On the occasion of commemoration of Satyajit Ray’s birth centenary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has initiated various activities across its different Media units to pay tributes to the legendary director. Films Division’s Mahadev Road Auditorium, New Delhi is having a three day film festival, which started from 2 May. The festival will showcase films made by and made on Satyajit Ray. The audiences will be appreciating a slate of films that celebrate Ray’s life and also they will get to experience his celebrated films on big screens.
The film festival was inaugurated by the well-known Hindi writer, Shri Pankaj Bisht and Smt. Neerja Shekhar, additional secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, presided over the opening ceremony. Pleased with the enthusiasm of the attendees Smt. Shekhar said, “the ministry feels great pleasure in celebrating Satyajit Ray’s birth centenary, the pandemic kept the Ray lovers from the excitement of a physical celebrations and finally there are festivals and events round the country and people are watching the maestor’s art work all over again. In future too ministry plans to arrange shows of Indian films of importance to the viewers.”
Shri Pankaj Bisht said, ”During the ’80s and ’90s Satyajit Ray was a name, nobody could miss, he was a phenomemon”. He spoke about the quality of understatement in Ray’s cinema citing the scene from ‘Pather Panchali’s Sarbojaya enacting a muted expression when Harihar’s communicates the news of the elder child -Durga’s death.
The opening film ‘Agantuk’, which was released in 1991, was seen by the capacity viewers and the subtle drama and humour was liked by them.
The films to be screened during these celebrations include NFDC’s ‘Ghare Baire’ (1984), ‘Ganashatru’ (1989) and ‘Agantuk’ (1991), directed by Satyajit Ray and ‘Music Of Satyajit Ray’ (1984), directed by Utpalendu Chakraborty, ‘Nemai Ghosh: A Ray Of Light’ (2018), directed by Anirban Mitra and Tirtho Dasgupta. It also includes Films Divisions documentaries and shorts as ‘The Inner Eye’ (1972), ‘Rabindranath Tagore’ (1961), directed by Satyajit Ray, ‘Satyajit Ray’ (1982), directed by Shyam Benegal, ‘Creative Artists Of India: Satyajit Ray’ (1964), directed by B.D. Garga.
Government of West Bengal’s ‘Pather Panchali’ (1955) print from the Academy Film Archive’s landmark restoration of the film from negatives nearly lost in a fire is screening is the closing film. The highlight of the celebrations are newly restored versions of films ‘Seemabaddha’ (1971), ‘Sonar Kella’ (1974), ‘Hirak Rajar Deshe’ (1980), directed all by Satyajit Ray, these films are restored by National Film Archives of India, Pune a film media unit of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
