60 Fun Facts About Satyajit Ray

Ganashatru (1989), Ray's film about a doctor at war with his town's leaders, is his version of which Ibsen play?

An Enemy of the People moves to a Bengal town where the doctor traces an epidemic to a temple's holy water; the men who profit from its pilgrims wreck his public meeting and turn the crowd on him.

Ray's father Sukumar Ray was famous in Bengal as a pioneering writer of what?

Nonsense rhyme for children made his Abol Tabol a Bengali classic; he died when Satyajit was two, and in 1987 the son filmed a documentary tribute for his father's birth centenary.

What was the name of the family children's magazine, founded in 1913, that Ray revived in 1961?

Sandesh stayed in Ray's hands for life: he edited it until his death in 1992, drew and wrote for it, and invented his detective Feluda for its young readers.

In which town did Satyajit Ray study fine art from 1940, at the university founded by the poet of Gitanjali?

Santiniketan was his mother's idea and Ray went reluctantly; yet his teacher there, the painter Benode Behari Mukherjee, marked him so deeply that Ray filmed a documentary about him 30 years later.

What subject did Ray complete his bachelor's degree in at Presidency College, Calcutta?

Economics was the degree, but Ray wanted no more study: at 18 he meant to work as a commercial artist, until his mother, thinking him too young for a job, pressed him to go to art school.

In 1943 Ray started as a junior visualiser at D.J. Keymer, which was what kind of business?

A British advertising agency employed Ray for 13 years: it sent him to its London office in 1950, and he left only when the success of Pather Panchali let him make films full time.

Who wrote the novel Pather Panchali, which Satyajit Ray adapted as his first film?

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's novel reached Ray as a commission: he illustrated an abridged edition in 1944, and the job set him thinking about the book as a film.

Which French director, visiting Calcutta in 1949 for his film The River, encouraged Ray to film Pather Panchali?

Jean Renoir needed locations for The River, and Ray spent weekends helping him scout the countryside; asked whether he meant to make films himself, Ray outlined Pather Panchali.

Which Italian neorealist film, seen in London in 1950, made Ray determined to become a filmmaker?

Bicycle Thieves, one of about a hundred films Ray saw on that business trip, convinced him a feature could be shot on real locations with amateur actors, the method he then used for Pather Panchali.

Which organisation did Ray found in 1947 with Chidananda Dasgupta to study foreign films?

The Calcutta Film Society was Ray's film school: he studied the foreign films it screened and, for practice, wrote his own screenplays of stories being filmed, then compared them with what reached the screen.

Besides being sweethearts, what was Ray's relationship to Bijoya Das before their marriage?

They were first cousins who lived under one roof in their uncle's Calcutta house in their youth; a shared taste for films and music drew them together.

What was pawned to keep Pather Panchali shooting when its first producer could pay no more?

Ray's wife's jewellery was not enough: he had already borrowed against his life insurance, and once the funds were gone the shoot stood still for almost a year.

Which American director saw unfinished Pather Panchali footage in India and hailed 'a great film-maker'?

John Huston was in India scouting locations for The Man Who Would Be King, which he did not get to film until 1975; shown a silent rough cut of about 20 minutes, he sent back a rave report.

Who finally provided the loan that allowed Ray to complete Pather Panchali?

The West Bengal government mistook the film for a documentary and filed its loan under roads, a nod to a title that means Song of the Little Road.

Who composed the score for Pather Panchali and the rest of the Apu Trilogy?

Ravi Shankar, squeezed by a touring schedule, saw only about half of Pather Panchali and then recorded most of its score in a single overnight session of about eleven hours.

What is the name of Apu's elder sister in Pather Panchali?

Durga steals fruit for old Indir and looks after her little brother; she catches a fever after playing in a monsoon downpour and dies, the loss that drives the family from the village.

Which award did Pather Panchali win at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival?

Best Human Document came despite a thinly attended Cannes screening: the critics who did see the film championed it, and the award opened Western cinemas to it.

Which French New Wave director reportedly dismissed Pather Panchali as a film of 'peasants eating with their hands'?

François Truffaut's reported jibe was not the only doubt: the New York Times critic Bosley Crowther found the film loosely built and a test of patience, yet it ran for eight months at one New York cinema.

Aparajito (1956), the second Apu film, won the top prize at which festival?

Venice gave Aparajito the Golden Lion in 1957, and a question put to Ray there about a third film prompted him to round the story off as a trilogy.

In Apur Sansar, how does Apu come to marry Aparna?

He replaces a groom found insane on the wedding day: the villagers believe the bride must marry within the auspicious hour or never, so Apu, there only as a guest, agrees out of sympathy.

Which two actors, later Ray regulars, made their debuts in Apur Sansar?

Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore were a radio announcer and a 14-year-old with no acting experience; Ray had to shout instructions to her during takes, yet both became stars.

In Ray's Mahanagar (1963), what job does the housewife Arati take, against her in-laws' wishes?

Door-to-door saleswoman Arati thrives at the work and becomes the family's only earner when her husband loses his bank job, then resigns in protest when a colleague is unjustly sacked.

Jalsaghar (The Music Room, 1958) is about the decline of which class of Bengali society?

The zamindars (landlords) are embodied in Biswambhar Roy, who squanders his dwindling fortune on concerts in his music room rather than be outdone by his neighbour.

Which sitar maestro composed the music for Ray's Jalsaghar (1958)?

Ustad Vilayat Khan was one of three classical maestros Ray hired in his first years; finding their loyalty lay with the music rather than the film, he began composing his own scores in 1961.

In Ray's 1960 film set in rural Bengal, a father-in-law comes to treat his young daughter-in-law as what?

A goddess is what the title, Devi, means and what he sees in her after a dream of Kali: he has her worshipped, and her sick little nephew, left in her care instead of a doctor's, dies.

Which of Ray's shorter films did the Indian government ban in 1975 and release from the ban only in 2010?

Sikkim was commissioned by the Himalayan kingdom's own king, who then made Ray drop shots he disliked; when the kingdom merged with India in 1975, the Indian government banned the film.

Ray's first colour film, Kanchenjungha (1962), is set during one afternoon in which hill town?

Darjeeling's weather is part of the plot: Ray scripted the afternoon to run from sunlight through cloud and mist to a clear view of the peak, with the family's quarrels timed to the changing light.

Satyajit Ray's Charulata (1964) is based on the story Nastanirh by which author?

Rabindranath Tagore's story Nastanirh (The Broken Nest) tells of a neglected wife who falls for her husband's young cousin; Ray called Charulata the one film he would make the same way again.

Charulata earned Ray which prize at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival?

Silver Bear for Best Director went to a film that opens almost without words: the lonely Charu drifts from window to window, watching the street through opera glasses.

Nayak (1966), starring Uttam Kumar as a matinée idol confiding in a journalist, takes place mostly on what?

A train carries the star overnight from Calcutta to Delhi to collect an award; a young journalist coaxes out his fears and regrets, then tears up her notes to protect his image.

Which British comic actor did Ray approach to play an Indian businessman in his unmade sci-fi film The Alien?

Peter Sellers met Ray over lunch in Paris in April 1967 and was keen; Ray wanted a big name to attract Hollywood finance, and Sellers had already played an Indian in The Millionairess.

Which science-fiction author encouraged Ray to take his script The Alien to Hollywood?

Arthur C. Clarke was also the link to Mike Wilson, who acted for Ray in Hollywood, then copyrighted the script as its co-writer and took the studio's fee, though he had contributed almost nothing to it.

Which director's 1982 blockbuster did Ray say would not have been possible without his script for The Alien?

Steven Spielberg, whose E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Ray meant, retorted that he was a kid in high school when the script went round Hollywood; in fact he had finished high school two years before Ray took it there in 1967.

Ray's Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969) was based on a children's story written by whom?

His grandfather Upendrakishore published the tale of the two hapless musicians in 1915; Ray wrote the songs for the film himself, and it became one of the biggest hits of his career.

In Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, who grants the two heroes their three boons?

The King of Ghosts is charmed by the very music that got both men banished from their homes; his boons bring food and clothes, instant travel and the power to hold any audience spellbound.

Why is Ray's Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne in black and white until its final scene?

His backers' money ran short of full colour, so Ray shot in black and white and saved colour for the ending; the film still became one of the biggest commercial hits of his career.

The evil king in Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980) alludes to India during what period?

The Emergency of 1975 to 1977 is echoed in the film's great clean-up, when the poor are driven out of sight; Ray said the scene directly reflected what had happened in Delhi and other cities.

Which three films make up Ray's 'Calcutta trilogy' of the 1970s?

Pratidwandi, Seemabaddha and Jana Aranya each follow a man chasing work or promotion in 1970s Calcutta: the first stays honest, the second trades his morals for advancement, the third gives in to corruption.

What is the real name of Feluda, the fictional detective Ray introduced in 1965?

Pradosh Chandra Mitter was given a Watson of his own: Ray had the detective's teenage cousin, Topshe, narrate the cases.

In Ray's Feluda stories, the detective's companion Jatayu is a writer of what?

Popular thrillers, cheap ones by Ray's own account, are Jatayu's trade: Ray brought the writer in as a foil to Feluda, there to supply the humour.

Ray's Professor Shonku has a pet cat named after which scientist?

Isaac Newton lends his name to the cat of a professor Ray modelled on Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger; the stories are framed as a diary found after Shonku vanished.

Ray's first non-Bengali feature, Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977), was based on a story by which writer?

Munshi Premchand's short story sets two noblemen's obsessive chess games beside a bigger game being played around them: the British takeover of their kingdom, Oudh, in 1856.

Which British actor-director appeared in Ray's The Chess Players?

Richard Attenborough plays General Outram, the British Resident sent to take over the kingdom of Oudh, who is troubled by the illegal means he must use yet feels bound by his duty.

Ray had a heart attack in 1983 while filming which adaptation of a novel about fervent nationalism?

Ghare Baire was a script Ray first drafted in the 1940s for a film that was never made; after his heart attack, his son Sandip helped him complete this second attempt.

What was Ray's last film, released in 1991, about a long-lost uncle whose visit to his niece arouses suspicion?

Agantuk means The Stranger: the uncle says he is an anthropologist back from 35 years of travel, and the family's doubts about him grow into an argument over what civilisation is.

Which star presented Satyajit Ray with his Honorary Academy Award via video link in 1992?

Audrey Hepburn announced the award at the Oscar ceremony while Ray, gravely ill, accepted it on screen from his hospital bed in Calcutta; he died 24 days later.

Which honour did India confer on Ray in 1992, shortly before his death?

The Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, came in his final months, as Ray, gravely ill, accepted an honorary Oscar by satellite from his Calcutta sickbed; he died that April.

Which lighting technique is Ray's cinematographer Subrata Mitra credited with developing?

Bounce lighting, lamps reflected off cloth to mimic soft daylight on a studio set, was Mitra's answer to the hard studio lighting of the day; Ray praised the result as truthful, unobtrusive and modern.

Who was Chunibala Devi, whom Ray cast as the aged Indir in Pather Panchali?

A retired stage actress of about 80, she was coaxed back to work for the part; Ray called it a miracle that she lived through the stop-start shoot, and a festival in Manila later named her best actress.

Which of Ray's designs won an international competition in 1971?

Two typefaces, Ray Roman and Ray Bizarre, took the prize; Ray drew four Roman-alphabet faces in all and designed the credit titles and publicity posters of his own films.

Which Japanese director said not seeing Ray's films 'means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon'?

Akira Kurosawa also answered critics who found Ray's films slow: he likened them to a big river, flowing with serenity and nobility.

Which American director borrowed music from Satyajit Ray's film scores for a 2007 film set in India?

Wes Anderson said Ray's films were the reason he went to India in the first place; the borrowed scores accompany three American brothers on a journey across the country.

Satyajit Ray wrote the score for Shakespeare Wallah (1965), an early film by which film-making duo?

Merchant and Ivory leaned on Ray from the start: he re-cut their first feature, The Householder, and his own cameraman, Subrata Mitra, shot it.

What was the title of Ray's 1976 English-language collection of essays on cinema?

Our Films, Their Films is split as its title says: first Ray's articles on Indian cinema and his own craft, then pieces on foreign film-makers, all written over more than twenty years from 1948.

Ray's 1972 documentary on his art teacher Benode Behari Mukherjee shows the painter still working after what?

Losing his sight after a failed cataract operation did not stop him: the film ends with the blind painter still making art, and Ray called it The Inner Eye.

Which French award, granted to Ray in 1987, was presented to him in person by President Mitterrand?

The Legion of Honour came to him: Mitterrand travelled to Calcutta and presented the insignia of a Commander of the order at the National Library on 2 February 1989, then embraced him.

Which Salman Rushdie novel names two characters after Ray's Goopy and Bagha?

Haroun and the Sea of Stories, the children's book Rushdie wrote while in hiding from Khomeini's death sentence, gives the names to two fish who join its boy hero on his quest.

Which MP and former actress accused Ray in the early 1980s of showing India's poverty abroad?

Nargis Dutt, the star of Mother India, said that if Ray showed Indian poverty abroad he should also show what she called Modern India.

Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) adapted a novel by which Bengali poet and writer?

Sunil Gangopadhyay's novel sends four cocksure city friends on a forest holiday in Palamau, where they bribe their way into a rest house and are taken down a peg by the women they meet.

Which New York institution's exhibitions chief, Monroe Wheeler, urged Ray to finish Pather Panchali in 1954?

The Museum of Modern Art gave the film its world premiere in May 1955, before it had opened in India; to meet the date Ray and his editor worked ten days and nights, and the print went off without subtitles.