Satyajit Ray

  • Satyajit Ray – Two AKA Parable Two (1965)

    1961-1970AdventureIndiaSatyajit RayShort Film

    Quote:
    From Oscars’s youtube account:
    In 1964, renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray was asked to create a short film for ‘ESSO World Theater’, a cultural showcase presented on television and funded by the American oil company Esso. Asked to write and direct the film in English, Ray opted instead to make a film without words. The result is a poignant fable of friendship and rivalry. As he did for many of his films, Ray composed the music for the film, including the haunting tune played on the flute.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – Mahapurush AKA The Holy Man AKA The Saint (1965)

    1961-1970ClassicsComedyIndiaSatyajit Ray

    Synopsis:
    A retired lawyer meets a holy man # Birinchi Baba (Charuprakash Ghosh) and his assistant (Robi Ghosh) # on his way back from a pilgrimage # and is totally taken in by his supernatural life. The holy man is on first name terms with Buddha and all the gods of the Hindu pantheon. What the world calls ‘Cruci-fiction’ he calls ‘Cruci-fact’ because he has seen it with his own eyes! He even starts giving orations to an audience of the rich and famous at the lawyer’s residence. The gullible lawyer decides to get his entire family initiated into the guru’s fold # including his unmarried younger daughter (Gitali Roy) who is being courted by a young man (Satindra Bhattacharya). His group of intelligent and rationalist friends (Somen Bose et al) decide to take matters in their own hands # and hatch a plot to expose the smooth-talking charlatan.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – The Inner Eye (1972)

    1971-1980ArthouseDocumentaryIndiaSatyajit Ray

    Synopsis
    The Inner Eye is the second of Satyajit Ray’s four great documentaries and tells you about the life and art of Binode Behari Mukherjee (1904-1980). Mukherjee was one of the most admired renaissance painters of Bengal. Trained by the great Nandalal Bose during his early years in Santiniketan (Rabindranath Tagore’s university for the liberal arts), Benode Behari painted profusely.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – Joi Baba Felunath AKA The Elephant God (1979)

    1971-1980AdventureCrimeIndiaSatyajit Ray

    This is the second film about the detective Feluda (Soumitra Chatterjee) set in the holy city of Benares, where he (along with his cousin, Topshe and friend, Lalmohan Ganguly) goes for a holiday. But the theft of a priceless deity of Lord Ganesh (the Elephant God) from a local household forces him to start investigation. Feluda comes in direct confrontation with Maganlal Meghraj (Utpal Dutt), a ruthless trader. Maganlal makes the mild-mannered Lalmohan a knife-thrower’s target and threatens Felu to stop investigation. But there are several other suspects as an innocent artisan is brutally murdered, a shady ‘holy man’ holds court on the banks of the Ganges and an adventure-loving little boy (and his grand-father), brought up on crime thrillers. The climax is a shoot-out on the Ganges, followed by the unraveling of the mystery.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – Ganashatru AKA An Enemy of the People (1989)

    1981-1990DramaIndiaPoliticsSatyajit Ray

    Quote:
    In Satyajit Ray’s absorbing contemporary adaptation of a play by Henrik Ibsen, a good-hearted doctor discovers that the serious illness befalling the citizens of his small Bengali town may be due to a contamination of the holy water at the local temple. His findings are met not with public gratitude but with rancor, as well as opposition from local authorities, who are afraid the news will keep visitors away. Stately in style but with a fiery debate at its heart, An Enemy of the People gets at the tension between religion and science in everyday Indian life.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – Pratidwandi aka The Adversary (1970)

    1961-1970ClassicsDramaIndiaSatyajit Ray

    Siddhartha Chowdhury, a brilliant medical student, is forced to leave his studies after his father’s sudden demise. He is forced to navigate the high unemployment rate and the communist socio-political climate of 1960s Calcutta in search of a job.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – Ashani Sanket aka Distant Thunder (1973)

    Satyajit Ray1971-1980DramaIndia

    The film is set in a village in the Indian province of Bengal during World War II, and examines the effect of the Great Famine of 1943 on the villages of Bengal through the eyes of a young Brahmin doctor-teacher, Gangacharan, and his wife, Ananga.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – Sonar Kella AKA The Golden Fortress (1974)

    1971-1980AsianClassicsIndiaSatyajit Ray

    Synopsis
    A young boy becomes a target for crooks, after he claims to remember his past life and mentions precious jewels in a golden fortress.Read More »

  • Satyajit Ray – Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne AKA The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha (1968)

    1961-1970ComedyIndiaSatyajit Ray

    Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, directed by the late Satyajit Ray and based on a story by Upendra Kishore Ray, is a popular Bengali children’s film. It is sometimes released in the English-speaking world as The Adventures Of Goopy And Bagha. It is one of Satyajit Ray’s few films with an abundance of musical numbers.Read More »

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