Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian Bengali filmmaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Ray was born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thievesduring a visit to London...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth2 May 1921
CountryIndia
One of the reasons why some of my films seem so slow is because the soundtrack isn't expressive enough - maybe they need more sound or music.
I think the first feature was made in Bombay in 1913, not so long after Hollywood. The cinema industry in Calcutta started not long after that.
I learnt framing by watching him work on the camera. He would always encourage me and now I have a collection of 90,000 photos of Ray.
As a small boy I had read about Beethoven in the Book of Knowledge, now I was listening enraptured to his sonatas and symphonies.
I think they quite like me when I work because I'm one of the safer directors to back, because even if my films don't bring their costs in back home, once they're shown outside of India they manage to cover the costs.
What is attempted in these film is of course a synthesis. But it can be seen by someone who has his feet in both cultures. Someone who will bring to bear on the films involvement and detachment in equal measure.
The director is the only person who knows what the film is about.
If the theme is simple, you can include a hundred details that create the illusion of actuality better.
I was interested in both Western and Indian classical music.
Sometimes a director is making three films. Perhaps he is shooting a film in Madras and a film in Bombay and he can't leave Madras as some shooting has to be done, so he directs by telephone. The shooting takes place. On schedule.
I mix Indian instruments with Western instruments all the time.