Author: Marie Seton
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 376
ISBN/UPC (if available): 014302972-X
Description
Satyajit Ray was India's first filmmaker to gain international recognition as a master of the medium, and today he continues to be regarded as one of the world's finest directors of all time. His first film Pather Panchali, made when he was in this thirties, catapulted him into the forefront of young directors worldwide when in 1956 the Cannes Film Festival honored it as the best human document of the year. Several other films by Ray, like Aparajito, Jalsaghar, Charulata, Nayak, Aranyer Din Ratri, Shatranj ke Khilari, Ghare Baire and Agantuk, made over a career spanning five decades are considered classics of contemporary cinema. In 1992, Ray was awarded the Oscar for Life Achievement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and , in the same year, was also honored with the Bharat Ratna.
First compared with Robert Flaherty for his lyrical use of nature and location, Ray is now regarded as one of the great neo-realist directors.
Marie Seton's classic study of Ray, the product of thorough research and a long and close association with the Ray family, is the most detailed examination available of Ray's work - as musician, scenarist and director. First published in 1971, it was last updated in 1978, some fourteen years before Ray passed away. This new and revised edition includes published pieces from the author's further writings on Ray, and an After word that takes the story forward to Ray's last film. It will, hopefully, re-introduce the genius of Ray to a whole new generation of readers and film aficionados.