward many other untapped facets of the genius of Ray. As a justice to title of the post – I do not think anyone else can compete with Ray….
Tags: Abhijan, Agantuk, Apur Sansar, Aranyer Din Ratri, Charulata, Chiriyakhana, Devi, Ganashatru, Ghare Baire, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Hirak Rajar Deshe, Jalsaghar, Jana Aranya, Joy Baba Felunath, Kanchenjunga, Kapurush o Mahapurush, Mahanagar, nayak, Paras Pathar, Pratidwandi, satyajit ray, Seemabaddha, Shakha-Proshakha, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Sonar Kella
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“Legend has it that he was offered a role in a Hollywood production by a very famous production house, but he gracefully declined. The role later went to Omar Sharif.”
?????
“Not many would know that he was one of the founder members of a school in Kolkata, Patha Bhavan, which was modelled more on Shantiniketan”
??????
“. Legend has it that he was offered a role in a Hollywood production by a very famous production house, but he gracefully declined. The role later went to Omar Sharif.”
Uh Oh Satyen, i think u confused this with Dilip Kumar. Dilip Kumar was offered the role in Lawrence of Arabia, which eventually later went to Omar Sharif.
@Ratnakar…Yes…Ray was infact signed up by Hollywood to make a movie ‘Alien’..or ‘Banka Babur Bondhu’..which Spielberg later on flicked from dust laden shelves and recreated it as ‘ET’..This is one legend that is close to reality..
Some others proclaim ‘Banka Babur Bondhu’ was similar in story to ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, Ray Saheb, if he were alive, would have definitely dissapproved of the Roshan film though..
@ Ram V, for starters Ray wrote the Alien story, and Omar Sharif funda is related to Dilip Kumar, not Satyajit Ray. Thats what i am pointing out, get the context please.
@Ratnakar..my ‘Yes’ at the beginning was an accpetance of what you had quoted on the earlier post…regarding ‘Omar Sharif’…the comments later on were something I had to add regarding Ray’s stint with Hollywood….
I hope I was in context…
@ Jha- as you’ve pointed out its tough to write/say anything more about Satyajit Ray as we’ve discussed earlier.he still lives amongst us due to his movies,his characters and the books/magazines.In fact his son Sandip Ray has finally shot into prominence only because of the Feluda movie series- Bombaiyer Bombete, Kailashey Kelenkari & Tintorettor Jishu.I’m sure even years later we’ll keep talking about Satyajit Ray-he’s evergreen.
Guys….instead of appreciating this beautiful article on one of our greatest film personalities, you are just trying to outdo each other by picking out factual errors which anyone can make. Please see the whole picture and let enjoy Satyendra’s writing about the man whom we should be most proud of.
i remember reading his story ‘the phoenix’ in school and still cherish it
@Ram V
Yes ET was based on something written by Ray. Interestingly when I last visited the imdb ET page (about a year ago) there was the name of Satyajit Ray (uncredited) in the name list of the writers but just checked it again and it is no more.
http://www.ultrabrown.com/posts/satjayit-ray-peter-sellers-and-aliens
I was a big fan of ‘Satyajit Ray’ presents when it was telecast in DD . We would finish all our work and sit glued to the amazing TV serial magic that Ray created in the 30 mins. The ‘horror’ episode in that series could give any of the ‘Japanese’ and ‘Korean’ movies the run for their money. I became forever a fan of Satyajit Ray even as a young boy who knew next to nothing about cinema.
Satyajit Ray’s Nayak was one of his best movies, i saw it on DD, when i was small, did not understand it at all, again caught it later, just loved every moment of it. Shatranj Ke Khilari, Apu Trilogy, Sonar Kella, Mahanagar, its an endless list. He is not just a mere movie maker, but an institution all by himself.
Satyendra, you have done a brilliant job here and therefore I shall not nitpick at all. Yes, each of his films, essays, stories, music and graphics merit separate posts, such is the man’s class and creativity powers.
He is easily India’s greatest artist of the 20th century and this when we have had Lata, Kishore, Bimal Roy, Husain, Zakir Hussain, Allah Rakha, Ravi Shankar, Amjad Ali, Asha, Hrishida and many others..
@ Ratnakar & Others: I indeed got confused with Dilip Kumar-Omar Sharif legend with Ray’s. Sorry. My Bad.
As Indraneel & Rahul Dravid have pointed out, im glad we all are looking at the broader picture here, rather than nit-picking. i really appreciate that…
@ Mr. GK Desai: i have already accepted the confusion i had abt Dilip Kumar – Omar Sharif – Satyajit Ray matter here. your first comment is understandable. What abt the second query? can u plz b more specific?
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there are many things that might hv come under your scanner:
Not many wud know: Mayb you know…
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he was founder member of Patha Bhavan school in
kolkata: well, thats an information for many…
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Which was modelled more on Shantiniketan: not exactly in the sense of setting of the school, oreven the environmental non-pollution, but the style of teaching and the ethics imparted were similar to Shantiniketan..
@ Sethu: thx. yes i remember i had bounced off the idea to u whn we hd met ast, and u hd told me how much of Ray-material is avl even on PFC. hence, i decided to write more abt his other achievements.
@ Ram V & Jahanpanah: Ray having written ET or Alien is quite a touchy issue, and Ray was indeed active in holywood circles during the mid-late 60’s with is script / story, which didnt materialse at that time, and Ray came back disappointed.
Much later, whn ET relesed, Ray was aghast to see the similarities in the storyline and the lovable/benevolent character of the ET that he had created, rather than it being a fearsome creature.
@ Satyen the Patha Bhavan School funda sounds interesting.
BTW i am looking to buy the entire Feluda set, saw it in a bookshop recently.
Couple of more things
* Also designed the covers for Man Eaters of Kumaon, Discovery of India. Just makes me wonder if there is anything this man can’t do.
I would have loved to see AB under Satyajit Ray’s direction, the closest they got was for Shatranj Ke Khilari, where AB gave the voice over.
Who else can Compete with Ray? NONE, for the simple fact that he was a multi faceted genius, a true Renaissance man. Even if he were not making movies, he would have been famous for Feluda, Sandesh and his short stories.
@ Ratnakar: yes, Nayak is one of my personal Ray favourites as well. many of us associate Ray with serious cinema depicting poverty and Indian rural class. For those, the Goopy Bagha series is a tremendous eye-opener.
the satire and black-humor hidden beneeath the apparant foolishness of the characters is mind-boggling. Utpal Dutt as King of Shundi is just too good.
Ratnakar @ 20: thts exactly my point, and thats what i wanted this ost to bring out.
btw, Patha Bhavan funda is true. and yeah, AB under Ray wud hv been like coming together of two stalwarts.
@ Indraneel -da: yeah, all his different works need a separate post in itself, its so huge.
Ray was known to stick to his team in moviemaking, and he persisted with actors like Soumitra Chatterjee and Utpal Dutt in most of his movies. he also worked with Sharmila in Debi, Seemabaddha, Nayak.
he introduced Aparna Sen (mother of Konkona Sen) in one of the stories of Teen Kanya.
surprisingly, he never bothered to cow-tow with the reigning superstar of Bengali movies Uttam Kumar, except in three movies: Nayak (becoz Uttam suited the role to a T), Chiriyakhana (Uttam played Byomkesh, butthe movie was originally being directed by someone else, not Ray) and Mahapurush.
Ray maintained that he chose actors for his movies only afterthey justified the requirementas perthe script or character, not vice-versa.
Penguin Books has come out with the english translation of all Feluda stories written by Ray, in two volumes. most of the stories have been translated by Gopa Majumdar, who has done a lot of research on Ray during her own lifetime.
Its a must-have for those who want to see the writing-prowess of Ray. And yes, it includes all the original story of all the movies of Feluda made by the father-son duo.
Bharat Ratna Satyajit Ray in his wildest of dreams would have never thought of competing with Nobel Laurete Rabindranath Tagore,pl watch his documentary RABINDRANATH TAGORE (1961).
11 Emminent teachers founded Patha Bhavan,Ray was just associated with it like any other philantropists.
Reference is given below
http://www.pathabhavan.com/about_us.html
GK
@Rahul Dravid: [you are just trying to outdo each other by picking out factual errors] …
factual error is what differentiates between serious jornalism from yellow journalism, differentiates a good write-up from a bad one.
so, plz do not make ridiculous remarks tat factual errors should be overlooked.
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in fact, factual errors shud be pointed out as a corrective measure, else we at PFC wud be spreading wrong info and ppl wud be living with wrong ideas.
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satyendra – well written
@ GK Desai: the comparison was never between nobel and bharat ratna to begin with. Ray himself studied in Shantiniketan, and was mighty impressed by the cultural effervescence of that place.
when he had the opportunity to engage in the philanthropic activities, he wanted to provide the same level of cultural mileu in a school in the urban place (Kolkata), the way it was possible in the rural setup (Bolpur, Shantiniketan).
Satyajit Ray was not the SOLE founder of Patha Bhavan. He was the most instrumental, becoz he was the most famous among all involved. Period.
Hey! beats me as to why we need to even get into a serious debate over here.Yes factual errors need to be corrected but lets still not give it more prominence than acknowledging Ray’s genius over here.
Jha- yes even I would have loved to see AB in a Ray movie apart from just the voice over in Shatranj Ke Khilari.I’m sure it could have been a movie worth remembering for ages.
@ Sethu: thx. yeah, AB wud have flourished under Ray, But then, Ray had his own whims and fancies, and not many cud work with him without compromising on their ego / status. ray cud gel well with some of his cast & crew, and not so well with others. over a period of time, he maintained his own preferences in the artistes that he wud work with.
one of the major grudges of bengalis is that the “mahanayak” uttam kumar didnt work much with Ray, whereas he gave an identity to Soumitra thru his movies.
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most of Ray’s movies were abt common man, or their common problems. Uttam Kumar had aset image, which cud not b taken away by depicting ordinary charcters that Ray wud envisage.
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the three movies that Uttam did with Ray, he played an already “established” character in two of them: superstar in Nayak and Byomkesh (the famous sleuth made immortal by Rajit Kapoor on DD) in Chiriyakhana.
COmpare that with Utpal Dutt playing any role in Ray’s movies, that were as diferent as chalk-n-chese from one film to the other.
Satyajit Ray is one of the greatest film makers ever. to me He Is GOD. thanks for the write up. The man is the definition of a true creative genius.
thanks Ayush, pep-up is appreciated. some of the movies he has directed are truly goose-bumps evoking… watch a comedy like paras pathar or goopy-bagha, where despite the apparant comedy, there is so much of understated black-humor which is relevant even in today’s times…truly visionary filmmaker…
@Satyendra, just to point out:
King of Shundi was played by Santosh Dutta, not by Utpal Dutt. Utpal Dutt played “Hirak Raja” in the sequel to Goopi Gyne Bagha Byne, called “Hirak Rajar Deshe”;
Uttam Kumar starred in only two (not three) of Ray’s films: Nayak and Chiriyakhana; he never appeared in Mahapurush!
Incidentally, Ray was a great fan of Tintin comics, and considered panels therein to be great examples of shot division; legend also has it that he wrote to Herge (creator of Tintin) regarding a particular
inaccuracy in “The Seven Crystal Balls” about an Indian woman in the story ‘not wearing her Sari right’…
@Satyendra:
Great article and apt introduction. All of us Ray fan’s feel very minuscule while talking about this genius. Call it a coincidence, I have just posted a very rare movie of Ray which no one discussed about on iview today.
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Before being regular at PFC I wrote an article
on him, which echoes similar views like you have mentioned. I wish I could have published the article here. I have said lost of the things I would have said as my comments.
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Other than the known tale of ET vs Bonkubabur Bondhu I was shocked to find another movie taken from Ray;s short story. The movie is called Evolution which is a staright conceptual lift from his Shonku Story “Shanku O Aashcharjo Golok”.
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Alongwith Shonku and Feluda, Ray had created one more brilliant character called ‘Tarinikhudo’ an elderly wanderer hunter who shares his experiences with the Indian Royale and the game with children. Alongwith his movie his literary works . His spooky tales like Khogom and numerous many are original, uncanny and each story carries a potential to make a superb thriller movie. I am sure people who have read them, would agree with me.
On his movies, ofcourse discussions are practically neverending.
Contd.
coming to the title of the post, who else can compete?
hmm…if u take the movie-making skill then hrishi da, raj kapoor, guru dutt do come close since they were also totally involved in all departments of movie making…cinematography, editing, camera and lights etc. but none of these directors ever wrote their own story/screenplay.
vijay anand is the only person who i can think of, who used to write story/screenplay and do the rest.
qualitatively speaking, bimal roy did come close to ray’s works in terms of end-product.
and shyam benegal seemed to carry the legacy forward with his parallel cinemas in 80’s; but benegal never really dabbled in other genres unlike ray. i wud have liked to see benegal explore other genres too…
@ Satyendra:
Probably, Ray was the first Indian ‘auteur’ in filmsand continues to influence westerners like Wes Anderson till date.
You categorization of his movies are quite interesting though I have some different opinions few of the movies and would reorganize them thus, where few movies may cater to more than one category.
Upper Zamindari Class: Ghare Baire, Jalsaghar, Teen Kanya (Monihara)
Urban/Youth: Jana Aranya, Aranyer Din Ratri, Pratidwandi
Lower / Poor / Rural Class: Pather Panchali, Teen Kanya ( Post Master and Samapti), Aparajito, Asani Shanket, Sadgati
Small-town Life: Abhijan
Social message- Ganashatru/ Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Hirak Rajar Deshe
City Life and Corruption: Seemabaddha, Mahanagar, Jana Aranya,
Ray’s Interpretation of Classics: Charulata, Devi, Shatranj Ke Khiladi
Nostalgic Reminiscence: Apur Sansar,
Intellectual & Psychological: Agantuk, Shakha-Proshakha, Kanchenjunga, Nayak,
Satire: Paras Pathar, Kapurush o Mahapurush
Children’s films: Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Hirak Rajar Deshe, Sonar Kella, Joy Baba Felunath,
Detective: Sonar Kella, Joy Baba Felunath, Chiriyakhana
Infidelity- Piku’s Diary
However, broadly his films can be divided into two parts- Films based on his story and scripts based on Bengali classics and other significant literary works.
Personally I think Ray was a perfectionist and never changed his regulars- his Art Director Banchi Chandragupta , Editor Dulal Datta and cameraman Subrato Mitra.
Another trivia- Ray’s first character of Jatayu was different when he wrote his first feluda book Sonar Kella. Later when he cast Santosh Dutta, he changed the illustrations of jatayu to match him in his future Feluda stories. Ray also preferred his own set of actors. Also like Toshir? Mifune to Kurosawa, De Niro to Scorcese , Soumitra Chatterjee was to Ray.
Ray, clearly was much ahead of its time with movies like Kanchenjunga and Nayak, the contexts are valid even today. Where you say all his works demand separate discussions, you are very right.
Cheers!
~uh~
@ Amborishl: my bad. Santosh Dutta it was in Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, not Utpal – da; he was in Hirak Rajar Deshe. i must hv got confused. the power of ray’s characterisation is such that the moment u think of Santosh Dutta, u think of Jatayu, not anything else. i must have associated Utpal da from the later movie to put him in the earlier. i concede the mistake.
the same confusion must hv crept up in case of kapurush as well, indeed it was Soumitro, and not Uttam Kumar who played the central character. effectively, yes, uttam has done only two movies with Ray.
thanks for the corrections.
@ uh: sirjee, looking forward to your article on Ray’s work. if u dont mind,which movie hv u taken up? hope it gets published soon. read the other article the link to whih u hd provided. indeed great stuff… y dont u request PFC to let u publish that article as well. maybe PFC can make an exception for such a great article.
Not much idea about Evolution, but looks very intriguing. with ray’s genius, it isnt a surprise…
@ Rals: the magik of Ray is not only in his cinematic genius, but in his overall command over the medium, his literary works. yes, purely from the direction or involvement in the facets of movie-makng POV, the names u hv suggested do come close…
the books that Ray has written and the copy-editing he has done, not to forget the publicity designs and book covers that he did for others’ work as well put him in a different league altogether.
he has also developed certain type-faces that are used in the prints these days.
uh @ 35: your categorisation sounds very impressive, but i didnt want to confuse the readers by putting same movie in more than one category. hence the limited playground for me. but as u hv mentioned, some of the movies qualify for more than one category, like Paras pathar is a comedy as well as a satire. same goes for Goopy Bagha as well.
@Satyendra: I don’t mind telling it here, but I would be sad if they don’t publish. Hence, let the surprise element remain.
I thought my blog article was more generic and not only concentrated on movies hence refrained. However, I do wish to write on his movies. Now that I can see a good following of ray in PFC, may be it would be a good way to start.
I can name atleast 10 short stories which directors like Vishal Varadwaj, Sriram Raghavan, Anaurah Kashyap can make into superb ’supernatural thriller ‘ movies.
Have you read his ‘ Dozen’ series ?
I was amazed to learn that Ray used to write his script first in Bangla and then in English, as his Art Director didn’t understand Bengali !
Satyendra, i have a problem with the very name of your post…”who else can compete”…Why are we even trying to thrust competition upon people! Why can one not create something just for the love of it?
@ uh: no and yes. no coz i hvnt read his dozen series, what is actually written under “eker pithe dui” series. yes, i am aware abt his writing scripts first in english and then in bengali.
awaiting for ur post very agerly.
@Jha
To be very honest with you,your post was carrying so many errors,but thanks to your MAGNANIMOUS heart , you have accepted those errors, dear just imagine if this post to have been printed in THE TIMES OF INDIA Kolkatta edition, no no just think for 2 minutes ,120 seconds ,bas !!! IMAGINE THE CHORUS OF Hardcore Bengalis going after your blood ,then what ?? then what ???? Boss u would have got no place to hide your face, here at PFC you have that freedom, use it CONSTRUCTIVELY, do your research thoroughly , then show off your knowledge, we all will applaud it !!!
NEXT TIME DO IT PROPERLY.
GK
FYI, for those of you who are fans and based in NYC, The Film Society of Lincoln Center is doing a tribute to Ray:
http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/satyajit/program.html
Once upon a time:
http://passionforcinema.com/song-of-the-little-road-i/
Oops!
http://passionforcinema.com/song-of-the-little-road-i/
http://passionforcinema.com/song-of-the-little-road-ii/
@ Amborish: thx for the links. amazing insight into the making of Ray classics. humein kya maaloom thha aap bhi Ray ke shaukeen hain…
it seems u hvnt written much on PFC since then… u shud write more often dada…
@ GKD: thanks for the kind words, sir…
For all Ray and Kolkata fans on PFC. my Phatik Chand review is posted on PFC. This movie, till date remain as one of the least publicized from Ray’s filmography on public domain.
@ Satyendra: Taking the liberty to put the link here.
@ uh: sirjee, my pleasure to provide a platform to your great review on one of the most “lesser-known-but-highly-recommended” movie.
fact that its a Ray production gives a reason fo the link onthis post as well. im so happy for the revival-of-sorts in Ray’s works on PFC…