Writer's Profile/Biography: Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was born on May 2, 1921 in Calcutta. His grandfather, Upendrakishore Roychowdhury was a celebrated writer. His father Sukumar Roy was an eminent poet and illustrator and was famous for writing nonsensical literature. Ray graduated from Presidency College. He started his career as a commercial artist. He made his debut film Pather Panchali in 1955 that earned him world-wide recognition as a first-rated film director.
Ray edited a children’s magazine Sandesh which was started by Upendrakishore. Ray’s literary preoccupation was not spontaneous. In fact, his primary interest was film making since he himself admitted that his literary feats were not of the same height as of his father’s r or grandfather’s. His childhood memoir Jokhon Chhoto Chhilam is extremely enjoyable. His chose subjects about detective stories, fantasy and science fiction. Ray’s fictional character Shonku although entertaining and amusing lacks the substance and force of a real scientist. Ray’ stories are successful so long as they are placed in an urban setup characterizing typical Bengali mannerism.
Throughout Ray his writing consciously avoided to be influenced by his father’s and grandfather’s style. It was during 1980s that Ray tried his hands at writing some original material for children. He wrote several fancy tales. Ray considered his writing as mainly entertaining and he expressed that he had no ambition to write down any full-fledged novel. He had had no urge for literary creation when he left Shantiniketan in1942. The plot did matter a lot in his writing.
Detective sleuth Feluda and his cousin cum assistant Topse are perhaps the most popular fictional characters of Satyajit Ray. The stories appeared in a series and were hit not only among children but also among adults. Hi critical reviews about films are worth-mentioning. Our Films, Their Films is a critical evaluation with discussion on Indian films vis-à-vis International films and film movement in general.
The legendary director left us in the year 1992. View or Read more Books of Satyajit Ray