He is the master and we are all his pupils. The man who was responsible for generating a global interest and appeal for Indian cinema would have turned 91 today. Looking back at his career it’s quite intriguing to think how a man can be so calm and confident amidst the chaos of the conditions he used to work in . Perhaps it comes with the unbridled affection a man has for his craft and the immense faith he has in his abilities. For a man who has achieved so much in his long and illustrious career, looking back in retrospect, it’s interesting to note that the completion of his first film, the now legendary ‘Pather Panchali’ was nothing less than a miracle. The odds were firmly stacked against him. It was nothing less than a brutal test of a man’s character and the extent a man is willing to go to and the sacrifices he is capable of making in order to achieve what he has set out to do.
The position Pather Panchali has in the pantheon of not only Indian cinema but World Cinema today makes it even more astonishing to think that at that time no studio was willing to put their money into it. The reasons for not investing in the film despite liking the idea that were given by the studios were plenty and reeked of the fear the studios harboured to go out of their comfort zones and take risks and highlighted their desire to play safe. Things like ‘Shooting in actual location’ , use of ‘non- actors’ , etc served as the defense used by the studios . But none of this deterred the confidence of the man who was on a mission. In order to raise funds during the production period, he kept working as a graphic designer, pawned his life insurance policy and sold his collection of LP records. His wife, Bijoya, pawned her jewels as well. Some amount of shooting was done but the money didn’t last long enough. The shooting was interrupted by the shortage of funds and the movie had to be shot only in intermittent pieces. Finally the much required help came from the West Bengal Government when an incomplete version of the film was shown to the then Chief Minister of Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Roy, who then sanctioned a loan for the completion of the film. Thus, after years of hard-work, disappointment, anxiety and the ruthless passion which nudged away all the obstructions which came in the way, the movie ‘Pather Panchali’ was born. And the rest, we all know, is History. The man who was to change the face of Indian cinema and give it a much needed uplift had arrived, and with the success of his films, esp. his first film and the knowledge about the story of its making gave birth to another thing: the spirit of the Indie film-maker who defies conventional norms of film-making. We at Long Live Cinema salute and wish the man..nay…the Master who made it all possible on his 91st birth anniversary – the true legend of Indian cinema – Satyajit Ray.
To watch Pather Panchali (full movie) click here
