The Cinema of Satyajit Ray by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay

Ray is the tallest Indian figure in world cinema. Retrospectives across the globe, perhaps even more than at home, have kept his legacy alive. But how do we understand his cinema in the context of a vastly different world? What keeps great cinema from becoming dated? What are the particularities of Ray’s movies that cause them to endure?

-  Bhaskar Chattopadhyay

ABOUT THE BOOK

Ray is the tallest Indian figure in world cinema. Retrospectives across the globe, perhaps even more than at home, have kept his legacy alive. But how do we understand his cinema in the context of a vastly different world? What keeps great cinema from becoming dated? What are the particularities of Ray’s movies that cause them to endure?

Bhaskar Chattopadhyay’s literary engagement with Ray’s cinema spans years. In this book, he revisits each one of Satyajit Ray’s thirty-nine feature films, shorts, and documentaries to investigate their cinematic and social context. He also speaks to a number of the master’s collaborators as well as other directors and critics to truly understand Ray and his work.

Packed with delightful anecdotes and fresh insights, The Cinema of Satyajit Ray is an essential book for every cinephile’s library.

Bhaskar Chattopadhyay is an author, translator and screenwriter who lives and works in Bengaluru, India. His translations include 14: Stories That Inspired Satyajit Ray (HarperCollins, 2014) and Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s Aranyak (Penguin Random House, 2022).