If there is one filmmaker who played a big role in putting India on the global cinematic map then it has to be Satyajit Ray. The Kolkata-born filmmaker’s works continue to inspire a number of budding and established filmmakers even today.
Today, i.e. on May 2, marks his 100th birth anniversary. Ray was born on May 2, 1921, and died aged 71 on April 23, 1992. He left behind a cinematic heritage that is followed not in India but worldwide.
Apart from being a talented filmmaker, he was also a fine scriptwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, lyricist, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. In his decades-long film career, Ray gave break to many actors and actresses through his critically-acclaimed films. Bollywood celebs including Jaya Bachchan (Mahanagar), and Sharmila Tagore (Apu Trilogy) made their acting debut with his films at a time when they were young and inexperienced.
In 1977, Ray made his Hindi film debut with Shatranj Ke Khilari featuring an ensemble cast of Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Farida Jalal, Farooq Sheikh and others. While he ventured into Bollywood, many looked forward to seeing the collaboration of Ray and Bollywood shehnshaah Amitabh Bachchan. But sadly, that never happened.
Interestingly, Ray often thought of casting Bachchan in his films but the filmmaker had to step back due to a particular reason. Here, we recall an incident when Ray’s wife Bijoya, revealed what stopped him from casting Bachchan in his films.
“Jaya Bachchan had “told me in passing that Amitabh would be willing to work with Manik if he ever decided to cast him in any of his Bengali films…,” Bijoya had mentioned in her book Manik and I.
“He (Satyajit) smiled a little and said ‘Let me get better first–only then can I think of making another film. I’ve thought of Amitabh often but they are such expensive actors. Our Bengal film industry doesn’t have that kind of money'”, Bijoya wrote
Manik and I: My Life with Satyajit Ray was published in 2012. It is a detailed account of Satyajit Ray’s life and work, which has never been divulged by the maestro himself. The diary entries of Bijoya have been used in the making of this book, which she had been maintaining since he died in 1992. Bijoya and Ray married in 1949. She died in Kolkata on 2 June 2015, aged 97, after suffering from acute pneumonia
