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A Narrative on the life and work of the great Bengali Film Director, Writer & Artist Sri Satyajit

Ray02-Sep-12

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Author

Subhrajyoti Mandal

Creative Excellence in Management Insight from Indian Ethos Theme paper

Instructor Professor C P Bhatta Topic The Life and Learning from Satyajit Ray

Subhrajyoti Mandal Registration no 313/47

I have admired his films for many years and for me he is the filmic voice of India, speaking for the people of all classes of the country... He is the most sensitive and eloquent artist and it can truly be said in his case that when we honor him we are honoring ourselves. - Elia Kazan (Film Director)

When I decided to construct my theme paper based on the life of the movie maestro Satyajit Ray I did not find any reliable and elaborate information repository consisting of Rays life and works. So I decided to visit the library room of the Satyajit Ray Film Institute which is located near College street at Central Kolkata, I was permitted to visit the library on a certain weekday. As I entered the revered film institute, a different sense of belongingness and complex emotion overwhelmed me. I was awestruck with the calmness and the composure of the campus. The carefully curved pathway designed with colourful pebbles welcomed me to the main building. The library was on the second floor, I showed the library-in-charge my pass to enter. The books kept in the front section mainly were about World cinema from Hitchcock to Kurosawa, and from Ingmar Bergman. The right corner section uhu they dealt with camera, lighting etc. I went to library attendant & asked where to get Ray related stuff in specific. Then you must go the last room in the left side on this floor, the room has many books and also some personal stuff used by him donated by his family he again sank into his newspaper. Fine then why was there no direction beforehand, anyway I had a sigh of relief trying to sort out from this myriad of books would have been a disaster. I made my way for the room. It was at the corner as the person said, carelessly maintained, shabbily stuffed with books and showcases the lighting was poor, no electric lamp was switched on. Only some beam of sunlight permeated through the veil of darkness and in that light I saw a chair, in front of a large Mahogany table. The room was cold unusually in these times, I saw somebody moving in the far most corner of the room. He was an old man, very tall by Indian standards almost six and a half feet, clad in white dhoti and Panjabi (A type of long Kurta, commonly worn by Bengali men) he had some book in his hand which he was carefully reading. Satyajit Ray Excuse me, sir, is it the room for. I informed him about my objective. He approached me from the darkness, slow but firm steps. He said to me But why are you interested in Ray?

Truly I did not expect the question, so this person must be a faculty here. I think he is the most creative Bengali ever born after Rabindranath Tagore. His versatility knew no bounds. Not only his cinemas were an inspiration for a generation, but also he mesmerized us with his paintings, his scintillating literature, his edited magazine Sandesh1 and many more I paused for a moment I felt the same sensation that Apu2 felt when I saw the train for the first time in my childhood. I still cry at the scene of Durgas3 death in Pather Panchali. The stories of Feluda and Professor Shanku4 are still my favourite pastime in the leisure hours. In a sense he left a great impression on me since my childhood, but I had never had the scope to know him better . He seemed satisfied Well then we can have a conversation, please have your sit. He took the opposite seat in front of me, at the darker side of the table, his face was still obscure, not clearly visible but it sure had some astonishing resemblance with Ray himself. Are they related? He smiled Please dont be so surprised, yes we are related. Now where do want me to start with? I politely requested - Lets start with his life, a brief introduction will do. He started speaking.

Rays life
He was born in one of the most influential Bengali families of all time the Roychowdhuris. His grandfather was Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhuri; he was a disciple of the great Raja Ram Mohan Ray and kept the fire of Brahmo revolution alight after His death. Upendrakishore was a very close friend of the great poet Rabindranath Tagore. He was a revered litterateur too & wrote many stories and poems for children. He also found the first Childrens magazine in India Sandesh, which is still very popular these days. Rays father Sukumar Ray was a pioneer of photography and lithography in India. He also had great literary talent and introduced Nonsense literature in India in his book Abol Tabol. He learnt and introduced new printing methodologies from England and implemented them in his home country. Probably Satyajit inherited his love of photography and typography from his father. Ray was born on 2nd May, 1921 in their ancestral home in North Calcutta. When Ray was three years old the unfortunate loss of his father was a bolt from the blue for his family. He graduated from Presidency College with Economic Honours but he never liked that
Satyajit Ray, 12 years old

subject. Instead he had great passion for fine arts and music and intended to pursue higher studies in them. His mother insisted him to join the epicenter of Bengali Cultural evolution Shantiniketan, but he was prejudiced against the idea and initially resisted a lot, but finally yielded to his mothers decision. He came into contact with Tagore as well as two Great Bengali Artists who taught him influenced him a lot in his future career Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherji. Influence of these phenomenal personalities helped him a lot to shape his career in future. In 1941, Tagores death left him greatly moved he travelled from Shantiniketan to Calcutta in bare feet to pay his last tributes to their long time family friend Tagore. The very next year the fire of World War 2 touched Calcutta, Satyajit had to farewell his beloved Shantiniketan and return to Calcutta. In the same year he took a great decision by marrying his childhood love Bijaya Roy against their familys decisions. He had quoted her as a flame of inspiration for him till the last day of his life. Ray joined a British-run advertising agency, D.J. Keymer, as a junior visualiser in 1943. He was in good relations with his employers for his charming personality, pleasant behaviour & selfless work ethics. He spent next 13 years there, until he became a full-time filmmaker after success of Pather Panchali. He also contributed his part when Keymer and Gupta opened a new press Signet Press. He also used to design the cover jackets for them. He published two of his fathers great nonsense literature books Abol-Tabol (Hocus-Pocus) and Ha-Ja-Ba-Ra-La (Higgledy Pigleddy) from Signet press.

A press advertisement by Satyajit Ray, 1949

During the days of World War 2 he befriended the American GIs posted in Calcutta - & grew an intimacy towards modern Western Cinema. He established the Calcutta Film Society in 1947 with a few members and started writing Film reviews in Newspapers and magazines the collection of some them would become a well read book - 'Our Films, Their Films' ,a liberalist comparison between Indian and Western Cinema. He also started writing screenplay of many popular dramas and their possible film adaptations 1949 was a very special year for him When the famous French filmmaker Jean Renoir came to India for visiting scout locations for his movie The River Ray met him in the hotel and accompanied him in his field trips. He expressed his intentions of becoming a filmmaker to Renoir. In the same year he took a great decision by marrying his childhood love Bijaya Roy against their familys decisions. He had quoted her as a flame of inspiration for him till the last day of his life. Later when Renoir came to Calcutta to shoot the film he offered the role of art director to Ray but unfortunately Ray was sent to the London Head office of his employer Keymer advertising agency. But that business trip in 1950 was highly significant in his life. During his six months stay at UK he watched about a hundred films including Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves which left a profound impression on him & his cinema. Also he completed the screenplay of his first production Pather Panchali5. We will discuss more about Rays phenomenal creation when we will talk about his Cinema will it be fine with you? He asked me. It will be fine with me please go on Sir, I would surely like to hear some more. Very well then He continued. After the worldwide success of Pather Panchali Ray was established as one of the most popular faces in Indian Cinema. He went on with many critically acclaimed and financially successful cinemas since then. At the same time he carried on with the editorship of Sandesh, drew the cover pages and many paintings. He also contributed in Childrens literature through his extremely illustrious characters Feluda6 and Professor Shanku7 and wrote many other short stories and novels too till 1990. Lets talk about his achievements then we can start with his cinemas I said. Sure, Ray without his cinemas is like body without soul He paused for a while and again started speaking.

Ray & His Cinema


His interest in films grew its roots since his college days He said. At Shantiniketan too, Ray had found means to pursue his interest in music and films. A German Jew Professor had a collection of western classical records. Ray liked to visit him often to listen to music at his cottage in the evenings. He learnt the basics of cinematography from books on cinema in the university library such as Paul Rotha's 'Film Till Now' and Raymond Spotiswoode's 'Grammar of the Film. Nevertheless his great love for films the thought of becoming a filmmaker did not occur to him till then.

Pather Panchali (The song of the Road)


His employer D. K. Gupta decided to bring out an abridged version of a novel by Bibhuti Bhushan Banerjee Pather Panchali. Until then, Ray had not read much Bengali literature. He himself admitted that he was even unfamiliar with the bulk of Tagore's writings. Ray was asked to illustrate the abridged version of the novel. Mr. Gupta remarked to Ray that the abridged version of the book would make a very good film, which struck Ray to envision his future endeavour. His association with Jean Renoir probably motivated him to pursue his love for Cinemas as a future career. A business trip to London in 1950 proved a turning point. Ray and wife travelled to London by ship, a journey that took 16 days. With him, he was carrying a notebook in which he had made some notes on making a film of Pather Panchali. In London, he watched by Vittorio De Sicas classic movie The Bicycle Thief a gem of its kind, the Neoclassical genre of Cinema. He acknowledged the everlasting influence of the movie in his works. While returning to India he finished his work for Pather Panchali. He had the script ready with him, but wanted the film to be shot on actual locations, no make-up with new faces. The reaction to this had been negative from his friends. Shooting at remote locations outside the safety and security of a studio and making a movie without song, dance and drama was thought to be totally absurd. Still Ray did not lose his heart and started looking for producers. He started work in 1952, he gathered his young friends like Subrata Mitra and Bansi Chandra Gupta and with this entirely new and inexperienced crew he started taking a few shots without virtually any financial backup. He felt he could attract a few producers by producing the still sequences, so for the initial shots he borrowed money against his insurance policy and from a few relatives and friends. The shooting was to be done on Sundays as on weekdays he went to his job at D.J Keymer. It was not easy to bind together a cast and crew of inexperienced actors whose age range varied from eight to eighty. Shooting took place in a remote village away from Calcutta & Satyajit had to take his team from Calcutta to there in the monsoon with all the shooting equipments. The First shot was to be taken as one of the most famous ones from the movie Apu-Durgas discovery of train in the field of Kaash flowers. The next Sunday when they visited there to their horror and disbelief they saw the

Kaash flowers has been feasted upon by a pack of hungry cattle. Disappointed they had to wait for the next season. Ray found a producer and started the shooting permanently in the village. The film was gaining sound momentum quickly but soon the funds got depleted and the producer The discovery of train by Apu-Durga backed away citing reasons of financial problems. This was very troubled times for Ray, his wife offered him her jewelleries with them he continued the shooting a bit more. He did not lose hope and visited many producers with the edited footage, but all was in vain. Finally by his Manager and friend Anil Chowdhuris suggestion he visited the then chief minister of West Bengal for a government funding. The government agreed to pay the fund in monthly installments - & the necessary paperwork delayed the project significantly. The shooting again resumed in the early part of 1954. Satyajit approached the sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar for providing background scores. Ravi Shankar loved the movie and kept Rays request even he had a very tight schedule. They recorded the music in a non-stop session of about eleven hours. It was a marathon session and left them exhausted but satisfied. Luckily the director of Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), Monroe Wheeler, New York was in Calcutta for putting together some Indian highlights for an exhibition. Ray showed some stills of Pather Panchali to him. Wheeler so impressed he offered Ray to hold a world premiere at MOMA. But to meet the stringent MOMA deadlines, Ray and his editor had to work ten days and nights in a stretch in the final stage of post-production. The first print of Pather Panchali came out at night before it was to be dispatched. There had neither the time nor the money for the subtitles. Weeks after the scheduled screening at MOMA, the good news came by a letter came from Wheeler describing at length how the audience has positively received the film. Ray rehearsing 80-year old
Chunibala Devi

Pather Panchali had triumphed its first victory, but it was not the last. It was finally released in Calcutta in August 1955, ran packed for several weeks and was financially successful. Dr. B.C. Roy arranged a special screening for Prime Minister Pandit Nehru who, deeply moved by the cinema, assured its official entry to the Cannes film festival from India. There it bagged the special jury prize for "The Best Human Document" and went on to win a dozen odd prizes at home and film festivals abroad, including Best Actress for Chunibala for her role as Indir Thakrun at Manila. With this, Satyajit Ray, a world-class director of the new age Indian cinema was born. Other Cinemas Ray did not stop with the success with Pather Panchali, he went on to complete the trilogy by Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhay, with Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) both of which were critically

acclaimed. Aparajito won the Golden Lion Award in the Venice Film Festival. After that he also had success cinemas like Parashpathar, Jalsaghar, Devi, Kanchanjhangha, Abhijan, Mahanagar, Charulata. In the mid-sixties, for a couple of years he had no work. He again made an outstanding comeback with immensely popular films like - Goopy Gayen Bagha Bayen. (The adventures of Goopy and Bagha), which is still a superhit even after forty years of its release. He followed it up with Sonar Kella (1974), Joi Baba Felunath (1978), Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980), Pikoo (1980). He also made some short films and documentaries on different subjects. His last directions were the set of three movies Ganashatru, Shakha-Prashakha and Aagantuk which he did with a different stroke of his paintbrush. Overwork ruined his health still he went on with the joy and prestige of creativity. Please tell me the learning prospects from his cinema I requested.

Different Aspects of Creativity in Rays Cinema and what we can learn from there
Rays cinema presented a different view of Indian life to the world. Earlier Indian Cinema was ridiculed in the Global arena as a hotch-potch of dance song melodrama. Satyajit gave life to it. He wedded Art with the truth so in his movies we can see the suffering and accomplishments of different classes of people from nineteenth century village life (Pather Panchali) to modern urban life of Calcutta during the decade of 70s (Mahanagar). In the pantheon of movie directors he has been appreciated as a Bengali Bergman or sort of reincarnated Renoir. He made "great" and "near great" films throughout his long career producing some thirty-seven features, documentaries and short films, an impressive accomplishment by any measure or standard. His initial films also gave hints about spirituality in human life. In Apu trilogy in various stages in his life Apu sought different kinds of love from different women his mother, elder sister, girlfriend and his wife, but ultimately found his path was somewhere else in renunciation of earthly pleasure and resuming his journey of endless travelling like a Sannyasin. Again in the latter part of the trilogy and in some later movies such as Mahanagar he skillfully represented the complexity and intricacy of urban life. In some cases his Spirituality in Ray's cinema characters so hanker for a different life far away from the city in hills (Kanchanjangha the mountain peak) or in Forests (Aranyer Dinaratri The chronicles of the forest). In these cases his movies has promoted an altruistic escapist ideology which mesmerized the audience. In Nayak (The Hero) he represented the then most popular hero of Bengali film industry Uttam Kumar (Known as Mahanayak) not in a type casted but in a wholly different manner. He showed the agony of a successful film hero who considers the every second of his life miserable in spite of all his

glories because he had left his friends and the companions in the dark and never cared for them. The story depicts the need to recognize the efforts of a persons family and friends for his success. In Charulata (Film adaptation of Tagores short story Nashta Need The ruined home) and his last film as director Aagantuk (The unwanted guest) he beautifully displayed the interconnection of human relations and the impact of human emotions over his perception. His movies of the self created sleuth Feluda movies (Sonar Kella, Joy Baba Felunath etc.) were immensely popular and created a generation of detective movie fans. The three movies of the Gupi-Bagha series were specially meant for children where he abandoned the real life and took the audience to a world of fantasy with beautiful songs and dance numbers where everything is possible without hatred, violence and bloodshed, where nations can be defeated with song and love, where failure can be defeated with virtuosity. Despite they were meant for children even the adults loved and still love them for their deep underlying philosophical truths. Gupi Bagha His only Hindi movie Shatranj ke Khiladi (The Chess players) is considered a gem in Hindi cinema. It depicted the fall of the princely state of Awadh in the hand of British when the ruler was wasting his life in chess. It was the only Hindi film of Rays direction. He also had major contribution for Hollywood movies like Alien and ET the extraterrestrial but he was never acclaimed for that. He was extremely devoted to his work. He himself deed most of the screenplay writing and editing of his movies. The ghost dance the psychedelic dance number from the first Gupi Gayen Bagha Bayen movie constituted various classical as well as folk dance sequences not only from India but also from across the world. In just seven minutes it showed the different era and transition periods in Indian History the Raja, Maharajas fighting amongst them, The emergence of the British as the new Rulers, the birth of the Babu culture, the struggle of the workers and peasants against oppression. Ray captured India in 35 mm in 7 minutes. He also did the sketching and costume designing for all the ghosts himself.

Rays versatility and excellence in Multidimensional thinking Literature


How did such a busy film director manage time to write such wonderful childrens literature then? - I asked him. He smiled and again started - He loved literature. His family has been a major contributor in Childrens literature for almost a century back. How could he not bear the legacy? He did not have much exposure to Bengali literature until the days of his work at Signet Press. In 1968, he revamped his grandfather creation for children Sandesh in a whole new avatar. He also started

writing for the magazine and created two of his well-known characters Feluda and Professor Shanku. Feluda is a private self styled detective who uses the method of observation, assumption and logical reasoning, much like Doyles Sherlock Holmes but in a more professional manner with a charming Bengali image. He made movies from many Feluda stories and Novels like Sonar kella, Joy baba Felunath. Some critics say Feluda was Rays own creation as they had strikingly similar physical attributes. Feluda was usually accompanied by his nephew Topse (The narrator himself) and the comic Jatayu. Professor Shanku was the main character of a series of short stories and Novellas written by Ray. Shanku in his stories is the best scientist in the world with amazing inventions which he uses to solve many problems and achieve his quests. Trully speaking Satyajit Ray was the best Bengali Science fiction writer of all time. His creativity knew no bounds when he took Shanku from the graves of Egyptian Pyramids to the Lost city of El-dorado. His literary works in this genre were often compared with the works of Arthur C Clarke (who was a personal friend of Ray himself) and Isaac Asimov. Besides these he wrote many horror, mystery, fantasy and science fiction stories. His horror stories were a pleasure to read where he made the readers shiver with a chill of supernatural and gothic horror. He also translated many major western literature works in Bengali. He continued his fathers legacy of Nonsense literature and contributed some poems in that genre. His story Bankubabur bandhu (The friend of Mr. Banku) attracted the interest of a Hollywood Filmmaker, and he came to India to seek Ray as an editor for the movie. Ray was very busy in his schedule still he kept his request by travelling to US. Famous characters like Dustin Hoffman and Marlon Brando were deeply interested in that movie. But much to Rays dismay he noticed that the director has taken all the credits for screenplay and editing. Broken hearted Ray returned to India and promised never to get involved in Hollywood projects. Later he found many similarities in the plots of popular science fiction movies like Alien and ET with his story. His friends suggested a legal suit but he declined. There was no surcease since then in his literary output until the time he was taken to the hospital in 1992. His last writing, My Years With Apu, was published posthumously in 1994. He wrote some seventy novellas, stories and translations and each one of them became a best seller in Bengali. The royalties from these various writings supported the Ray family, easing somewhat his anxiety to provide for his family.

-Yes, as I have mentioned still his writings are my favourite as far as I know he drew almost all the pictures in his stories and novels by himself. Can you throw some light on his arts I requested.

Ray and Fine arts


Before going to Shantiniketan he interest was more inclined towards Western contemporary art, impressionism etc. But in Shantiniketan he came into these great masters (abovementioned) who generated the interest in him for oriental art- Indian sculpture and miniature painting, Japanese ngwoodcuts and Chinese landscapes. He wanted to become a commercial artist then, he also undertook a long tour of places of artistic interests in India along with three friends. For the first time in his life, he had begun to appreciate the unique qualities of Old and contemporary Indian art. The tour drew his attention to use the small intricate details in Indian art to project to a larger platform and signify a different as well as magnanimous meaning. This again was reflected in many of his films. Ray's sketch of Tagore Binode Behari Mukherjee, his art teacher at Shantiniketan, also demonstrated this quality in his work. He had an impressionable influence on Ray. About 30 years later, Ray would make on him to pay his tributes The inner eye (1972). Indeed he sketched many characters from his movies as well as in his literary creations. He mainly used Chinese ink for his drawings. He sketched his characters with great care and emphasized on minute details. His style was unique in the sense he seldom used any colour than black with the single colour and some brushes he would bring lifelike images and artworks in no time. He also did some oil painting, and woodcraft.

Others
Any other type of Artwork he was interested in? I asked. He had versatile interests. He not only engaged magicians of music like Pandit Ravi Shankar, Amjad Ali Khan and Bilayet Khan but also started composing his own music scores for the movies Teen Kanya and Gupi-Bagha series. He was a brilliant still photographer. At the age of twelve, he made a pinhole camera and took the picture of his family members. Ray was fascinated by typography too, both Bengali and English and produced many innovative advertising campaigns for his employer Keymer. His designs of two typefaces 'Ray Roman' and 'Ray Bizarre' would win an international competition in 1971. He brought in more of Indian motifs and calligraphic elements to advertising. Later, his love for typography and illustration would often surface in the credits and the publicity posters of his films.

He smiled and went on I will tell you a story about him. Ray sometimes like to travel away from the shooting sites to get to know the people better. One day he entered a town fair, nobody recognized him as he had covered his head with a large bow-hat. At a place a vendor has placed some targets at very difficult places and promised assured prizes to whoever who can shoot them. Nobody was being able to do that, Ray went there took the rifle and shot each one of them using precise firing shots. But he never received the prizes, suddenly his bow hat dropped on the ground, and he had ran back to the shooting site to save himself from his fans - he was laughing to his hearts content. Hilarious indeed how do know the story did he himself tell you? No I was with him all the time He replied, seriously You see, depite his serious and grave public image he had a soft heart and sensitive personality, a caring husband and loving father. Though he had all his successes still he was the beloved Manik da to his whole cast and crews, who solved all their problems with brotherly care and genuine intentions. He never tried to downgrade anybody and accredited everybody according to their performance. Till his death he was loved and revered by the film industry. -And is loved still today also, we cant think about Indian Cinema and Bengali Literature without Satyajit Ray I said. -Is it so? I am very pleased his voice seemed a little moist.

Learnings from His art and life


-So what insights can we get from his life I asked -Good question He started with a serious voiceAbout his arts we can learn to take a new and different perspective of everything see something in a totally different manner compared to others and find the inherent gem. He discovered Indian art in its true form and used that accordingly in his cinemas. His life teaches us to make the best use of time and time management skills. At the times of world war when people imprisoned themselves in their houses he utilized the time by befriending Americans and learning about their cinema. Also he perfectly utilized his time in London for making many future cinema scripts. His family was opposed to his marriage still he went on with it and supported their relation throughout his life. The incident teaches us if we take any decision, we need to assume full responsibility for it for the rest of the time. His continuous failures and ultimate success in Pather Panchali conveys us the message that we need to stand ground and face all the contingencies bravely only then success can be obtained. Success is something that can be inherited or bought it can only be earned through hard work and perseverance. His work presents a remarkably insightful understanding of the relations between cultures, and his ideas remain pertinent to the great cultural debates in the contemporary world, not least in India. In Ray's

films and in his writings, we find explorations of at least three general themes on cultures and their interrelations, the importance of distinctions between different local cultures and their respective individualities; the necessity of understanding the heterogeneous character of each local culture (even the culture of a common, not to mention a region or a country); and the great need for intercultural communication, attended by a recognition of the barriers that make intercultural communication a hard task. Also his versatility and selfless work reminds us that we shouldnt work for our self benefits only, we should work for the pleasure it gives the sense of self-fulfillments it generates the smile it brings to the larger number of people. Our life is nothing only our achievements will stay

Demise
It was work which brought his demise in 1992. He was tired, very very tired, and his heart was weak with High blood pressure. Before his death he got all the critical acclaims the honorary Oscar, Bharatratna, Legion de Honor, Padmashri, Padmabibhushan and many more.

Epilogue
By the time I knew who the mysterious figure was. So I went near him and touched his feet Give me your blessings, Sir, for my future life. He rested his soft palm on my head & blessed me Kalyanmastu, remember dont be what they tell you to be. Become what you want to be. And I saw him no more. It was almost evening and I started returning to the campus suddenly I saw the library attendant before me Oh sorry sir, forgot to tell you that the room is undergoing repairs for the past few days. So its inaccessible for the week. I turned back and saw the door has surprisingly bolted itself; a huge lock was hanging from the hinge. And the dust on the door suggested it has not opened for weeks.

--X--

Its really difficult to capture Rays versatility and ingenuity in a small scope. He was not only a legendary filmmaker but also an extraordinary painter, litterateur, musician, photographer, cinematographer, magazine editor, shooter, typographist and many more. What I have tried is to represent Ray and his life in an imaginary interaction with the master himself. This writing is purely based on fiction and any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Ref: Satyajitray.org and other internet sources, Amar babake jemon dekhechi (As I have seen my father) by Sandeep Ray

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

ChildrensMagazine found by Rays Grandfather Sri Upendra Kishor RoyChowdhuri). The protagonist of Pather Panchali Apus elder sister who meets an untimely death. Extremely popular fictional characters created by Ray The song of the road - A very famous Bengali classic novel by Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhay

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