A Mosaic of Glimpses of Satyajit Ray

Revisiting the world of Satyajit Ray twenty five years after he passed away in 1992 gives us the perspective to see more clearly that he was not just for cinema but one of the world’s all time greatest artist. Would his films still rekindle old passions? How relevant are they in the postmodern society? In his films he has always focused on social issues and emphasized the importance of placing the ‘have nots’ at the centre of concern. Thirtyseven years of his work is a chronicle of social transformation, it is a journey through a century of social change in India. Even as it records this transformation, yet the core message to humanity seems just as relevant now as it was then. Ray’s material is Indian but his statements are about humanity. He sees the oneness of all human beings, he looks at them as people caught in the meshes of time and place. Perhaps it is in this that the rest of the world feels an affinity with him and finds in the serenity of his faith a uniqueness that transcends national boundaries. Ray’s early films are buoyed up by an affirmation of faith in the human being. There are hardly any villains in these films. The oppressor and the oppressed are both victims. After several masterpieces, Ray’s spiritual exhaustion is evident in his later works, they lack the aesthetic vigour and visual language of his earlier films. Ray is often criticized for glorifying poverty and romanticizing the third world culture. Ritwik Ghatak was often critical of the disinfected realism of Ray’s films. Yet for all his shortcomings his films have a ring of truth, and are seamless narratives which offer a wealth of psychological insight. The humanism, universality, deceptive simplicity and underlying complexity evident make his works contemporary, easily transcending barriers of time and space.

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