We frequently come across synergising jugalbandis between the two great maters of performing arts.
We frequently come across synergising jugalbandis between the two great maters of performing arts. However, it’s a rare occasion when one towering genius offers a tribute to another, more so if the latter is his contemporary. Satyajit Ray’s Ravi Shankar An Unfilmed Visual Script, edited by Sandip Ray and published by Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers bears a befitting testimony to this one-of-its-kind endeavour which could have created one more milestone from the Academy Award-winning filmmaker’s august body of works.
To the uninitiated, Ray had envisioned an enlightening film on the legendary sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar which never got off the ground. However, the detailed blueprint of the possible project along with relevant ancillary documents and vignettes was carefully preserved over a period of six decades and finally restored by the leading publishing house in collaboration with the Society for the preservation of Satyajit Ray Archives plus other notable sources to shape up into a precious tome for the benefit of posterity.
The book was recently released on the filmmaker extraordinaire’s 93rd birth anniversary at Kolkata’s ICCR premises inside its Satyajit Ray auditorium which was strangely a happy coincidence. Eminent Indian film actor Naseeruddin Shah unveiled the collector’s item in the presence of other dignitaries. Priced at Rs399, this 107-page turner is a delightful treasure-trove of illustrations, poster designs, shoot stills, set pictures and a prized collection of photographs which all staunch Ray-fans would immensely find a connect with. Incidentally, the front cover illustration of sitar virtuoso Pandit Ravi Shankar is done by none other than the celluloid auteur himself.
A polymath in his own right, Ray as a multifaceted talent dabbled in diverse creative disciples namely, film direction, camera work, music-scores, literary fiction, book illustrations, dialogue writing, scripting, et al. Another book called 14: Stories That Inspired Satyajit Ray edited and translated by Bhaskar Chattopadhyay was also formally unwrapped at the event.
The book under discussion particularly unfolds the incredible story of a film that was never made to see the light of the day. The blurb at the back of the paperback edition states that in the 1950s, Satyajit Ray had asked Pandit Ravi Shankar to compose the music for his debut masterpiece feature Pather Panchali. It was a race against time as Panditji had just a few hours left in hand to score the classic notes.
In the end, the soul-stirring music went on to create cinematic history as much as the film, and even Shankar had composed music for the next two sequels of the magnum opus Apu Trilogy Aparajito and Apur Sansar respectively. It was around this time that Ray had contemplated a screen-saga on the legendary sitarist. He also worked out a detailed storyboard for the said movie.
However for reasons anonymous, the film got nipped in the bud and was forgotten for good. But the unthinkable actually happened with the availability of Ray’s remarkable storyboard for all fortunate Ray patrons to heave a sigh of relief to see their dream come true. Contextualised through articles by Ray and interviews with Ravi Shankar on various aspects of their collaboration and a scholarly introduction by Shankarlal Bhattacharjee on the relationship between the two aces, Satyajit Ray’s Ravi Shankar was painstakingly lent fruition via several stages of development. Truly an invaluable piece that ought to find a place on any astute cineaste’s book-shelf, this one is undoubtedly the library owner’s pride.
Most deservedly carrying forward his father’s rich legacy of decades through his own repertoire of well-acclaimed films and as the member-secretary of Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Archives (formerly Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films), the devoted son Sandip Ray has rightly foreworded the book on a personal note.
