My Obsession with Ray (part 1)

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 .