‘Ray’ is an upcoming Netflix anthology of four stories that are inspired by virtuoso writer and filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
Satyajit Ray was a world-class filmmaker and an eminent author. He is rightly regarded as one of the greatest Indian filmmakers of the twentieth century. Both his father Sukumar Ray and his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury were eminent in the field of arts and literature.
Besides directing around 36 films, Satyajit Ray is also the man who created immortal characters like Feluda and Professor Shonku. The legendary filmmaker eventually won multiple National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards and bagged many awards from reputed international film festivals including the Cannes Film Festival.
We have compiled a list of five interesting and relatively unknown facts about Satyajit Ray. We hope you will enjoy reading them:
1. Not many people might be aware that the inspiration behind Steven Spielberg’s cult science fiction film ‘E.T.’ was a script that Satyajit Ray wrote in the year 1967. The script titled ‘The Alien’ was based on Ray’s own short story ‘Banku Babu’s Friend’. The film was supposed to be an Indo-US production with Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers as the lead actors.
However, American screenwriter Michael Wilson reportedly copyrighted Ray’s script credited to ‘Mike Wilson and Satyajit Ray’, despite his mere one-word contribution. Because of the alleged deception, a disillusioned Satyajit Ray dropped the idea of making the Hollywood film and came back to India.
When Spielberg’s film ‘E.T.’ released in 1982, both Ray and his friend & illustrious science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) observed its similarities to Satyajit Ray’s script ‘The Alien’. It was said that ‘E.T.’ had plagiarized Satyajit Ray’s script.
Satyajit Ray stated that Steven Spielberg’s film “would not have been possible without my script of ‘The Alien’ being available throughout America in mimeographed copies.” Spielberg later defended himself by stating that “I was a kid in high school when this script was circulating in Hollywood.”
2. Besides Satyajit Ray’s ‘The Alien’ project, the filmmaker wanted to direct an on-screen adaptation of one of the two major Sanskrit epics ‘Mahabharatha’ that revolved around the familial rivalry between the Pandavas and the Kauravas, which eventually led to the devastating Kurukshetra War. This was much before B.R.Chopra’s popular television series commenced airing in the year 1988.
3. Satyajit Ray’s iconic directorial debut film ‘Pather Panchali’ (Song of the Little Road) was the first film of ‘The Apu Trilogy’. It was produced by the Government of West Bengal.
After its release in 1956, The Times of India wrote that “It is absurd to compare it with any other Indian cinema… Pather Panchali is pure cinema.”
The film’s portrayal of poverty in India was criticized by some people within the Government. But when the Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru saw the film at a special screening, he was so impressed with the film that the film was sent to the Cannes Film Festival after the PM’s personal approval.
4. It’s a relatively unknown fact the 1977 film ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’ (The Chess Players) was the first Hindi language film directed by virtuoso filmmaker Satyajit Ray. It remains the only full-length Hindi feature film of his cinematic career.
The film was based on Munshi Premchand’s short story of the same name. The film was narrated by Amitabh Bachchan and boasted an ensemble cast of Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Farooq Sheikh, and Tom Alter, etc.
5. The primary inspiration behind Satyajit Ray’s advent into the filmmaking industry was Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 film ‘Bicycle Thieves’. The film had such a significant impact on Ray that made him later confide that he walked out of the theatre determined to become a filmmaker.
Like his films, Satyajit Ray’s life story is replete with many interesting and profound incidences that will continue to inspire us.
We earnestly hope that the Netflix anthology series ‘Ray’, directed by talented filmmakers and featuring eminent actors like Manoj Bajpayee and Kay Kay Menon, would certainly do justice to carry forward the legacy of one of the world’s finest directors and writers.
‘Ray’, the collection of four intriguing stories, will start streaming on Netflix from June 25, 2021, onwards.
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