Opinion Satyajit Ray’s 102nd birthday: The debt we owe him

Sometimes through film, sometimes through books, he has shaped many young minds. Many of us develop our early social values, principles, taste for art and eye for aesthetics from Ray

An old photo of Satyajit Ray. (Photo: Express Archive)

Soumalya Chatterjee

May 2, 2023 03:36 PM IST First published on: May 2, 2023 at 03:36 PM IST

Before emerging as an iconic figure of Indian cinema, Satyajit Ray was a graphic illustrator. Long before creating wonders in the celluloid world, Ray had established himself as a promising illustrator in advertising. According to painter Paritosh Sen, “Ray brought a mini-revolution in printing design”. Before joining D J Keymer & Co in 1943 as a junior visualiser, Ray practised “Oriental Art” under the tutelage of Nandalal Bose and Benode Behari Mukherjee. It is true that Kala Bhavana at Shantiniketan was well-known for its emphasis on Indian tradition and originality. But Ray and his batchmates did not restrict themselves to that. Dinkar Kowshik — well-known visual artist and Ray’s batchmate in Shantiniketan — recalls in the book Satyajit Ray, An Intimate Master: “The hostel verandah was usually our drawing room. We would gather and talk endlessly about the current world scene of art. The discussions were rambling and endless; names like Paul Klee, Brancusi, Kandinsky, Juan Miro, Picasso, Salvador Dali and Cezanne were used as sterling currency. The Indian artists whose names graced the list were but few. Benode Behari, Nandalal, Ramkinkar, Rabindranath, Abanindranath and Jamini Roy. No artist from Bombay could find favour in this elite list. They were just crass imitationists who painted to please customers instead of themselves.” This excerpt captures the intensity with which Kowshik, Ray and others were looking for an alternative path, rejecting the commercial Indian art of the time.

Also Read | Why Satyajit Ray is still the saviour for the Bengali film industry

Ray joined D J Keymer in 1943 and in a short time, became a well-known face in the Kolkata advertisement scene. Some of his commercial illustrations were warmly accepted by the people of Kolkata. The half-opened Margo soap, one cigarette stick sticking out from the tin of Chelsea cigarettes and the woman in the “Tea with Music” commercial were some of the designs Ray produced in his early career. Outside of commercial advertising, Ray designed book jackets too. Jibanananda Das’s Banalata Sen is an excellent example. On the cover, we can see an enigmatic doe-eyed mysterious woman peeking from behind foliage. The book covers of Sukumar Ray’s Khai Khai, Leela Majumdar’s Jonaki and Jim Corbett’s Man-Eaters of Kumaon were some of his notable works. But Ray’s life took a turn when D K Gupta of Signet Press asked him to illustrate for Aam Antir Bhepu — an abridged version of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s masterpiece Pather Panchali.

Today, Ray is largely seen as an image-driven storyteller. Perhaps, he formulated his deep understanding of image composition in his time illustrating for Aam Antir Bhepu. The Pather Panchali Sketchbook, which Harper Collins published in 2016, gives us an insight into Ray’s process of composing scenes for his debut film. His son, Sandip Ray writes in the preface of the book: “Ray did not use his now-famous kheror khata (red notebook) to write the screenplay. He did some sketches in a drawing book after he had come back from London in 1950 and illustrated a succession of pictures (in pen, brush and ink) for the sequences of frames as they would come up in the film. He used to take them to the producers and explain the sequences. The producers he approached, however, had no interest, nor could they understand the whole process. Some of the shot divisions were scribbled on chits of paper and cigarette packs.”

Don't Miss | Anthology offers glimpse into Satyajit Ray’s fiction, non-fiction writings

When Ray shifted focus to filmmaking, he left his full-time job. His career as an illustrator did not end. Instead, it took a new turn. During this time Ray’s creativity flourished in poster designs for his films. He eschewed the then-prevalent commercial Bombay-made posters — which depicted the star’s face most of the time — and took an aesthetic, abstract approach towards poster design. For instance, the poster of his 1960 film Devi features a young woman directly gazing at the viewer. Her face had two different skin tones to portray the superstition and ambiguity of orthodox society. Ray took a minimalist approach while designing the poster for his 1964 classic Charulata. With swift brush strokes, he created a profile image of Charulata. The loneliness was apparent in the melancholic eyes of the lady in the poster.

In 1961, Ray revived the famous children’s magazine Sandesh, originally founded by his grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury. With that, Ray started his second innings as an illustrator and blossomed as a writer and translator. He spent a monumental amount of time sketching and they became an inseparable part of his narratives. Almost all of his stories about the character Feluda contain some eye-catching sketches. He took a dark silhouette-ish approach toward the pictures he drew for Feluda and his short stories; while the pictures he used for the Professor Shanku series were a bit complex. The illustrations of Eksringo Abhijan, Hypnogen — are quite reminiscent of the psychedelic art that gained momentum in the early ’70s. Ray sketched for others’ stories too; for instance, he sketched “Ichingka” – an alien who appeared in Amitananda Das’s short story. Ray also adopted a unique style for the cover designs he made for Sandesh — he incorporated colourful geometric and floral patterns native to Alpana art done by Ray himself. He developed his talent in sketching portraits too. For instance, he made some impressive portraits of figures such as Sergei Eisenstein and V I Lenin.

Satyajit Ray was one of those few men who was able to share his wisdom with people of all ages. He has left his traces not only in the world of celluloid but also in literature, illustration, music, advertisement and calligraphy. He was able to mould his understanding of Western aesthetics with Indian art and incorporated them in his films, music, commercials, and illustrations. His work has left a lasting impression on creative fields that is visible to this day. Sometimes through film, sometimes through the pages of books, Ray has shaped many of our young minds. Many of us develop our early social values, principles, taste for art and eye for aesthetics from Ray. We are indebted to Satyajit Ray.

The writer is a student at Jadavpur University