{"id":2497,"date":"2016-03-25T04:39:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T23:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=2497"},"modified":"2016-03-25T04:39:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-24T23:09:29","slug":"satyajit-ray-pather-panchali-bengalis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2497","title":{"rendered":"Name-Dropping Satyajit Ray: A Bong\u2019s Greatest Accessory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span><\/p><\/div>

here\u2019s a running joke about Bengalis <\/a>that never seems to lose its charm for almost every non-Bengali friend or acquaintance that I\u2019ve come to know. It goes something like this: \u201cSo after you are born, the first words that any Bengali utters are \u2018Satyajit Ray\u2019, na?\u201d More often than not, this icebreaker is followed by raucous laughter from the joke-cracker and a sheepish smile from the subject of the joke.\n\nI\u2019ve heard this quip on the first day of college, on a drunken night out with friends, and at press shows where the presence of rapidly multiplying Bengali film critics never ceases to amaze anyone. And, yet despite the impreciseness of the wisecrack \u2013 I\u2019m certain the first two words of any Bengali are \u201cBhaat khaabo\u201d (I will eat rice) \u2013 I find myself unable to contradict or take offence to it. Because jokes like these are a result of \u201ckalchaar-ed\u201d Bangali bhodrolok\u2019s<\/a> own doing. It\u2019s actually the very impression we strive to achieve.\n\nBengalis love Satyajit Ray and his work nearly as much as we love boasting about our impeccable knowledge about the multi-hyphenate filmmaker, screenwriter, author, graphic artist, music composer, and universal Bengali inspiration\u2019s incredible existence. The fact that some of us might have watched the sum total of one Ray film \u2013 Pather Panchali<\/i>, obvs \u2013 and the trailer to Apur Sansar<\/i> and Aparajito<\/i>, is hardly enough to deter us in our dedicated crusade of ensuring that no discussion on Indian cinema<\/a> passes without a mention of Satyajit Ray.\n\nInvoking Ray, whose birth anniversary it is today, in conversation, argument, and discussion is every Bong\u2019s<\/a> greatest accessory. It comes as naturally to us as praying to Tagore, staking a claim over India\u2019s best biryani, and slathering Boroline<\/a> over everything. For the world, Satyajit Ray is nothing short of a religion<\/a> for Bengalis. For us, however, he is more like a meal-ticket; a hall pass that cements our superiority over anyone and everyone. Take for instance, the wilfully ignorant Bengali sharing the photoshopped telegram<\/a> of Sukumar Ray announcing the news of Ray\u2019s birth on Facebook today. Being undesignated PR army for Satyajit Ray is now our birthright.\n\n

For us, however, he is more like a meal-ticket; a hall pass that cements our superiority over anyone and everyone. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nThe auteur\u2019s incredulous body of work is our gold standard, against which, everyone comes up short. Oh, you thought Steven Spielberg\u2019s ET<\/i> was a classic? Wait until the Bengali Brigade schools you by letting you know that the film\u2019s plot was in fact inspired\/copied from an unproduced Ray film called The Alien<\/i><\/a>. It\u2019s why we see a Ray-style filmmaking opportunity even when there\u2019s a casual downpour. \u201cPretty sure if Satyajit Ray shot rains, it\u2019d look much more poetic than actual rains,\u201d is a legit belief most of my filmmaker friends hold. It\u2019s also the same reason we begin most of our opening remarks with, \u201cIf Satyajit Ray were still alive…\u201d and end them with \u201cSatyajit Ray should have been alive\u2026\u201d when we opine about the state of the Indian film<\/a> industry. (I\u2019ve seen the same people unable to tell Ray and Ritwik Ghatak apart.)\n\nOf course, what is a regular Bengali to do? There are tons of Feluda and Professor Shonku stories to read, Ray\u2019s advertising work to brush up on, the minutiae of his meetings with Vittoria Di Sica and Akira Kurosawa to remember. The pressure to be a gatekeeper of the Ray nostalgia is immense, even if you were born two years ago or can\u2019t tell Mahapurush<\/i> and Mahanagar <\/i>apart.\n\nEven if it\u2019s impossible to familiarise yourself with all of Ray\u2019s work, it\u2019s imperative that you don\u2019t publicly confess to it.\n\nSometimes, it\u2019s okay to fake our way through Ray, because like he said, \u201cThe only solutions that are ever worth anything are the solutions people find for themselves.\u201d\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bengalis love Satyajit Ray and his work nearly as much as we love boasting about our impeccable knowledge about the multi-hyphenate filmmaker and universal Bengali inspiration\u2019s incredible existence. Even if we’ve seen a sum total of one Ray film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":2498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[3045,2113,5093,546,5094,4453,4876],"class_list":["post-2497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-bengalis","tag-culture","tag-filmmakers","tag-films","tag-satyajit-ray","tag-stereotypes","tag-writers"],"yoast_head":"\nName-Dropping Satyajit Ray: A Bong\u2019s Greatest Accessory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bengalis love Satyajit Ray and his work nearly as much as we love boasting about our impeccable knowledge about the multi-hyphenate filmmaker and universal Bengali inspiration\u2019s incredible existence. 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