Satyajit Ray a renowned Indian Director. Gaston Roberge speaks of Ray in an interview with Frontline. X Class English Lesson

1. Rendezvous with Ray
Gaston Roberge
Satyajit Ray
Presentation by:
CVVMMK Dhaveji
School Assistant Science
Taylor High School
Narsapur 534275
Andhra Pradesh
muralidhaveji@yahoo.com

2. The friendship
between a French-
Canadian Priest
and a Bengali film-maker
led to path-breaking
work in
film studies

3. Fr. Gaston Roberge was acquainted
with the works of Satyajit Ray through
the Apu Trilogy

4. He found the world of
Apu so fascinating that
he saw all three films in
one sitting; and there
began his longstanding
love affair with the
people of India and
Bengali cinema and
culture

5. Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road, 1955)
Pather Panchali tells the story of a poor family
living in a Bengal village. A priest - Harihar, his
wife - Sarbajaya, his two children - Apu and
Durga, and his aged cousin - Indir Thakrun,
struggle to make both end meet.
Harihar is frequently away from home on work.
The wife is raising her mischievous daughter
Durga and caring for elderly cousin Indir. Apu is
born. Soon, Durga and Apu build a bond as they
explore the world around the village. The
sequences of Durga and Apu are the most
cinematic moments in the film. On a stormy day,
following a joyous dance in the monsoon rains,
Durga dies. On Harihar's return, the family leaves
their village in search of a new life in Benaras.
The film closes with an image of Harihar, wife
and son - Apu, moving way in an ox cart.

6. Aparajito (The Unvanquished), 1956
The film opens with Apu wandering and exploring the
city.
Harihar falls ill with fever and collapses at the
riverbank. Harihar's death leaves mother and son to
fend for themselves.
The mother decides to return with Apu to live in a
village where an old uncle works as a priest. She
makes sacrifices so that he might pursue his studies.
Apu, now sixteen, wins a scholarship and departs for
Calcutta, leaving her alone. It breaks Sarbajaya's
heart, but she relents. Her health is failing, and the
loneliness in the village takes its toll.
Engulfed in city life - studying during the day and
working in a printing press at night to pay for his
expenses - Apu grows away from his mother. She
waits silently for her son's visit as her illness
accelerates and falls into a depression.
On a night , Sarbajaya dies. Apu comes back to an
empty house. He grieves for his mother, but soon
finds strength to leaves the village for the last time, to
carry on with his new life in the city ...

7. Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959
Apu is now a graduate and without a job. He is
writing a novel based on his life, which he hopes
will make him famous. His life takes a turn when
he meets his old friend Pulu. He coerces Apu to
travel to his ancestral village to attend the
wedding of his cousin, Aparna (Sharmila Tagore ). On
the day of the wedding, the bridegroom turns
out to be mentally deranged and the wedding is
cancelled. Apu primarily of out sympathy for the
bride and some convincing by Pulu, agrees to be
the substitute groom. He has not even seen her
yet.
Soon, a warm and caring relationship develops.
Apu willingly takes up the clerical job.
Pregnant, she goes to her parents' place and dies
during the childbirth. Apu's world shatters. He
leaves Calcutta to lead the life of a wanderer.
Apu comes back to the village. On seeing his son,
Apu is overwhelmed by affection. United, they
leave for Calcutta to make a new beginning..

8. In his latest book,
Satyajit Ray Essays:
1970-2005, a
compilation of his
essays , Roberge
provides a scholarly,
original analysis of
Ray's works, giving an
insight into the
greatness of Ray both
as a person and as an
artist.
works of Satyajit Ray

9. “The Apu Trilogy was, in fact, my first portal to
West Bengal and its people,” he told Frontline.

10. Roberge knew of
Bengal was through-

11. Roberge knew of
Bengal was through-
Some poems of

12. Roberge knew of
Bengal was through a -
ARTICLE ON
MOTHER
TERESA

13. If the harsh
image of poverty
brought out by
the article on
the “Saint of the
slums” haunted
him, Apu’s world
came as a
reassurance.
SAINT OF THE
SLUMS

14. Roberge does not endorse the accusation
of Ray's detractors that the master director
made his reputation selling India's poverty
to the West.

15. "What struck me most was not the material poverty
depicted in the films, but the enormous spiritual richness
of the characters, whose poverty didn't prevent them from
being so deeply human and so full of joy. Besides, the
spiritual poverty of some rich people is much more
deplorable than material poverty," he said.

16. Roberge does not speak with the arrogance of the
west. "I was here on a quest to know the world and
in the process know myself. I did not come here to
convert. In fact, I am the one who got converted."

17. It took him nine years to muster up the
confidence to meet Ray in person.

18. "Although I wanted to meet him right away, I didn't want
to just go and see him like he was a living museum piece.
I wanted to prepare myself, get to know his works more,
so that when we met, there could be a worthwhile
dialogue,"

19. "When they finally met, it was
the beginning of a close
friendship that lasted 22 years
- until Ray's death in 1992

20. "It was a very quiet friendship that developed
over the years. Manikda [as Ray was
affectionately called by friends] was a shy person
and always very discreet about displaying his
emotions," said Roberge.

21. Though to outsiders, Ray's massive stature -
physical and intellectual - might have made
him come across as cold, aloof and even
intimidating, he was in reality a very simple
and unassuming man with a subtle sense of
humour.

22. It was an unspoken arrangement between
the two of them to meet on Sundays at 9
a.m. at Ray's residence on Bishop Lefroy
Road, Kolkata.

23. . Ray would invite Roberge over for private
screenings of his latest films and welcomed
comments on them.

24. . “He was even
shy of receiving
complements”.

25. Ray's screenplay manuscripts were an art by
themselves, Roberge says, "hand-written in
Bengali, with notes in English for his set-designer,
with sketches here and there, and
occasional staff notation of fragments of music".

26. Like Rabindranath
Tagore, Ray
strode his time
like a colossus.

27. . Roberge writes, “It is as if all Bengal was in Manikda: the
rich and the poor, the powerful and the humble, the
peasants and the city persons, children, teenagers, adults
and old people, men and women.”

28. Philosophically too, Roberge feels, Ray took off
where Tagore signed out.

29. If one compares the
last major prose piece
by Rabindranth Tagore,
"Shabhyatar Sankat"
(Crisis of Civilisation),
which contains his
immortal dictum that in
spite of what was
happening it would be
a sin to lose faith in
Man ,

30. …and the last three
films of Ray –
Ganashatru(Public Enemy),
Shakha Prashakha
(Branches of the tree), and
Agantuk(The Stranger) –
the analogy becomes
clear.

31. "In these three films Ray was at his most
personal and when some critics saw the
films as didactic and verbose, he felt
deeply hurt. …

32. …For, in these last films, Satyajit was directly
talking to us, conveying his personal message
on society and civilisation.

33. …If the impulse that motivated his earlier
films was aesthetics in the last three it was
self- expression. And there we were denying
him his right to speak. As the saying goes, no
one is a prophet in his own country,” said
Roberge.

34. An agnostic throughout his life, it is
possible, Roberge feels, that in the face of
death Ray was searching for an answer.
This was suggested by some of the music that he used in Shakha Prashakha.

35. The last time the two friends met,
Ray was in hospital, on his deathbed.
It was a Sunday and Roberge, true to
habit, arrived on the dot at 9 a.m.

36. “He had grown so weak that he looked frail
as a child. I did not stay long, d as I was
leaving, Manikda said, ‘Bhalo laglo’ [it was
nice]. Those were his last words to me,” said
Roberge.

37. One important fallout of this friendship was
the establishment of Chitrabani , a
communication and film institute, the first of
its kind in West Bengal, which Roberge
founded in 1970 and to which Ray, as a token
of friendship, lent his name as co-founder.

38. Ray was in the first governing body and after
a few terms readily agreed to be the
institute’s adviser. Roberge arranged most of
the initial funding from Canadian agencies.

39. “I had no reservations
applying for them, for I
feel richer countries in
the West are indebted
to countries like India,”
he said.

40. For 26 years Roberge was
the director of Chitrabani
and under him the
institute not only
produced important
documentary features,
but also became
breeding ground for local
talent for film-making…