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roshiq
05-02-2009, 01:18 PM
There are some writers, artists, composers or even filmmakers who we always admire & follow in our amazing beautiful word of fantasy; some of them even have enrich the completeness of enjoyment in our beloved childhood days and remains an icon for us who influence even the smallest effort of our creative thoughts & works. Satyajit Ray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyajit_Ray#Literary_works), who globally known as one of the greatest auteur of 20th century cinema have always been inspiring us such a way. And it�s always a mesmerizing experience for me whenever I tried to interpret, evaluate or just talk about the arts & works of Satyajit Ray.

Today, on his 88th Birthday I like to share with you the other infamous sides of creative milestones that also contributed to call him the 2nd most prominent Bengali in history after Rabindranath Tagore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore).

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/3159/raybio.jpg

I'm nor sure but Most of us here may know him as a filmmaker specially for his remarkable films like Apu trilogy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apu_Trilogy), but he is also very much beloved by every proud Bengali all over the word for his other amazing aspects of creative works.

In addition to filmmaking, Ray was a composer, a writer and a graphic designer. In 1961, he revived and continued to publish the Bengali children's magazine "Sandesh" (The Sweets), which was founded by his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray.
Ray's grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upendrakishore_Ray) was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious and social movement in nineteenth century Bengal.

Upendrakishore's son...Sukumar Ray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukumar_Ray) (1887-1923), Satyajit's father, was a pioneering Bengali writer of bizarre and 'nonsense' rhyme and children's literature, an illustrator and a critic. He was a Bengali humorous poet, story writer and playwright. As perhaps the most famous Indian practitioner of literary 'nonsense' or bizarre aspect, he is often compared to Lewis Carroll. His works such as the collection of poems "Aboltabol" ("Gibberish"), novella "HaJaBaRaLa", short story collection "Pagla Dashu" ("Crazy Dashu") and play "Chalachittachanchari" are considered the most beautifully bizarre masterpieces equal in stature to Alice in Wonderland, and are regarded as some of the greatest treasures of Bangla literature. More than 80 years after his death, Sukumar Ray remains one of the most popular of children's writers in both West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh.

They are one of the greatest family trio in Bangla/Bengali literature...their literary pieces have enhanced and enriched the Bangla literature to a great extent and gave it a new dimension in their own time..they had their own style and surely they made themselves solitary in skills and imaginations....and no one can deny that their writings not only give enjoyment to the children but also to the grown ups.

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/6655/triop.jpg
The Family trio...Upendrakishore, Sukumar and Satyajit.

One of the most favorite fictional writers of Ray was Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle. To the tribute of his admired writer Satyajit Ray created two very popular characters in Bengali children's literature� Feluda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feluda), a private eye, and Professor Shonku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Shonku), a scientist. But they are very unique and stand out in their own way as Ray characterized them in a very simple, non fashionable and down to earth manner like the person he was.
Ray's interest in puzzles and puns is reflected in his stories; Feluda (http://www.thrillingdetective.com/eyes/feluda.html) often has to solve a puzzle to get to the bottom of a case. The Feluda stories are narrated by Topshe, his cousin, somewhat like Watson to Feluda as Holmes. Later he introduced another regular partner on Feluda stories..a mystery writer: Lal Mohon Ganguly aka Jatayu and Ray brought an delegate touch of humor through that character. Satyajit wrote 35 mystery cases of detective Feluda and made 2 films out of them that won several international film awards.

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/5489/hdcfeludapics.jpghttp://img161.imageshack.us/img161/9675/badhshashiangti2.jpg
Ray's illustration and cover arts of Feluda stories & books.

roshiq
05-02-2009, 01:41 PM
He was also a prominent writer of science fiction in Bengali or any Indian language for that matter. The science fiction stories of Professor Shonku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Shonku) are presented as a diary discovered after the scientist himself had mysteriously disappeared. In his story "The Astronaut's Diary" (Byomjatrir diary) Ray introduced Professor Shonku, the protagonist of his science-fiction stories who often gets involved in mysterious sci-fi adventures with lots of twists and turns where he confronts the Aliens and bizarre incidents and saved the good guys and battle with the bad ones by his incredible line of inventions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professor_Shonku#The_inventions). Ray wrote 40 stories of Shanku (last 2 are uncomplicated). Though Ray didn't go for any celluloid version (perhaps cause of his all sorts of limitations at his time) believe me...personally I think this series has the great potentiality to become a worldwide sensation if it gets the proper film adaptation with the latest touch of special effects.

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/9233/shankucovera.jpghttp://img504.imageshack.us/img504/9408/shanku21.jpghttp://img392.imageshack.us/img392/8805/shankuonamysteriousisla.jpg

Ray's illustration and cover arts of Prof. Shonku stories & books.

Besides Feluda & Shonku, Ray's short stories give full reign to his interest in the macabre, in suspense and other aspects that he avoided in film, making for an interesting psychological study. Most of his stories centered on the very common and down to earth people who like to lives a simple trouble free life but suddenly or occasionally get engaged with extraordinary events and adventures. Ray's writing techniques are so easy & comfortable that there's been no readers I have ever heard that left his story unfinished after starting to read it once.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/3388/profhizbizbizzz1.jpg
An illustration from his short story 'Professor Hizbizbizzz'

Satyajit Ray designed four typefaces for roman script named Ray Roman, Ray Bizarre, Daphnis, and Holiday Script, apart from numerous Bengali ones for the Sandesh magazine. Ray Roman and Ray Biazarre won an international competition in 1971. In certain circles of Kolkata, Ray continued to be known as an eminent graphic designer, well into his film career. Ray illustrated all his books and designed covers for them, as well as creating all publicity material for his films. He also designed covers of several books by other authors.

fortunato
05-02-2009, 01:46 PM
Dang, Roshiq. This is great.
I'm a big fan of Ray, and it's great to learn more about him.

Well-done!

roshiq
05-02-2009, 02:08 PM
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7976/sukumarcharacter1.jpghttp://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3106/sukumarcharacter2.jpghttp://img87.imageshack.us/img87/2118/sukumar2.jpg

Ray's some illustrations on Sukumar Ray's creation of bizarre character of his popular rhymes.

Some Satyajit Ray movie recommendations:

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha) [1968] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063023/)

Story: Goopy, a young farmer�s son with a passion to sing and marked absence of talent, is banished from his village, as Goopy has the audacity to disturb the king in his slumber with dreadful singing. Crestfallen Goopy arrives in a forest riding a donkey. He meets Bagha, a drummer from a neighboring village, who too has been also banished for his terrible drumming.

Goopy and Bagha soon are good friends and start their terrible music. They encounter a bizarre dance of the forest ghost. They manage to please the king of the ghosts, who grants them three boons :
[1] instant food and clothing,
[2] instant travel (somewhat like Jumper) and
[3] musical talent that can spellbind audiences.
But they need to clap each others hand (for the first two) and the key to all the magic is in the two pair of slippers that the ghost king gifted them.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9928/goopy06.gif

Wearing the magic slippers, they arrive in the kingdom of Shundi. At a music contest held by the good king of Shundi, they enchant the audiences and win the contest and are given positions as court musicians.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/6026/goopy05.jpg

Meanwhile, the bad king of Halla, twin brother of the king of Shundi, wants to declare a war. The king of Halla is not really a bad king but is drugged and being controlled by the court magician Barfi. He works for the greedy and ambitious Prime Minister. With their magic powers, Goopy and Bagha avert the war....!

Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne is a delightful, fun film for children of all ages. Personally I think it's one of the greatest satire plus children films for all ages in the history of world cinema. The film ran to packed houses in Bengal for a record fifty-one weeks and was by far the most commercially successful Ray film. The film derives its inspiration from Ray�s grandfather - Upendrakisore Ray�s story - 'Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne'. Ray meticulously designed its characters and composed the music.

Awards

* Award for Best Direction, New Delhi, 1968
* President's Gold and Silver Medals, New Delhi, 1970
* Silver Cross, Adelaide, 1969
* Best Director, Auckland, 1969
* Merit Award, Tokyo, 1970
* Best Film, Melbourne, 1970

Posher778
05-02-2009, 02:10 PM
Always nice to learn more about other cultures. Thanks for sharing with us Roshiq! :)

Rayne
05-02-2009, 02:30 PM
OH! I've actually seen this one before
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3106/sukumarcharacter2.jpg

But, I really didn't know anything about the person you're talking about:o

Thanks for sharing :)

roshiq
05-02-2009, 02:58 PM
There are some movies that we can watch hundred times, again and again. Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne is one of them to me. I grew up watching this movie, watched several times and each time was none the less exciting...charming.

One of powerful aspect of Ray's movies is their music. Mostly he composed himself. He did for this movie too. One more fact keeps you wondering is how such a fairy tale movie can be made with so less special affects and low cost. The sets were adorned with crafts and symbols that accentuate the ambiance, like the Magician's room in the palace of Shundi.

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4290/goopy02.jpg http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/4462/goopy08.jpg

The film is simply superb .... a real masterpiece. The film is so rich in every respect - Nothing new to say. It had all sort of spices, ghost, a good king, an abnormal king, palaces, evil prime minister, evil magician, the lyrics, the background music, the comedy within the songs... all are amazing. It was a new landmark not only in the Indian film also in the world cinema. This is an evergreen film for generations to come.

Hirak Rajar Deshe (Kingdom of Diamond) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080856/) ...the sequel of Goopy-Bagha!

Jalshaghar [The Music Room] (1958) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051792/)

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4715/jalsaghar01.jpg http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/3645/jalsaghar02.jpg

Experience Ray's work somewhat like Bergman's manner!
In Ray's own words the film deals with "a music loving Zamindar (landlord) who refuses to change with the times and thereby meets his comeuppance."
It was this film that led to the French to pay attention to Ray and his films. It is tempting to draw parallels with his later film Shantranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977), Roy in Jalsaghar (The Music Room, 1958), and Wajid Ali Shah in Shatranj Ke Khilari, both, share an obsessive and doomed love for music that leads to their destruction.

Parash Pathar (The Philosopher's Stone/The Touch Stone) [1958] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052046/)

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/551/parasp.jpg

Story: Parash Pathar is one of early Ray movies which tells a story of an ordinary office clerk who comes across a magic stone which turns iron onto gold. Tulsi Chakraborty, who plays a role of a lifetime in this classic piece, is the clerk whose life changes after he discovers that the small simple stone is the "Parash Pathar", the stone which can give him infinite riches as long as he can find enough scrap iron. The comical flair of Tulsi Chakraborty is a treat to watch. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is possibly one of the finest actors to come out of India who can play a comic role with such ease.

Ray was ahead of his time, cause the class of movie making he was capable of, nobody after him here in this continent can even dare to think of making. Believe me...this type of fantasy based fun loving movie none even tried to do after him here.

He'll be always remain as the most honored, admired and beloved personality in both Bengali literature and Bengali films who gifted us with his wonderful lines of creation that a nation can live & grow with time to time in great pride and love.

neverending
05-02-2009, 08:46 PM
A lot of these images are not showing for me.

roshiq
05-02-2009, 10:11 PM
Seeing them clearly....try again later...:confused:

neverending
05-02-2009, 10:19 PM
Seeing them clearly....try again later...:confused:

You can see them because you have them in your cache from viewing them on the original sites. I suspect some of them have blocks on hotlinking.

Here's what I see:

http://www.neverendingwonder.com/roshiqscreencap.jpg

roshiq
05-02-2009, 10:21 PM
Always nice to learn more about other cultures. Thanks for sharing with us Roshiq! :)

Dang, Roshiq. This is great.
I'm a big fan of Ray, and it's great to learn more about him.

Well-done!



But, I really didn't know anything about the person you're talking about:o

Thanks for sharing :)

It was always my pleasure to share & discuss anything about Ray. :)

roshiq
05-02-2009, 10:23 PM
You can see them because you have them in your cache from viewing them on the original sites. I suspect some of them have blocks on hotlinking.


that's really sad & frustrating!:(

Any suggestions?

But how come an image appeared on Rayne's quoted reply?

neverending
05-02-2009, 10:28 PM
Some of them work, some of them don't. It' always a good idea to copy images you want to use to your computer and then upload them to someplace like photobucket.

_____V_____
05-02-2009, 10:31 PM
The ones you can see, are linked to imageshack.

The ones you dont, are linked directly to satyajitray.org website. They have hotlinking disabled.

And about Satyajit Ray the man - I have always considered him to be a great Indian icon in world cinema. I made a brief mention of him in the Bollywood Recs thread, but obviously nobody paid attention to that one. The man was a cinematic genius.

cheebacheeba
05-02-2009, 10:33 PM
Did he know how to make bhang?

roshiq
05-02-2009, 10:52 PM
Some of them work, some of them don't. It' always a good idea to copy images you want to use to your computer and then upload them to someplace like photobucket.

I uploaded them on imageshack now.:)

neverending
05-02-2009, 10:55 PM
Awesome- you got all but the 2 for The Music Room.

roshiq
05-02-2009, 11:06 PM
Awesome- you got all but the 2 for The Music Room.

Fixed and thanks for notifying that.:)

Phalanx
05-02-2009, 11:09 PM
Did he know how to make bhang?
Yeah, what about the bhang?

roshiq
05-03-2009, 12:50 AM
I found some videos of songs of the movie Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen (1968) but the print qualities & subtitles are somewhat poor & lame::(

1fRHsIRH7OQ&feature


ieIQS9aiunU&feature