Satyajit Ray : the inner eye : the biography of a master film-maker

Andrew Robinson's definitive biography of the great Bengali director Satyajit Ray traces Ray's early life and provides a rich context for his film-making career. Robinson provides a film-by-film analysis of Ray's oeuvre, which spanned almost every genre, from drama and documentaries to comedies, musicals and detective films, with chapters on films including The 'Apu' Trilogy, The Music Room, Charulata, Days and Nights in the Forest, The Chess Players and The Stranger. In a career spanning over thirty years, from the classic Pather Panchali in 1955 until his death in 1992, Ray won almost every major prize in cinema, including an Academy Award for lifetime achievement just before his death. Akira Kurosawa said of him ‘Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon’. Andrew Robinson draws on extensive interviews with Ray himself, his actors and collaborators, and a deep knowledge of Bengali culture. This new edition, published to mark the centenary of Ray's birth, includes a new assessment of Ray's life and legacy, as well as previously unpublished conversations between the author and Ray, and new images from the author's personal collection. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the Third Edition Acknowledgements Illustrations A Note on the Pronunciation and Spelling of Bengali The Ray Family Tree Introduction: Getting to Know Ray Chapter 1: A Bengali Banyan Tree: The Ray Family Chapter 2: Early Years: 1921–40 Chapter 3: Santiniketan and Tagore: 1940–2 Chapter 4: Commercial Artist and Critic: 1943–50 Chapter 5: The Making of Pather Panchali: 1950–5 Chapter 6: The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali 1955, Aparajito (The Unvanquished) 1956, The World of Apu (Apur Sansar) 1959 Chapter 7: Comedies: The Philosopher’s Stone (Parash Pathar) 1958, The Holy Man (Mahapurush) 1964 Chapter 8: The Music Room: (Jalsaghar) 1958 Chapter 9: The Goddess: (Devi) 1960 Chapter 10: Three Daughters: (Teen Kanya) 1961 Chapter 11: Kanchenjungha: 1962 Chapter 12: The Expedition: (Abhijan) 1962 Chapter 13: The Big City: (Mahanagar) 1963 Chapter 14: The Lonely Wife: (Charulata) 1964 Chapter 15: The Coward: (Kapurush) 1965 Chapter 16: The Hero: (Nayak) 1966 Chapter 17: Musicals: The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha (Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne) 1969, The Kingdom of Diamonds (Hirak Rajar Dese) 1980 Chapter 18: Days and Nights in the Forest: (Aranyer Din Ratri) 1969 Chapter 19: The Calcutta Trilogy: The Adversary (Pratidwandi) 1970, Company Limited (Seemabaddha) 1971, The Middle Man (Jana Aranya) 1975 Chapter 20: Distant Thunder: (Asani Sanket) 1973 Chapter 21: Detective Films: The Zoo (Chiriakhana) 1967, The Golden Fortress (Sonar Kella) 1974, The Elephant God (Joi Baba Felunath) 1978 Chapter 22: The Chess Players: (Shatranj ke Khilari) 1977 Chapter 23: Short Films: Two 1964, Pikoo 1980 Chapter 24: Deliverance: (Sadgati) 1981 Chapter 25: The Home and the World: (Ghare Baire) 1984 Chapter 26: Documentaries: Sikkim 1971, Sukumar Ray 1987, Bala 1976, Rabindranath Tagore 1961, The Inner Eye 1973 Chapter 27: Unmade Films: Ravi Shankar, The Mahabharata, A Passage to India, The Alien Chapter 28: Ray as Designer, Illustrator and Writer Chapter 29: ‘Some Aspects of His Craft’: Ray as Film-maker Chapter 30: ‘The Inner Eye’ Chapter 31: Koh-i-Noor: An Enemy of the People (Ganasatru) 1989, Branches of the Tree (Sakha Prasakha) 1990, The Stranger (Agantuk) 1991 and the Legacy of Satyajit Ray Epilogue: A Century of Ray Appendix: Ray in Conversation Glossary Filmography Notes Bibliography Index "Akira Kurosawa said of the great director: 'Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.' Martin Scorsese remarked on Ray's birth centenary in 2021: 'The films of Satyajit Ray are truly treasures of cinema, and everyone with an interest in film needs to see them.' Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye is the definitive biography, based on extensive interviews with Ray himself, his actors and collaborators, and a deep knowledge of Bengali culture. Andrew Robinson provides an in-depth critical account of each film in an astonishingly versatile career, from Ray's directorial debut Pather Panchali (1955) to his final feature Agantuk (1991). The third (centenary) edition includes new material: an epilogue, 'A century of Ray', about the nature of his genius; a wide-ranging conversation with Ray drawn from the author's interviews; and an updated comprehensive bibliography of Ray's writings."--