Was Satyajit Ray an elitist?

Spoke with a fake Brit accent, called Indian commercial movie audience "backward" and "unsophisticated" in an interview with Pierre Boutang, and was a known Anglophile. Would that make him an elitist?

Never knew that.

More of a satyajit ray the writer fan.Grew up reading feluda Stories.

I dont think he was at all! Look at the subjects he chose. Anyone who could make Pather Panchali and show poverty with empathy and such a clear gaze could not be elitist.

As for shitting on commercial cinema, everyone from Naseerudin to Irrfan have done it, although in a gentle way. All 'serious' filmmakers tend to shit on commercial cinema, it's like a rite of passage. Frankly, a lot of our Bollywood films ARE ridiculous, but we love them anyway, because they are a part of our lives.

As for his accent, his education was very old school at Santiniketan. They all spoke like that then. But his movies stayed rooted, the more international he became. He was a genius.

Originally posted by: Sashay01

I dont think he was at all! Look at the subjects he chose. Anyone who could make Pather Panchali and show poverty with empathy and such a clear gaze could not be elitist.

As for shitting on commercial cinema, everyone from Naseerudin to Irrfan have done it, although in a gentle way. All 'serious' filmmakers tend to shit on commercial cinema, it's like a rite of passage. Frankly, a lot of our Bollywood films ARE ridiculous, but we love them anyway, because they are a part of our lives.

As for his accent, his education was very old school at Santiniketan. They all spoke like that then. But his movies stayed rooted, the more international he became. He was a genius.

Bold: The way Ray did it was crude and, if I may say so, quite "un-sophisticated" (cue ironic bgm). You have no right to call a huge chunk of the population 'idiots' for having different taste.

Originally posted by: Mahisa22

Bold: The way Ray did it was crude and, if I may say so, quite "un-sophisticated" (cue ironic bgm). You have no right to call a huge chunk of the population 'idiots' for having different taste.

Im not saying it's right but that is the world view of most film makers about mainstream Bollywood- that those films are not nuanced; DID he call them idiots though?

The demands of mass cinema are different. Everyone understand that. A Judwa 2 might be an "unsophisticated" film to some, but it is fulfilling the function of entertaining a whole chunk of population for whom this is the most accessible form of art. A parallel film maker will hate it of course and recognise the clunkiness of the film, but he's not necessarily saying that people who like it are idiots.

Originally posted by: Sashay01

Im not saying it's right but that is the world view of most film makers about mainstream Bollywood- that those films are not nuanced; DID he call them idiots though?

The demands of mass cinema are different. Everyone understand that. A Judwa 2 might be an "unsophisticated" film to some, but it is fulfilling the function of entertaining a whole chunk of population for whom this is the most accessible form of art. A parallel film maker will hate it of course and recognise the clunkiness of the film, but he's not necessarily saying that people who like it are idiots.

You need to watch the interview. He clearly used the term "idiots".

LOL. That's all I can say. 🤣

He was. We bongs are elitist. What about it???

Originally posted by: prerna4rishav

LOL. That's all I can say. 🤣

What's so funny? Better don't comment on things you've no clue about. 😆 I bet you didn't even know this interview existed.

Originally posted by: Sashay01

Link pls

https://youtu.be/9H_lX2FRhxw