Explained: Why Bangladesh is demolishing Satyajit Ray's ancestral home and how India is honouring his legacy

Why is Bangladesh demolishing Satyajit Ray's ancestral home and how is India trying to preserve it?

Legendary Indian filmmaker and Oscar winner Satyajit Ray's ancestral home faces in Bangladesh's Mymensingh demolition to make way for a semi-concrete structure. In response, New Delhi has urged Dhaka to reconsider the decision and offered assistance to restore and preserve the property as a “museum of literature.”

The building, formerly housing the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, is now being demolished to make way for a new structure.

The external affairs ministry said it was regrettable that the property in Mymensingh, which once belonged to Satyajit Ray’s grandfather, eminent litterateur Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury, was being demolished.

“Given the building’s landmark status, symbolising Bangla cultural renaissance, it would be preferable to reconsider the demolition and examine options for its repair and reconstruction as a museum of literature and a symbol of the shared culture of India and Bangladesh,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The Government of India would be willing to extend cooperation for this purpose,” it said.

Why is Bangladesh tearing down Satyajit Ray’s ancestral home?

The ancestral home of Ray is located on Harikishore Ray Chowdhury Road in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The house is spread across a 36-acre plot and was originally built nearly a century ago by Ray’s grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, who was a noted Bangla litterateur and pioneer of children's literature.

Once a residential palace, it has a prayer hall, kitchen, workspace (‘Kachari Bari’), garden house, elephant pond, playground, and two ponds. It had remained in disuse for over a decade. It was previously used by the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, which vacated the space in 2007 and has since operated from a rented location.

According to reports in Bangladeshi media outlets, the house has been abandoned for 10 years.

Shishu Academy activities have been operating from a rented space, according to Md Mehedi Zaman, the District Children Affairs Officer, who spoke to The Daily Star.

He noted that the structure posed safety risks to children and that a semi-concrete building with multiple rooms would replace it to resume academy activities.

It is now reportedly being demolished to make way for a semi-concrete building with several rooms to resume academy activities, also the demolition is being carried out with the necessary approvals, according to Bangladeshi officials.

Local residents expressed concern over the demolition, criticizing the administration for its prolonged neglect of the historic site.

“The house remained in a sorry state for years, with cracks forming on its roof - yet the authorities never cared about the rich history these old buildings hold," poet Shamim Ashraf told The Daily Star. He added that the community had made repeated appeals for preservation, but those were ignored.

Though commonly known as Satyajit Ray’s ancestral home, some locals point out that Ray never actually visited the residence.