Light and Shadow: Satyajit Ray Through Nemai Ghosh’s Lens

Ray on the set of Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World). A tendency to withdraw when he was not required by his production team contributed to Ray’s aristocratic image. But he himself insisted: ‘When I’m working I’m a complete democrat. It’s when I’m sitting at home alone and doing nothing that it seems aristocratic. Film-making is a democratic undertaking, I think.’

Ray consults his kheror khata (notebook) in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on the set of Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress). A kheror khata is a fat, sturdy, unlined book bound in coarse red cloth, the kind of book used by north Calcutta merchants for generations to keep their accounts. Almost everything about a Ray film—its dialogue, shot divisions, background research, set and costume designs, sketches of characters and potential actors, songs and musical ideas—is to be found somewhere in the kheror khata.

The impetus on aurality was profound in Satyajit Ray’s films. The deft amalgam of sound and musical score was inextricably linked to the visual narrative and often employed to strike connections and continuities. Here he is at Howrah railway station, Calcutta, with a sound recorder during the making of one of his films.

Ray behind the camera on location during his first Hindi film Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players). The image brings to mind the title of Vertov’s 1929 experimental silent film, Man with a Movie Camera.

Ray on the set of Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World). A tendency to withdraw when he was not required by his production team contributed to Ray’s aristocratic image. But he himself insisted: ‘When I’m working I’m a complete democrat. It’s when I’m sitting at home alone and doing nothing that it seems aristocratic. Film-making is a democratic undertaking, I think.’

Ray consults his kheror khata (notebook) in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on the set of Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress). A kheror khata is a fat, sturdy, unlined book bound in coarse red cloth, the kind of book used by north Calcutta merchants for generations to keep their accounts. Almost everything about a Ray film—its dialogue, shot divisions, background research, set and costume designs, sketches of characters and potential actors, songs and musical ideas—is to be found somewhere in the kheror khata.

The impetus on aurality was profound in Satyajit Ray’s films. The deft amalgam of sound and musical score was inextricably linked to the visual narrative and often employed to strike connections and continuities. Here he is at Howrah railway station, Calcutta, with a sound recorder during the making of one of his films.

Ray behind the camera on location during his first Hindi film Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players). The image brings to mind the title of Vertov’s 1929 experimental silent film, Man with a Movie Camera.

Ray on the set of Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World). A tendency to withdraw when he was not required by his production team contributed to Ray’s aristocratic image. But he himself insisted: ‘When I’m working I’m a complete democrat. It’s when I’m sitting at home alone and doing nothing that it seems aristocratic. Film-making is a democratic undertaking, I think.’

Ray consults his kheror khata (notebook) in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on the set of Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress). A kheror khata is a fat, sturdy, unlined book bound in coarse red cloth, the kind of book used by north Calcutta merchants for generations to keep their accounts. Almost everything about a Ray film—its dialogue, shot divisions, background research, set and costume designs, sketches of characters and potential actors, songs and musical ideas—is to be found somewhere in the kheror khata.

The impetus on aurality was profound in Satyajit Ray’s films. The deft amalgam of sound and musical score was inextricably linked to the visual narrative and often employed to strike connections and continuities. Here he is at Howrah railway station, Calcutta, with a sound recorder during the making of one of his films.

Ray behind the camera on location during his first Hindi film Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players). The image brings to mind the title of Vertov’s 1929 experimental silent film, Man with a Movie Camera.

Ray on the set of Ghare-Baire (The Home and the World). A tendency to withdraw when he was not required by his production team contributed to Ray’s aristocratic image. But he himself insisted: ‘When I’m working I’m a complete democrat. It’s when I’m sitting at home alone and doing nothing that it seems aristocratic. Film-making is a democratic undertaking, I think.’

Ray consults his kheror khata (notebook) in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on the set of Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress). A kheror khata is a fat, sturdy, unlined book bound in coarse red cloth, the kind of book used by north Calcutta merchants for generations to keep their accounts. Almost everything about a Ray film—its dialogue, shot divisions, background research, set and costume designs, sketches of characters and potential actors, songs and musical ideas—is to be found somewhere in the kheror khata.

The impetus on aurality was profound in Satyajit Ray’s films. The deft amalgam of sound and musical score was inextricably linked to the visual narrative and often employed to strike connections and continuities. Here he is at Howrah railway station, Calcutta, with a sound recorder during the making of one of his films.

Ray behind the camera on location during his first Hindi film Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players). The image brings to mind the title of Vertov’s 1929 experimental silent film, Man with a Movie Camera.

Satyajit Ray behind the camera with crew and assistant director Suhasini Mulay on location on Calcutta’s streets for the filming of Jana Aranya. This image has remained firmly etched in public memory as one of the most publicised and iconic photographs taken by Ghosh and one that illustrates how Ray shot his films.

Ray rehearses the scene with Babita and Soumitra Chatterjee in Dangapara, a village near Santiniketan, West Bengal. Nemai Ghosh discovered Babita and recommended her for the role to Ray, a choice that received some criticism at the time.

Ray rehearsing Saeed Jaffrey (left) as Mir Roshan Ali and Sanjeev Kumar (right) as Mir Sajjad Ali playing chess in a well-known scene from the Shatranj ke Khilari based on a short story by Hindi writer Munshi Premchand.

Satyajit Ray with his technicians on location of Aranyer Din Ratri as rain pelts down and cast and crew huddle under umbrellas. Ray was known to often use nature in its elemental form and hardly ever resorted to induced effects in his films.

Satyajit Ray behind the camera with crew and assistant director Suhasini Mulay on location on Calcutta’s streets for the filming of Jana Aranya. This image has remained firmly etched in public memory as one of the most publicised and iconic photographs taken by Ghosh and one that illustrates how Ray shot his films.

Ray rehearses the scene with Babita and Soumitra Chatterjee in Dangapara, a village near Santiniketan, West Bengal. Nemai Ghosh discovered Babita and recommended her for the role to Ray, a choice that received some criticism at the time.

Ray rehearsing Saeed Jaffrey (left) as Mir Roshan Ali and Sanjeev Kumar (right) as Mir Sajjad Ali playing chess in a well-known scene from the Shatranj ke Khilari based on a short story by Hindi writer Munshi Premchand.

Satyajit Ray with his technicians on location of Aranyer Din Ratri as rain pelts down and cast and crew huddle under umbrellas. Ray was known to often use nature in its elemental form and hardly ever resorted to induced effects in his films.

Satyajit Ray behind the camera with crew and assistant director Suhasini Mulay on location on Calcutta’s streets for the filming of Jana Aranya. This image has remained firmly etched in public memory as one of the most publicised and iconic photographs taken by Ghosh and one that illustrates how Ray shot his films.

Ray rehearses the scene with Babita and Soumitra Chatterjee in Dangapara, a village near Santiniketan, West Bengal. Nemai Ghosh discovered Babita and recommended her for the role to Ray, a choice that received some criticism at the time.

Ray rehearsing Saeed Jaffrey (left) as Mir Roshan Ali and Sanjeev Kumar (right) as Mir Sajjad Ali playing chess in a well-known scene from the Shatranj ke Khilari based on a short story by Hindi writer Munshi Premchand.

Satyajit Ray with his technicians on location of Aranyer Din Ratri as rain pelts down and cast and crew huddle under umbrellas. Ray was known to often use nature in its elemental form and hardly ever resorted to induced effects in his films.

Satyajit Ray behind the camera with crew and assistant director Suhasini Mulay on location on Calcutta’s streets for the filming of Jana Aranya. This image has remained firmly etched in public memory as one of the most publicised and iconic photographs taken by Ghosh and one that illustrates how Ray shot his films.

Ray rehearses the scene with Babita and Soumitra Chatterjee in Dangapara, a village near Santiniketan, West Bengal. Nemai Ghosh discovered Babita and recommended her for the role to Ray, a choice that received some criticism at the time.

Ray rehearsing Saeed Jaffrey (left) as Mir Roshan Ali and Sanjeev Kumar (right) as Mir Sajjad Ali playing chess in a well-known scene from the Shatranj ke Khilari based on a short story by Hindi writer Munshi Premchand.

Satyajit Ray with his technicians on location of Aranyer Din Ratri as rain pelts down and cast and crew huddle under umbrellas. Ray was known to often use nature in its elemental form and hardly ever resorted to induced effects in his films.