When Legandary Filmmaker Satyajit Ray Called Indian Audience `Unsphosticated And Backward`

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MAY 02,2023

One of the finest, most versatile filmmakers Satyajit Ray has revolutionized the way cinema is viewed. All of his movies were way ahead of their time. He was not just a random filmmaker, Ray was a storyteller with a creative vision like no one else. May 2 marks Satyajit Ray's 102nd birth anniversary. The man behind the lens was also known for being blunt about his thoughts on the then-evolving Indian audience.

Satyajit Ray is known for many cult classic movies like Pather Panchali (1955), Charulata (1964), and Ghare Baire (1984) among others. On his birth anniversary, let's take you down memory lane when the filmmaker spoke about the backlash he faced from the Indian audience for his movie Devi which starred Sharmila Tagore.

Ray spoke about his 1960 release to a French journalist Pierre Andre Boutang in 1989. Sharmila played the role of a young woman who is seen in the avatar of Goddess Kali. The movie also featured Soumitra Chatterjee and Chhabi Biswas.

Also Read:Satyajit Ray To Naatu Naatu, Indian Cinematic Masterpieces That Won The Academy Awards

In an old interview, Satyajit said, 'I once made a film called the goddess Devi, it dealt with religious dogmatism, it didn't attack religion as such, it attacked dogmatism, the extreme form of religion. But people (are) writing in the papers that 'Oh! Mr. Ray is not a Hindu, he is making such films against Hinduism'. But they are stupid people you can't take them into account. This happens in India all the time. We have a fairly backward audience here, in spite of the film society movement and all that, if you consider the audience at large, it is a backward audience.'

He further added, "An unsophisticated audience, exposed to the commercial Hindi cinema more than anything else. And so you face this problem, but you make the kind of films (you want to) and I make the kind of films that I want to make. I make the kind of films that I enjoy making that engages my attention, my creativity, that is all I can do."

The Bengali filmmaker and his thoughts were certainly ahead of the time. His screenplay was distributed as a case study and reference point for budding filmmakers in Hollywood at Columbia Pictures. It was a middleman's 'peculiar behavior' that made Satyajit 'drop the idea' of working with Hollywood.

Rumors back then suggested Steven Spielberg stole the story of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial from Satyajit Ray's Alien. But "Spielberg, of course, denied it", said the Indian filmmaker.

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