'Ray' releases today; people who knew Satyajit Ray share their memories of the filmmaker

Radha Prasad Gupta (left) with Satyajit Ray.

Satyaki Ghosh, photographer

Photographer Nemai Ghosh (1934-2020) worked with Ray for more than two decades - starting with Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969) till Ray's last film Agantuk (1991). Satyajit Ray fittingly called his visual biographer ‘Boswell with a camera’.

For Satyaki, Nemai Ghosh’s son, the filmmaker was Manik jethu (Manik uncle).

Nemai Ghosh shot countless film stars and models, but Satyaki says Ray was his father’s favourite model.

“His camera loved to not only capture the maestro drowned in his work in the comfort of his library, but also flirt with and arrest his interesting features like his long neck, or his posture,” says Satyaki.

It was on the sets of Ray’s Ghore Bhaire that Satyaki’s professional career took off. He shot several stills for the film, his favourite being a portrait of Sandip (Soumitra Chatterjee’s character) that Ray had pencil-sketched for a specific look. It was Ray who christened Satyaki’s studio ‘Focus’.

“Kolkata. March 6, 1971. It was on the day of my uncle’s wedding that I first saw Manik jethu. A very tall man, seated in a simple wooden chair, lost in thought. A cigarette in his hand, he did not make any attempt to tap off the ash. Sometimes, I would see him in my house. Cars could not enter the narrow alley where our house stood, so he used to walk his way to our humble house.

“Jethu was meticulous in everything he did, nothing escaped his attention. Every single piece used in the film - artefact, clothing, jewellery, furniture, fixtures – perfectly rhymed with the given era.”

Satyaki learnt punctuality from Ray. Once, Satyaki was supposed to meet Ray at 10.30 am - the date for the meeting had been fixed well in advance. But Satyaki got delayed because he had to deliver a few of his father’s photographs to Andrew Robinson, Ray’s biographer. Satyaki arrived late for the meeting and Ray was livid. “I had learnt my lesson, and after that day, I was never ever late for any appointment, with him at least,” says Satyaki.

Arijit Datta, managing director, Priya Entertainments Pvt. Ltd

Arijit Datta was to the cinema born. His parents Ashim and Purnima Datta - owners of the iconic Priya Cinema and several multi-complexes and mutliplexes in and around Kolkata - produced some of Satayjit Ray’s most memorable films; Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Aranyer Dinratri, Pratidwandi. Purnima Datta was actively involved in the production of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969), which was released under the Piyali Films banner (Piyali is Arijit’s sister, who now lives in Singapore).

“While my parents were busy producing Ray’s films (as well as Arundhati Devi’s Chhuti (1967) and Tapan Sinha’s Hatey Bajare (1967), I was studying in St Paul’s School (Darjeeling). It was during the school holidays that I would occasionally see/meet Manik da and Baudi (Bijoya Ray). Manik da was absolutely mesmerising -  a tall man with a pipe always dangling from his lips. Though I did not have much conversation with him, our home was always buzzing with film stories and intricacies of film production. I remember that during the height of Naxal movement (early 1970s), the Golden Bear statuette that Satyajit Ray won for Ashani Sanket at the 1973 Berlin International Film Festival (Germany) was kept hidden under my grandmother’s bed.”

Gargi Gupta, public relations professional

Radha Prasad Gupta (1921-2000), bibliophile, raconteur and collector, and Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) would have turned 100 this year. Born in the same year, R.P. Gupta (Gargi’s father) and Ray first met while they were working in different advertising agencies in Kolkata, and remained best friends forever. Shantul da (as R.P. Gupta was fondly called) referred to Ray as Manke (a corruption of his nickname), and would often tease the exceptionally tall film-maker with the sobriquet ‘Oriental Longman'. It was R.P. Gupta who first showed the rushes of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne to ten-time Oscar-nominated legend John Huston. In every film, Ray credited R.P. Gupta for his collaboration.

Still very young, Gargi remembers meeting Ray at the premiere of one of his films. A toddler, Gargi stood by her father as the two legendary friends chatted. “If not anything else, I still remember how tall he was (Ray was 6ft 4 inches tall). I did not have much interaction with him, but growing up I knew Ray through Baba’s conversations of him.”

Parimal Ray, antique/art collector

At 85, Parimal Ray still retains vivid memories of his three-decade-long friendship with Satyajit Ray. For several movies, the filmmaker borrowed props (sculptures, photographs, bronzes, paintings) from Parimal Ray. But their friendship did not begin with art, it began with location.

“I had been on a holiday to Mayurbhanj (Odisha) and would narrate stories of the trip to my friends. Unknown to me, Manik da was looking for locations to shoot Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne and my Mayubhanj tales reached him. Manik da called me and one day, I along with painter Nirode Mazumdar, went to his house. There he was. I have never seen a man so good-looking. Tall, dark, with an enchanting presence. The following day, we went to Mayurbhanj, and that’s how our friendship began. He would always come to me looking for props and diligently return them when the shooting got over.”

Parimal Ray does not remember the names of all the movies for which Satyajit Ray had borrowed props, but he does mention Agantuk (1991), Ray's last film.

More about Ray

Ray’s height has been talked of often - biographer Marie Seton once called him “one of the tallest, if not the tallest, living Bengali”; Japanese film curator Kashiko Kawakita was so dazzled by Ray’s physical presence that she compared it to meeting a Hindu god. She also compared Ray to a tree. In a 1958 interview for The New York Times, Howard Thompson repeatedly stressed Ray’s surprising physicality, describing him as a “strapping, swarthy chap, with strong features”.

Rabindranath Tagore is said to have dedicated a poem to the infant Ray, likening him to a drop of dew.