I can't
recall since when my obsession with Ray's films had started..but it was much
later,because my initial fixation for bengali art house cinema had started with
Rituparno Ghosh and Aparna Sen's movies,i was, and m still biased towards
Ghosh's cinema,though i had certain reservations with some of Sen's films (
Sati for instance!)..I think the first Ray movie that i saw was Jai baba
Felunath,which was being aired at one of the movie channels,liked it ,but then
m not much inclined towards feluda stories! It was years later when i saw
Pather Panchali and watched it twice in succession.The film moved me so much
that for few days the images of Indir thakuron, Sarbojaya, Apu and Durga kept
coming back again and again.Each and every scene evolved like a beautiful
canvas on screen with the nature in its full glory,well..won't go into much
detail about the film,a lot have been said for so many decades..in short, i
loved it immensely,then i went onto watch the other two parts of the trilogy
Aparajito and Apur Sansar. True to all the reviews that i had heard before, the
trilogy really opened up the prospects for a whole new generation of Indian
film makers to the international arena..The trilogy had so much of an effect on
me that immedietly i brought the dvd's of Charulata, Devi, Jalsaghar, Teen
Kanya,Mahanagar, Kanchenjunga, Abhijan, Nayak and Kapurush O Mahapurush,
spending almost all my pocket money! Days after days i was hooked up with each
and every film,though i must admit that Jalsaghar, Kapurush o mahapurush and
Hirak Rajar Deshe were films which i felt was worth of just a one time
watch,while films like Chidiyakhana, Ganashatru and Shakha Proshakha were
nowhere near to Ray's other masterpieces, but films like Mahanagar, Devi,
Aranyer Din ratri, Nayak and most importantly Charulata had an overwhelming
effect on me,had watched them couple of times! In between i had seen one of the
Calcutta Trilogy film, Pratidwandi..i admit,i didn't like it then,because that
was a time when i was drooling over the aura of the Apu tirlogy and Charulata
overshadowing my sensibilities on films being based upon the socio political
scenario of the state, much later when i had read John W Hood's book 'Beyond
the world of Apu' and had watched all three of the Calcutta trilogy (Pratidwandi,
Seemabaddha and Jana Aranya) that i understood the concept of the trilogy
clearly and liked it. I don't know why people still compare Mrinal Sen's
Calcutta trilogy (Interview, Calcutta 71, Padatik) with that of Ray's, because
both of them had different outlook and approach towards film making and they
both, according to me, have done justice to their respective films. The same
can be said about both of their endeavors towards the subject of Calcutta
famine..Sen's Akaler Sandhane and Ray's Ashani Sanket .
