Satyajit Ray Honoured At Kolkata International Film Festival

On Tuesday, the Kolkata International Film Festival opened an exhibition commemorating Satyajit Ray's 100th birthday. With rare frames of masterpieces like "Aranyer Din Ratri," "Kapurush O Mahapurush," and "Devi," the exhibition was opened by his son Sandip Ray.

Also on display at the Nandan film center is Ray's synthesiser and the Mitchel camera he used in the making of “Pather Panchali”, which he used to compose the soundtrack for.

The illustrator and graphic designer Ray was able to secure a spot in the exhibition to present his ads, book covers, and small magazines. "A well-thought-out and done exhibition on my father's life is on display. Even though we and Ray Society have contributed a large number of exhibits (including images), I was pleasantly pleased to discover a number of artifacts that I hadn't previously been aware of!” Sandip Ray commented.

Also read: "Satyajit Ray's Calcutta Trilogy: Sketching the City as a Character"

Painter Suvaprasanna came up with the concept for the show, while curator Sudeshna Roy is a filmmaker. "Things's great that it worked out this way. The Rays were a tremendous asset, "Roy made a statement. At the exhibition's opening, filmmaker Goutam Ghosh talked about his experiences making Ray, a documentary about the maestro. In an interview, Ghosh said, "I have great memories of working with Manikda (as Ray was fondly called by his friends)," referring to Ray's pals.

It was a dream come true for Shoojit Sircar, director of the film, to stand next to the Mitchell camera that director Nicholas Ray used in the '50s. The Gaganendra Pradarshansala also hosted exhibitions on Miklos Jansco, a Hungarian filmmaker, and Chidananda Dasgupta, a film historian and critic. The celebration, which began on Monday, will last through the first of May.