RIFLE RANGE BOY

Two (1965) Director: Satyajit Ray In 1964, renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray was asked to create a short film for ‘ESSO World Theater’, a cultural showcase presented on television and funded by the American oil company Esso. Asked to write and direct the film in English, Ray opted instead to make a film without words. The result is a poignant fable of friendship and rivalry. As he did for many of his movies, Ray composed the music for the film, including the haunting tune played on a flute. After Satyajit Ray was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1992, the Academy embarked on an ambitious endeavour to preserve the works of the Bengali filmmaker. “Two,” also known as “Parable of Two,” is part of the Academy’s Satyajit Ray Collection ( http://www.oscars.org/film-archive/co... ), which includes 18 feature films directed by Ray and preserved by the Archive. (Youtube) It is ironic that film without words can make one speechless. One can say so much by not speaking at...

Agatuk (Stranger; Bengali, 1991) Director: Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray, like Hitchcock, must be one of those who never made a bad movie. This is evident in his swan song, which morphed a simple story of a stranger coming into a household into a philosophical discourse on religion, man and civilisation. And attention-grabbing one, at that! It is a display of simple storytelling with an array of traditional music and tribal dances minus the skilful special effects gadgetry and unrelated pointless visualisation of the human anatomy. The story mocks the modern society, which is perceived to be suspicious of others and is selfish itself. Anila and Sudhindra Bose are a middle-class couple with a preteen son, Satyaki. One day, Anila receives a letter from a long lost uncle who left the country some 35 years earlier. He announces his stop-over in Calcutta before leaving off to Australia. Being a gracious guest, he stated in his letter that his host was not obliged to receive him but hope...

Shakha Prosakha (Branches of the Tree, Bengali; 1990) Story, Screenplay, Direction: Satyajit Ray This is one of Ray's swan song. It is a layered tale questioning the meaning of life, intergenerational priorities and the pressure of growing up to live up to peoples' expectations. Ananda Majumdar is a 70-year-old retired industrialist who raised the rank and files from a worker to the position of partner in a big company, honoured by the town for his philanthropy work. He is highly respected by the community, and his biography had just been written. He is a widower with 4 sons. He lives with his senile father of 90 years old and his second son with had a head injury during his university days and had to discontinue his studies. The second son, Proshanto (Soumitra Chatterjee in his subdued supportive role, in most of Ray's movies he is the leading actor), is living in his own world oblivious of the surroundings, talking only occasionally, somewhat coherently, someti...

Joi Baba Felunath (The Elephant God, 1978; Bengal) Satyajit Ray's Sherlock Holmes of the East strikes again! This time around, he (Feluda, who was seen in Sonar Kella; Soumitra Chatterjee), Jatayu (the writer) and cousin/assistant Topshe are summoned during their vacation in the holy city of Benares to investigate the missing Ganesha statue.   This simple case becomes complicated as the people get killed, everyone in the household becomes a suspect, and Feluda and friends are threatened by a local businessman who is also a no-good antique treasure merchant. Along the way comes a sage, Machlibaba, named so as he allegedly swam from Calcutta to Benares and gives fish scales as blessed tokens! I sense a sense of cynicism on the part of the director. Even the meanest villains have pictures of Gods decorating their walls, even when he has a gun pointed at Feluda! He is trying to depict the fakeness of the holy men and the supposedly holy people of Benares!

Hirok Rajar Deshe (Kingdom of Diamonds, Bengali, 1980) Director: Satyajit Ray You will be wondering how a tale set in the medieval times of stories of kings, magic and two main characters who are not exactly the best matches in the box going to impress you. Well, that is the magic of Ray. He even composed the music score and songs for this one. This film is actually the sequel of Ray's 1969 offering ' Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne ' where two village idiots were given magical powers by angry demons who could not stand their croaking! 10 years after that episode, they are comfortably living off their common father-in-law, the King of Shundi. The problem is that they are too comfortable that they are bored. Just then, the King summons them to sing at the courts of Hirok Rajar to honour him on his anniversary at the throne. To the outsider, Hirok Rakar's kingdom is rich with diamonds. It is all a charade as the the farmers who tow the plough has no food to eat and the diamo...

Ghare-Baire (Bengali,  Home and the World;  1984 ) Director: Satyajit Ray This is a Rabindranath Tagore's 1905 story set at a time when Bengal was divided into two by Lord Curzon. This was the time of the uprising of the Indians against their colonial masters with the shouts of 'Vande Mataram'. The Mussalmans who have been living in peace all this while with the Hindus suddenly feel that their status is threatened. It is also a time of the emancipation of women, especially in the elite circles of Calcutta. Against this background, Bimla is married off to a wealthy nobleman without even seeing his face. She and her widowed sister in law were confined to the inner courtyard, never seen outdoors. Bimala's husband (Nikhilesh, Victor Banerjee) is a modern man, may be considered as a pacifist or mild-mannered by some, encourages his wife to learn the British way of life. He had a private English tutor (Jennifer Kendal) to teach etiquette, read, write and play the piano. ...

Ganashatru (Enemy of The People; 1989) Director: Satyajit Ray When it comes to obligations to God and religion, somehow man forgets all the common courtesy towards fellow mankind and has no qualms in creating anarchy, the exact opposite thing that religion is trying to propagate - Peace on Earth! No amount of rhetoric will change what had allegedly been carved on stone by divine forces. When one argues using scientific arguments to save mankind, he is accused of mocking religion and is being a non-believer. People forget that believing in God is different from believing in a religion! Dr Ashoke Gupta noticed that many of his hospital and private patients have been down with infectious hepatitis. He suspects that this could be due to a leakage in the sewage pipe. He fears that many devotees to the nearby may also be infected as they are usually given to drink holy water which is from the same source. Dr Gupta (Soumitra Chatterjee) puts forward this proposal to his brother, Ni...

Rabindranath Tagore (Documentary, 1961) Written, narrated, directed: Satyajit Ray It is said that Ray is related to Tagore. The Tagores were initially from the Banerjee clan but over time they became to be called Thakur as they were Brahmins and headed the society. Thakur became Tagore. Born in a wealthy family in Bengal, he was born with a silver spoon as the thirteenth child to a 45year old mother. He did not really shine in his childhood and even in adulthood, he did not complete his tertiary education. Gradually wisdom came to him in his late twenties and the turning point came when there was tragedy in his family - 3 deaths in family; his wife, his daughter and his son. His fame spread worldwide when his poem 'Gitanjali' was praised by Yeats which made Tagore the first non-European recipient of Nobel prize for Literature. He was also knighted by the Queen which he renounced after 1919 English massacre of Indians in Punjab. Rabindranath's influence went beyond poe...

Sadgati (The Deliverance, Hindi; 1981) This 50 minute made for TV film is an intense depiction of the evil that Man do to each other in the name of pseudo-religious social classification. To ensure sufficient labour force to ensure continuity of duties in a community, society had created the caste system. To give legitimacy to this inhumane treatment of others, people of power had invoked the name of God to instil the fear to others at large. It is good that this archaic practice is no longer the norm in modern Indian societies or at least is done subtly. Preferential treatment comes in other forms. Sadgati is a classic Ray presentation with all the trademark of excellent storytelling and superb acting. I almost did recognise the main actor until his puckered face and nose gave it away, Om Puri. The late Smita Patel gave a short but impressionable role as his wife. Dukhi (Om Puri) is a lowly village tanner who is just recovering from a viral fever. In spite of his incapacitation, ...

Shatranj Ke Khilari  (The Chess Players, Urdu; 1977) Direction, Screenplay, Music: Satyajit Ray As the English were sharpening their steely knives to rape and rob India of their wealth, the Indian monarchs and noblemen are more interested in pleasures of the skin, the sheer enjoyment of the arts and of course Chess. The decadence of administration and those in power squarely brought the nation down. This film boasts of high historical accuracy in its storyline and an array of a star-studded cast. Amitabh Bachchan narrates (Ray could not find a suitable role for him), Sanjeev Kumar, Shabana Azmi, Amjad Khan, Fareeda Jalal and Richard Attenborough star. The time is pre-1857 before The Sepoy Mutiny when Lord Dalhousie and his generals are trying to hoodwink the Nawab of Oudh of his land. The Nawab (Amjad Khan) is more interested in poetry and music than ruling over his subjects. Even when, critical history-altering decisions had to ...