Satyajit Ray fest to mark 89th birth anniversary

Mumbai, May 1 (IANS) The Taj Enlighten Film Society will celebrate Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray's 89th birth anniversary Sunday by showcasing his best works during The Satyajit Ray Festival.

'We are celebrating Satyajit Ray's 89th birthday. He was the most important and popular face of the real Indian cinema, so it was a natural choice,' society president Pranav Ashar told IANS.

Beginning May 2, the society will screen Ray's films such as 'Agantuk' (The Stranger), 'Jalsaghar' (The Music Room) and 'Charulata' (The Lonely Wife) every Sunday at Cinemax, Metro Big Cinemas and NCPA. The festival concludes May 16.

'Since we began our film society, we have had many requests to do a Satyajit Ray film festival. We are also planning to extend and enhance the experience of the festival by adding the famous 'Apu Trilogy' - 'Pather Panchali' (Song of the Little Road), 'Aparajito' (The Unvanquished) and 'Apur Sansar' (The World of Apu),' said Ashar.

The screenings would be followed by a discussion on Ray's films by Bhawana Somaaya, ex-editor of Screen, filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh and film academics from across India.

'The discussion will analyse Ray's films and his take on the audience, the rural and the urban world, aesthetics, Satyajit Ray as a writer, an illustrator, an activist of the film society movement, and Ray as a filmmaker,' said Ashar.

From this year, the society also has plans to start a workshop on Ray's work.