×

Cover Stories

Charulata: His Allegorical Women

Kaveree Bamzai

When the woman made a radical choice, Ray was uncomfortable. He was more comfortable showing women taking a stand against institutional orthodoxy

The Mind of Bengal

It is easy to see why Ray’s films were classed as arthouse in the West. In Calcutta, they were screened in cinemas which showed regular Bengali films, whose audiences in the 1950s and 1960s didn’t watch much Hindi cinema

The Inner Eye

Ray obsessed about the tiniest detail. A sceptic of the time had grudgingly admitted: ‘How did a city boy know that when a frog dies, it floats on its back?’

A Humanist Behind the Camera

Ray chose his stories with the dexterity of a jeweller picking his diamonds. And he was far from naïve on politics

From Genius to Divinity

Satyajit Ray never touched alcohol, and listened to a sonata by Beethoven on his turntable gramophone at breakfast. What else could possibly be required for the biodata of a Calcutta god?

He Kept You at Arm’s Length

But you could always trust Satyajit Ray to say what he meant. His opinions were sharp, to the point

Ray, Forever

Ray is forever because he validated higher culture

Testing Faith

Ramzan, Navratri and the conditions of a pandemic

Drug of Desperation

As hospitals find their stockpiles depleted, distraught relatives are forced to look for purported Covid medicines

Magazine

Subscribe today and save up to 85% off the cover price