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89-800: Dhakaiya Kutti Bengali is an eastern dialect of Bengali and the vocabulary of this dialect has an influence of Urdu due to interactions with the Urdu-speaking people in Old Dhaka . It has only a few breathy voiced sounds in comparison to Standard Bengali . Some breathy voiced sounds such as [gʱ], [d̪ʱ], [bʱ] are not pronounced commonly in this dialect. The use of double sounds in certain words are also quite common. The word for younger brother-in-law, shala (শালা) in Standard Bengali and hala (হালা) in Dhakaiya Kutti Bengali and other eastern dialects,

178-416: A heart attack ; it would severely limit his productivity in the remaining nine years of his life. Ghare Baire , an adaptation of the novel of the same name , was completed in 1984 with the help of Ray's son , who served as a camera operator from then onward. It is about the dangers of fervent nationalism ; he wrote the first draft of a script for it in the 1940s. Despite rough patches due to Ray's illness,

267-602: A MoMA exhibition the following year. Six months later, American director John Huston , on a visit to India for some early location scouting for The Man Who Would Be King , saw excerpts of the unfinished film and recognised "the work of a great film-maker". With a loan from the West Bengal government , Ray finally completed the film; it was released in 1955 to critical acclaim. It earned numerous awards and had long theatrical runs in India and abroad. The Times of India wrote, "It

356-642: A children's magazine started by Upendrakishore. Ray studied at Ballygunge Government High School in Calcutta, and completed his BA in economics at Presidency College, Calcutta (then affiliated with the University of Calcutta ). During his school days, he saw a number of Hollywood productions in cinema. The works of Charlie Chaplin , Buster Keaton , Harold Lloyd , and Ernst Lubitsch and movies such as The Thief of Baghdad (1924) and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) made lasting impression on his mind. He developed

445-554: A film on the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War but later abandoned the idea, saying that, as a filmmaker, he was more interested in the travails of the refugees and not the politics. In 1977, Ray completed Shatranj Ke Khilari ( The Chess Players ), a Hindustani film based on a short story by Munshi Premchand . It was set in Lucknow in the state of Oudh , a year before the Indian Rebellion of 1857 . A commentary on issues related to

534-412: A generally muted reception. In 1967, Ray wrote a script for a film to be called The Alien , based on his short story "Bankubabur Bandhu" ("Banku Babu's Friend"), which he wrote in 1962 for Sandesh magazine. It was planned to be a U.S. and India co-production with Columbia Pictures , with Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers cast in the leading roles. Ray found that his script had been copyrighted and

623-694: A keen interest in Western classical music . In 1940, his mother insisted that he study at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan , founded by writer Rabindranath Tagore . Ray was reluctant to go, due to his fondness for Calcutta and low regard for the intellectual life at Santiniketan. His mother's persuasiveness and his respect for Tagore, however, finally convinced him to get admitted there for higher studies in Fine Art . In Santiniketan, Ray came to appreciate Oriental art . He later admitted that he learned much from

712-532: A leader of the Brahmo Samaj , a religious and social movement in 19th-century Bengal . He set up a printing press named U. Ray and Sons . Satyajit's father and Upendrakishore's son, Sukumar Ray , who was also born in Kishorganj , was an illustrator, critic, and a pioneering Bengali writer of nonsense rhyme ( Abol Tabol ) and children's literature. Social worker and children's book author Shukhalata Rao

801-478: A leading Indian typographer and book-jacket designer. Ray designed covers for many books, including Jibanananda Das 's Banalata Sen and Rupasi Bangla , Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay 's Chander Pahar , Jim Corbett 's Maneaters of Kumaon , and Jawaharlal Nehru 's Discovery of India . He worked on a children's version of Pather Panchali , a classic Bengali novel by Bandyopadhyay, renamed Aam Antir Bhepu ( The Mango-Seed Whistle ). Ray designed

890-573: A more generalised variant of Eastern Bengali which he dubbed Typical East Bengali for the sake of broader comparison with other varieties of Bengali. Eastern Bengali is often colloquially referred to by the exonym Bangal Bhasha ( Bengali : বাঙাল ভাষা , romanized :  bangal bhasha ) in West Bengal due to its association with Bangals . It may also be referred to by names such as Khaisi-Gesi Bangla ( Bengali : খাইছি-গেছি বাংলা , romanized :  khaisi-gesi baṅla , lit.   'I've eaten-I've gone Bengali'), emphasising

979-433: A native speaker of Eastern Bengali from Narayanganj , disputed this claim, instead describing the deaspiration as leading to the development of tones . These tones are not limited to voiced aspirates, but are also present as compensation for the aspiration of consonants that were voiceless aspirates in Standard Bengali. Tone continues to exist in words even if they are not part of a near-identical pair that requires it for

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1068-402: A sleuth, and Professor Shonku , a scientist. The Feluda stories are narrated by Tapesh Ranjan Mitra, aka Topshe, his teenage cousin, something of a Watson to Feluda's Holmes . The science fiction stories of Shonku are presented as a diary discovered after the scientist mysteriously disappeared. Ray also wrote a collection of nonsense verse named Today Bandha Ghorar Dim , which includes

1157-555: A son, Sandip Ray , who also became a film director. In the same year, French director Jean Renoir came to Calcutta to shoot his film The River . Ray helped him to find locations in the countryside. Ray told Renoir about his idea of filming Pather Panchali , which had long been on his mind, and Renoir encouraged him in the project. In 1950, D.J. Keymer sent Ray to London to work at their headquarters. During his six months there, Ray watched 99 films, including Alexander Dovzhenko 's Earth (1930) and Jean Renoir's The Rules of

1246-514: A steady source of income. In 1962, Ray directed Kanchenjungha . Based on his first original screenplay, it was also his first colour film. It tells the story of an upper-class family spending an afternoon in Darjeeling , a picturesque hill town in West Bengal . They try to arrange the engagement of their youngest daughter to a highly paid engineer educated in London. Ray had first conceived shooting

1335-446: A view of history". In 1980, Ray made a sequel to Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne , a somewhat political Hirak Rajar Deshe ( Kingdom of Diamonds ). The kingdom of the evil Diamond King, or Hirok Raj, is an allusion to India during Indira Gandhi 's emergency period . Along with his acclaimed short film Pikoo ( Pikoo's Diary ) and the hour-long Hindi film, Sadgati , this was the culmination of his work in this period. When E.T.

1424-512: A young wife who is deified by her father-in-law. Ray was worried that the Central Board of Film Certification might block his film, or at least make him re-cut it, but Devi was spared. Upon international distribution, the critic from Chicago Reader described the film as, "full of sensuality and ironic undertones". In 1961, on the insistence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru , Ray was commissioned to make Rabindranath Tagore , based on

1513-483: Is 1966's Nayak ( The Hero ), the story of a screen hero travelling in a train and meeting a young, sympathetic female journalist. Starring Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore , in the twenty-four hours of the journey, the film explores the inner conflict of the apparently highly successful matinée idol . Although the film received a "Critics Prize" at the Berlin International Film Festival , it had

1602-575: Is a nonstandard dialect cluster of Bengali spoken in most of Bangladesh and Tripura , thus covering majority of the land of Bengal and surrounding areas. It is also known as Baṅgālī ( Bengali : বঙ্গালী , romanized :  bôṅgalī ), Pūrvavaṅgīẏa ( Bengali : পূর্ববঙ্গীয় , romanized :  pūrbôbôṅgīẏô ), Prācya ( Bengali : প্রাচ্য , romanized :  prachyô ), Vaṅga ( Bengali : বঙ্গ , romanized :  bôṅgô ), or Vaṅgīẏa ( Bengali : বঙ্গীয় , romanized :  bôṅgīẏô ). Chatterji often cited

1691-638: Is a semi-autobiographical novel describing the maturation of Apu, a small boy in a Bengal village. Pather Panchali did not have a script; it was made from Ray's drawings and notes. Before principal photography began, he created a storyboard dealing with details and continuity. Years later, he donated those drawings and notes to Cinémathèque Française . Ray gathered an inexperienced crew, although both his cameraman Subrata Mitra and art director Bansi Chandragupta would go on to achieve great acclaim. The cast consisted of mostly amateur actors. After unsuccessful attempts to persuade many producers to finance

1780-490: Is absurd to compare it with any other Indian cinema [...] Pather Panchali is pure cinema". In the United Kingdom , Lindsay Anderson wrote a positive review of the film. However, the film also gained negative reactions; François Truffaut was reported to have said, "I don't want to see a movie of peasants eating with their hands". Bosley Crowther , then the most influential critic of The New York Times , criticised

1869-567: Is also a tendency to hypercorrect , leading to the frequent diphthongisation of vowels with [i̯] if they precede any consonant cluster , even when there is no etymological basis to do so. For example, ব্রাহ্ম ( ISO-15919 : brāhma , ' Brahmo ') has the Standard Bengali pronunciation of [bɾämɦo], or, more commonly, [bɾämːo], but may be pronounced [bɾäi̯mːɔ̝] in Eastern Bengali as if it were spelt ব্রাম্য ( ISO-15919 : brāmya ). The aspiration and breathy voice present in Standard Bengali

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1958-566: Is in decline due to the influence of Dhaka city, as the capital, welcoming migrants from all over the country who are not familiar with their regional culture. Some of the Dhakaiya kutti-Bengali community began to see the new migrant community as their opponents due to these dialectal and regional cultural differences. This division was the source of modern troubles in the identities of the Old Dhakaiyas (who view themselves as original inhabitants in

2047-515: Is like a prayer, affirming that this is what the cinema can be, no matter how far in our cynicism we may stray". Despite Ray's success, it had little influence on his personal life in the years to come. He continued to live with his wife and children in a rented house on Lake Avenue in South Calcutta, with his mother, uncle, and other members of his extended family. The home is currently owned by ISKCON . During this period, Ray made films about

2136-415: Is notably mostly if not entirely absent in Eastern Bengali. The West Bengali linguists Chatterji and Sen described the deaspirated voiced consonants present in Eastern Bengali as being implosive consonants , such that the Standard Bengali phonemes /bʱ/, /d̪ʱ/, /ɖʱ/, /dʒʱ/, and /ɡʱ/ would respectively correspond to / ɓ /, / ɗ̪ /, / ᶑ /, / ɗʒ /, and / ɠ / in Eastern Bengali. However, Animesh K. Pal,

2225-470: Is pronounced [räi̯kʰːɔ́ʃ] or [räi̯kːɔ́ʃ] in Eastern Bengali and [räkːʰoʃ] in Standard Bengali. Such is also the case for the conjunct জ্ঞ ( ISO-15919 : jña ), which had the value of [gːĩ̯] in earlier Bengali. Hence, আজ্ঞা ( ISO-15919 : ājñā , 'order'), with the earlier Bengali pronunciation of [ägːĩ̯ä], has the Typical East Bengali pronunciation of [äi̯gːa̟] and the Standard Bengali [ägːä̃]. There

2314-428: Is pronounced [ʃɔ̝i̯t̪ːo] in Eastern Bengali and [ʃot̪ːo] in Standard Bengali. Metathesis also occurs in the case of consonant conjuncts which were once pronounced with [i̯] as a component even if they do not contain ‍্য jôphôla itself, such as ক্ষ ( ISO-15919 : kṣa ), whose value in earlier Bengali was [kːʰi̯]. Hence রাক্ষস ( ISO-15919 : rākṣasa , ' rakshasa '), with the earlier Bengali pronunciation of [räkːʰi̯ɔʃ],

2403-657: Is seen as offensive in almost all Bengali dialects except in the Dhakaiya Kutti dialect this is a common and inoffensive word which can be applied to teachers, parents and animals. During the Mughal era , the Bengal Subah was famous for rice cultivation and the city of Jahangirnagar (now Dhaka) was the province's capital. Rice was a very important export product in the mid-eighteenth century, centred in Dhaka. The merchants who exported

2492-512: Is spoken across the Bangladeshi divisions Sylhet and Chittagong, including Greater Comilla and excluding Greater Noakhali, as well as the Barak Valley division of Assam. Gopal Haldar , in his study of Eastern Bengali, divided all East Bengali dialects into four groups. Group I or "Central East Bengali" spans the modern Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, Faridpur, and Barisal, as well as

2581-598: Is spoken across the Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh , Dhaka , and Barisal . Southwestern Vaṅga is spoken across the Khulna Division , where Eastern Bengali transitions into Central Standard Bengali . Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah divided all Bengali dialects into two groups: Prācya ( Bengali : প্রাচ্য , romanized :  prachyô , lit.   'eastern') and Pāścātya ( Bengali : পাশ্চাত্য , romanized :  pashchatyô , lit.   'western'). Within his Prācya grouping, he created

2670-609: Is spoken across the modern Bangladeshi division of Sylhet and the Greater Comilla region of Chittagong along with the Barak Valley Division of Assam and the state of Tripura in India. Southeastern Vaṅga is spoken in the remaining area of the Chittagong division, corresponding to the former colonial territories of Noakhali District and Chittagong District , and historically extended further into Sittwe . Western Vaṅga

2759-640: Is spoken in the eastern half of the Sylhet Division as well as the bordering Barak Valley division of Assam, India. Group IV or "South East Bengali" is spoken in the Chittagong Division, notably excluding the Greater Comilla region. The Comilla District and Tripura state of India, the Bengalis in the latter chiefly being migrants from the former, sit at the confluence of all the major groupings and thus

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2848-521: Is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors in the history of cinema . He is celebrated for works including The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959), The Music Room (1958), The Big City (1963) , Charulata (1964), and the Goopy–Bagha trilogy (1969–1992). Ray was born in Calcutta to author Sukumar Ray and Suprabha Ray. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray

2937-430: The 1956 Cannes Film Festival . This film, along with Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar ( The World of Apu ) (1959), form The Apu Trilogy . Ray did the scripting , casting , scoring , and editing for the movie and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. He also authored several short stories and novels, primarily for young children and teenagers. Popular characters created by Ray include Feluda

3026-515: The British Raj period, a documentary on Tagore , a comic film ( Mahapurush ), and his first film from an original screenplay ( Kanchenjungha ). He also made a series of films that, taken together, are considered by critics among the most deeply felt portrayals of Indian women on screen. Ray followed Apur Sansar with 1960's Devi ( The Goddess ), a film in which he examined the superstitions in society. Sharmila Tagore starred as Doyamoyee,

3115-508: The Calcutta Film Society in 1947. They screened many foreign films, many of which Ray watched and seriously studied, including several American and Russian films. The use of Indian music and dancing in the 1948 Indian film Kalpana ( transl.   Imagination ), directed by the celebrated dancer Uday Shankar , had an impact on Ray. In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das , his first cousin and long-time sweetheart. The couple had

3204-495: The colonisation of India by the British , it was Ray's first feature film in a language other than Bengali . It starred a high-profile cast including Sanjeev Kumar , Saeed Jaffrey , Amjad Khan , Shabana Azmi , Victor Bannerjee , and Richard Attenborough . Despite the film's limited budget, a The Washington Post critic gave it a positive review, writing, "He [Ray] possesses what many overindulged Hollywood filmmakers often lack:

3293-417: The 1970s, Ray adapted two of his popular stories as detective films. Although mainly aimed at children and young adults, both Sonar Kella ( The Golden Fortress ) and Joi Baba Felunath ( The Elephant God ) became cult favourites. In a 2019 review of Sonar Kella , critic Rouven Linnarz was impressed with its use of Indian classical instruments to generate "mysterious progression". Ray considered making

3382-498: The 8th greatest director of all time. Satyajit Ray's ancestry can be traced back for at least ten generations. His family had acquired the name " Ray ". Although they were Bengali Kayasthas , the Rays were " Vaishnavas " (worshippers of Vishnu ), as opposed to the majority of Bengali Kayasthas, who were " Shaktos " (worshippers of the Shakti or Shiva ). The earliest-recorded ancestor of

3471-453: The British and Indian employees of the firm. The British were better paid, and Ray felt that "the clients were generally stupid". In 1943, Ray started a second job for the Signet Press , a new publishing house started by D.K. Gupta. Gupta asked Ray to create book cover designs for the company and gave him complete artistic freedom. Ray established himself as a commercial illustrator, becoming

3560-635: The Forest ) follows four urban young men going to the forests for a vacation. They try to leave their daily lives behind, but one of them encounters women, and it becomes a deep study of the Indian middle class. First shown at the New York Film Festival in 1970, critic Pauline Kael wrote, "Satyajit Ray's films can give rise to a more complex feeling of happiness in me than the work of any other director [...] No artist has done more than Ray to make us reevaluate

3649-490: The Game (1939). However, the film that had the most profound effect on him was the neorealist film Ladri di biciclette ( Bicycle Thieves ) (1948) by Vittorio De Sica . Ray later said that he walked out of the theatre determined to become a filmmaker. After being "deeply moved" by Pather Panchali , the 1928 classic Bildungsroman of Bengali literature , Ray decided to adapt it for his first film. Pather Panchali

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3738-424: The Indian government to incorporate a happy ending, but he did receive funding that allowed him to complete the film. Monroe Wheeler , head of the department of exhibitions and publications at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), heard about the project when he visited Calcutta in 1954. He considered the incomplete footage to be of high quality and encouraged Ray to finish the film so that it could be shown at

3827-562: The Ray family was Ramsunder Deo (Deb), born in the middle of the sixteenth century. He was a native of Chakdah village in the Nadia district of present-day West Bengal , India , and migrated to Sherpur in East Bengal . He became son-in-law of the ruler of Jashodal (in the present day Kishoreganj District of Bangladesh ) and was granted a jagir (a feudal land grant). His descendants migrated to

3916-401: The art course in 1942, as he could not feel inspired to become a painter. In 1943, Ray started working at D.J. Keymer, a British advertising agency, as a junior visualiser. Here he was trained in Indian commercial art under artist Annada Munshi , the then-Art Director of D.J. Keymer. Although he liked visual design (graphic design) and he was mostly treated well, there was tension between

4005-401: The case of consonant conjuncts containing ‍্য jôphôla , due to the fact that it had, in earlier Bengali, also represented the addition of the semivowel [i̯] at the end of a conjunct containing it in addition to its current standard usage of simply geminating the previous consonant in the conjunct. সত্য ( ISO-15919 : satya , 'truth'), for example, pronounced [ʃɔt̪ːi̯ɔ] in earlier Bengali,

4094-454: The children's magazine which his grandfather had founded. Ray had been saving money for some years to make this possible. A duality in the name ( Sandesh means both "news" in Bengali and also a sweet popular dessert) set the tone of the magazine (both educational and entertaining). Ray began to make illustrations for it, as well as to write stories and essays for children. Writing eventually became

4183-533: The city) and the post-partition migrant community (who currently form the majority in the city). There has been literature written in the Dhakaiya Kutti Bengali. One popular poem is "Channi-poshor Raiter Lour" (চান্নিপশর রাইতের লৌড়) by Jewel Mazhar. Dhakaiya Kutti natoks are popular throughout the country and even the Indian Bengali filmmaker, Satyajit Ray , has written dialogues in this dialect. The Kutti-Bengali folk of Dhaka are renowned for "Kutti Jokes" and

4272-530: The comic Parash Pathar ( The Philosopher's Stone ), and Jalsaghar ( The Music Room ), a film about the decadence of the Zamindars , considered one of his most important works. Time Out magazine gave Jalsaghar a positive review, describing it as "slow, rapt and hypnotic". While making Aparajito , Ray had not planned a trilogy, but after he was asked about the idea in Venice, it appealed to him. He finished

4361-723: The commonplace". Writing for the BBC in 2002, Jamie Russell complimented the script, pacing, and mixture of emotions. According to one critic, Robin Wood , "a single sequence [of the film] ... would offer material for a short essay". After Aranyer Din Ratri , Ray addressed contemporary Bengali life. He completed what became known as the Calcutta trilogy: Pratidwandi (1970), Seemabaddha (1971), and Jana Aranya (1975), three films that were conceived separately but had similar themes. The trilogy focuses on repression, with male protagonists encountering

4450-605: The contrast between Eastern Bengali varieties and the standard language in terms of grammar by use of the example phrases "I have eaten" ( খেয়েছি kheẏechhi in Standard Bengali but খাইছি khaisi in Typical East Bengali) and "I have gone" ( গিয়েছি giẏechhi in Standard Bengali but গেছি gesi in Typical East Bengali). A similar name, Khaitesi-Zaitesi Bangla ( Bengali : খাইতেছি-যাইতেছি বাংলা , romanized :  khaitesi-zaitesi baṅla , lit.   'I'm eating-I'm going Bengali'), instead juxtaposes

4539-507: The corruption of three of his sons. The final scene shows the father finding solace only in the companionship of his fourth son, who is uncorrupted but mentally ill due to a head injury sustained while he was studying in England. Ray's last film, Agantuk ( The Stranger ), is lighter in mood but not in theme; when a long-lost uncle arrives to visit his niece in Calcutta, he arouses suspicion as to his motive. It provokes far-ranging questions in

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4628-507: The cover and illustrated the book and was deeply influenced by the work. He used it as the subject of his first film and featured his illustrations as shots in it. Ray befriended the American soldiers stationed in Calcutta during World War II , who kept him informed about the latest American films showing in the city. He came to know an RAF employee, Norman Clare, who shared Ray's passion for films, chess , and Western classical music. Ray

4717-714: The dialect's humorous aspect in general; generally consisting of short stories in which Dhakaiyas mess around with the bhadralok gentry. It is considered to be one of the wittiest among Bengali dialects . Generally referred to as "Dhakaiya" folk, they call outsiders or non-Dhakaite Bengalis by the name "Gaiya" (গাঁইয়া), meaning from the village , and Kolkatans in particular as Demchi (ডেমচি). Eastern Bengali Barisal Division , Chittagong Division , Dhaka Division , Mymensingh Division , Khulna Division , Sylhet Division Eastern Bengali , Baṅgālī ( Bengali : বঙ্গালী , romanized :  bôṅgalī ) or Vaṅga ( Bengali : বঙ্গ , romanized :  bôṅgô )

4806-618: The district of Chandpur in Chittagong Division. The de facto Standard East Bengali spoken around the Bikrampur region is a member of this group, comparable to Chatterji's "Typical East Bengali". Group II or "Central North East Bengali" is spoken in eastern areas of the Mymensingh and Dhaka divisions, the western half of the Sylhet Division, as well as the Brahmanbaria District of the Chittagong Division. Group III or "North East Bengali"

4895-572: The divisions of "Southeastern" and "Extreme Eastern", which approximately correspond to Chatterji's "Western and Southwestern Vaṅga" and "Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga", respectively. The Southeastern group is spoken across the modern Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, Barisal, and Khulna, as well as the Greater Noakhali region of the Chittagong division and eastern parts of the 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. The Extreme Eastern group

4984-414: The equivalent of Sādhu Bhāṣā করিয়া ( ISO-15919 : kariẏā ) 'having done' in Typical East Bengali is [kɔ̝i̯ɾa̟], having gone through the medial phase of *[kɔi̯ɾiä]; by comparison, the Standard Bengali equivalent is [kore], as the standard language has undergone the additional phonological processes of syncope and umlaut , unlike most Eastern Bengali dialects. Similar occurrences of metathesis occur in

5073-722: The eternal struggle between the ambitions of a young man, Apu, and the mother who loves him. Upon release, Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival , bringing Ray considerable acclaim. In a retrospective review, Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle praised Ray for his ability to capture emotions and blend music with storytelling to create a "flawless" picture. Critics such as Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak rank it higher than Ray's first film. Ray directed and released two other films in 1958:

5162-431: The examples of "I am eating" ( খাচ্ছি khacchhi in Standard Bengali but খাইতেছি khaitesi in Typical East Bengali) and "I am going" ( যাচ্ছি jacchhi in Standard Bengali but যাইতেছি zaitesi in Typical East Bengali). Suniti Kumar Chatterji , describing the cluster as "Vaṅga Dialects", further divided it into two groups of two: "Western and Southwestern Vaṅga" and "Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga". Eastern Vaṅga

5251-487: The famous Indian painters Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee . He later produced a documentary, The Inner Eye , about Mukherjee. His visits to the cave temples of Ajanta , Ellora , and Elephanta stimulated his admiration for Indian art . Three books that he read in the university influenced him to become a serious student of film-making: Paul Rotha 's The Film Till Now and two books on theory by Rudolf Arnheim and Raymond Spottiswoode . Ray dropped out of

5340-578: The fee appropriated by Mike Wilson. Wilson had initially approached Ray through their mutual friend, author Arthur C. Clarke , to represent him in Hollywood . Wilson copyrighted the script, credited to Mike Wilson & Satyajit Ray , although he contributed only one word. Ray later said that he never received compensation for the script. After Brando dropped out of the project, the producers tried to replace him with James Coburn , but Ray became disillusioned and returned to Calcutta. Columbia attempted to revive

5429-605: The film a mixed review; he praised Ray's "soft and relaxed" filmmaking but thought the characters were clichés. In 1964, Ray directed Charulata ( The Lonely Wife ). One of Ray's favourite films, it was regarded by many critics as his most accomplished. Based on Tagore's short story, Nastanirh ( Broken Nest ), the film tells of a lonely wife, Charu, in 19th-century Bengal, and her growing feelings for her brother-in-law Amal. In retrospective reviews, The Guardian called it "extraordinarily vivid and fresh", while The Sydney Morning Herald praised Madhabi Mukherjee 's casting,

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5518-408: The film about civilisation . Critic Hal Hinson was impressed, and thought Agantuk shows "all the virtues of a master artist in full maturity". A heavy smoker but non-drinker, Ray valued work more than anything else. He would work 12 hours a day, and go to bed at two o'clock in the morning. He also enjoyed collecting antiques, manuscripts, rare gramophone records, paintings, and rare books. He

5607-449: The film did receive some acclaim; critic Vincent Canby gave the film a maximum rating of five stars and praised the performances of the three lead actors. It also featured the first kiss scene portrayed in Ray's films. In 1987, Ray recovered to an extent to direct the 1990 film Shakha Proshakha ( Branches of the Tree ). It depicts an old man, who has lived a life of honesty, and learns of

5696-459: The film in a large mansion, but later decided to film it in the famous town. He used many shades of light and mist to reflect the tension in the drama. Ray noted that while his script allowed shooting to be possible under any lighting conditions, a commercial film crew in Darjeeling failed to shoot a single scene, as they only wanted to do so in sunshine. The New York Times ' Bosley Crowther gave

5785-520: The film was also difficult to finance. Ray abandoned his desire to shoot it in colour, as he turned down an offer that would have forced him to cast a certain Hindi film actor as the lead. He also composed the songs and music for the film. Next, Ray directed the film adaptation of a novel by the poet and writer, Sunil Gangopadhyay . Featuring a musical motif structure acclaimed as more complex than Charulata , Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) ( Days and Nights in

5874-550: The film's loose structure and conceded that it "takes patience to be enjoyed". Edward Harrison, an American distributor, was worried that Crowther's review would dissuade audiences, but the film enjoyed an eight months theatrical run in the United States. Ray's international career started in earnest after the success of his next film, the second in The Apu Trilogy , Aparajito (1956) ( The Unvanquished ). This film depicts

5963-669: The film's visual style, and its camera movements. Ray said the film contained the fewest flaws among his work and it was his only work which, given a chance, he would make exactly the same way. At the 15th Berlin International Film Festival , Charulata earned him a Silver Bear for Best Director . Other films in this period include Mahanagar ( The Big City ), Teen Kanya ( Three Daughters ), Abhijan ( The Expedition ), Kapurush ( The Coward ) and Mahapurush ( Holy Man ). The first of these, Mahanagar , drew praise from British critics; Philip French opined that it

6052-518: The forbidden. Pratidwandi ( The Adversary ) is about an idealist young graduate; while disillusioned by the end of film, he is still uncorrupted. Seemabaddha ( Company Limited ) portrays a successful man giving up his morality for further gains. Jana Aranya ( The Middleman ) depicts a young man giving in to the culture of corruption to earn a living. In the first film, Pratidwandi , Ray introduces new narrative techniques , such as scenes in negative, dream sequences , and abrupt flashbacks. Also in

6141-453: The last of the trilogy, Apur Sansar ( The World of Apu ) in 1959. Ray introduced two of his favourite actors, Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore , in this film. It opens with Apu living in a Calcutta house in near-poverty; he becomes involved in an unusual marriage with Aparna. The scenes of their life together form "one of the cinema's classic affirmative depictions of married life". Critics Robin Wood and Aparna Sen thought it

6230-517: The mass migration of non-Dhakaiya Bengalis from districts all over Bengal during the first and second partitions during the British colonial period. The new educated migrant community (now also commonly known as "Dhakaiyas" with the former now being referred to as "Old Dhakaiyas") spoke in Standard Bengali ( Bengali : শুদ্ধ বাংলা , romanized :  Shuddho Bangla ), a standardised dialect of Bengali. The culture of Kuttis of Old Dhaka

6319-547: The migrated North Indian Urdu-speaking people in Old Dhaka led to birth of the Urdu influenced Kutti Bengali dialect. The Bais panchayets of Old Dhaka in the twentieth-century used to converse in either Dhakaiya Urdu or Dhakaiya Kutti Bengali. Eventually, the common people living in the localities of Old Dhaka, Kutti or not, used to speak in this dialect. Presently, the speakers of Kutti dialect are minority in Old Dhaka following

6408-406: The poet of the same name , on the occasion of his birth centennial, a tribute to the person who likely most influenced Ray. Due to limited footage of Tagore, Ray was challenged by the necessity of making the film mainly with static material. He said that it took as much work as three feature films. In the same year, together with Subhas Mukhopadhyay and others, Ray was able to revive Sandesh ,

6497-400: The project, Ray started shooting in late 1952 with his personal savings and hoped to raise more money once he had some footage shot, but did not succeed on his terms. As a result, Ray shot Pather Panchali over two and a half years, an unusually long period. He refused funding from sources who wanted to change the script or exercise supervision over production. He also ignored advice from

6586-522: The project, without success, in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1969, Ray directed one of his most commercially successful films, a musical fantasy based on a children's story written by his grandfather, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne ( The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha ). It is about the journey of Goopy the singer and Bagha the drummer, endowed with three gifts by the King of Ghosts to stop an impending war between two neighbouring kingdoms. One of his most expensive projects,

6675-543: The rice were predominantly of Marwari and Central Indian descent. These merchants would go to different areas in Eastern Bengal and collect the rice. The rice was first needed to be cleaned up using dhekis before packaging, and this process is called kuta (কুটা) in Bengali . Many local Bengali rice cultivators were employed to do this. They would come from various parts of Bengal to Dhaka to complete this job, and as it

6764-442: The sake of contrast. Furthermore, the [ɦ] of Standard Bengali is most often deleted in Eastern Bengali dialects. This h-dropping has also been said to result in tone. Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray ( Bengali pronunciation: [ˈʃotːodʒit ˈrae̯] ; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor , illustrator, calligrapher , and composer. Ray

6853-445: The sleuth, Professor Shonku the scientist, Tarini Khuro the storyteller, and Lalmohan Ganguly the novelist. Ray received many major awards in his career, including a record thirty-seven Indian National Film Awards which includes Dadasaheb Phalke Award , a Golden Lion , a Golden Bear , two Silver Bears , many additional awards at international film festivals and ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. In 1978, he

6942-611: The speech of this region shares features with all the major groups classified by Haldar. Transitionary East Bengali is spoken in the Khulna division as well as Western Greater Faridpur i.e. Rajbari District , which shares features with both Standard Bengali and Eastern Bengali dialects. Eastern Bengali is characterised by a considerably smaller phoneme inventory when compared with Standard Bengali . Eastern Bengali notably preserves metathesis ( Bengali : অপিনিহিতি , romanized :  ôpinihiti ) from an earlier stage of Bengali. Thus,

7031-536: The village Masua in Katiadi Upazila of Kishoreganj in the first half of eighteenth century. Satyajit Ray's grandfather Upendrakishore Ray was born in Masua village, Kishorganj, in 1863. Upendrakishore's elder brother Saradaranjan Ray was one of the pioneers of Indian cricket and was called the W.G. Grace of India. Upendrakishore Ray was a writer, illustrator, philosopher , publisher, amateur astronomer , and

7120-481: Was a major achievement to mark the end of the trilogy. After Apur Sansar was harshly criticised by a Bengali critic, Ray wrote an article defending it. He rarely responded to critics during his filmmaking career, but also later defended his film Charulata , his personal favourite. American critic Roger Ebert summarised the trilogy as, "It is about a time, place and culture far removed from our own, and yet it connects directly and deeply with our human feelings. It

7209-434: Was a regular in the addas (freestyle casual conversations) at Coffee House , where several intellectuals frequented. He formed lasting associations with some of his compatriots there, such as Bansi Chandragupta (celebrated art director ), Kamal Kumar Majumdar ( polymath and author of stylish prose), Radha Prasad Gupta , and Chidananda Das Gupta ( film critic ). Along with Chidananda Dasgupta and others, Ray founded

7298-550: Was an atheist . In 1992, Ray's health deteriorated due to heart complications. He was admitted to a hospital but never recovered. Twenty-four days before his death, Ray was presented with an Honorary Academy Award by Audrey Hepburn via video-link; he was in gravely ill condition, but gave an acceptance speech, calling it the "best achievement of [my] movie-making career". He died on 23 April 1992, at age 70. Ray created two popular fictional characters in Bengali children's literature—Pradosh Chandra Mitter (Mitra), alias Feluda ,

7387-559: Was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University . The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna , its highest civilian award, in 1992. On the occasion of the birth centenary of Ray, the International Film Festival of India , in recognition of the auteur 's legacy, rechristened in 2021 its annual Lifetime Achievement award to the " Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award ". In April 2024, Forbes ranked Ray as

7476-561: Was circulating in Hollywood". (Spielberg actually graduated high school in 1965 and released his first film in 1968). Besides The Alien , two other unrealised projects that Ray had intended to direct were adaptations of the ancient Indian epic , the Mahābhārata , and E. M. Forster 's 1924 novel A Passage to India . In 1983, while working on Ghare Baire ( Home and the World ), Ray suffered

7565-411: Was drawn into independent film-making after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica 's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948) during a visit to London. Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries, and shorts . Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at

7654-429: Was his aunt. Satyajit Ray was born to Sukumar Ray and Suprabha Ray ( née  Das Gupta ) in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Sukumar Ray died when Satyajit was two years old. Ray grew up in the house of his grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury , and of his printing press . He was attracted by the machines and process of printing from an early age and took particular interest in the production process of Sandesh ,

7743-787: Was long and tiring to get there and do the job, many of them started living in Dhaka. This migration took place circa 1760. However, not all were involved in the rice trade. The presence of the Mughals in Dhaka meant that there was generally a lot more employment opportunities there and so they took other occupations such as khansamahs , footsoldiers, guards, chefs and chauffeurs for the Dhakaiya Urdu -speaking Nawabs of Dhaka and other aristocratic families. These groups of people lived together and engaged in conversations and addas with their Hindustani counterparts and their main occupation led them to be known as kuttis . The interactions of Bengalis with

7832-484: Was one of Ray's best. Also in the 1960s, Ray visited Japan and took pleasure in meeting filmmaker Akira Kurosawa , whom he highly regarded. In the post- Charulata period, Ray took on various projects, from fantasy , science fiction , and detective stories to historical dramas . Ray also experimented during this period, exploring contemporary issues of Indian life in response to the perceived lack of these issues in his films. The first major film in this period

7921-403: Was released in 1982, Clarke and Ray saw similarities in the film to his earlier The Alien script; Ray claimed that E.T. plagiarised his script. Ray said that Steven Spielberg 's film "would not have been possible without my script of ' The Alien ' being available throughout America in mimeographed copies". Spielberg denied any plagiarism by saying, "I was a kid in high school when this script

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