This is the part of my report on Satyajit Ray in the course Modernity, Modernism and Art
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"Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon."- Akira Kurosawa. Satyajit Ray, one of the greatest directors India has ever produced is a fusion of east and west. A Bengali Bergman? A sort of reincarnated Renoir? - That's how he is defined in the biography by Andrew Robinson. By birth, he was Bengali and very much influenced by the Bengali renaissance alongside art works of Rabindranath Tagore since he has spent some precious years of his youth in Shantiniketan. Along with he was also stimulated by Italian neorealism, feudalism, rationalism, robust optimism and nehruvian philosophy of Industrialization. These are the key building blocks of his postcolonial modernity perspective.
His films belong to a meta-genre that includes the works of Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin, David Lean, Federico Fellini, Fritz Lang, John Ford, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Renoir, Luis Bunuel, Yasujiro Ozu, Ritwik Ghatak and Robert Bresson. Though he makes his movies in Bengali, his movies has a universal appeal, an eye-opener portraying strong human character, preserving individuality in conjunction with emotions, struggle, conflicts, joys and sorrows.
At the time Satyajit Ray started his movie career, India just got independent and Indians find themselves in bifurcated mould. At one side, there are people who believe in conservatism, preserving and preventing Indian culture from pollution of western ideas. These are the people who are handcuffed by rituals, orthodoxy, gender bias, caste system and nineteenth century perspective.
On the other hand, there are people who want stability and equilibrium between past and present, feudal and modern, village and city, black and white, rational and irrational and a fusion of western ideas mixed with traditional Indian values. India, known for it's hybrid culture and assimilation diverse influences and heterogeneity at each section of society wants a change to match twentieth centre perspective. Indian wants to reinvent them but remaining thoroughly Indian. Nehruvain thoughts are changing cities, business and liberalization perspective and we clearly sees such instances in Satyajit ray movie. The work of Satyajit Ray presents a remarkably insightful understanding of the relations between cultures, and his ideas remain pertinent to the great cultural debates in the contemporary world.
Satyajit Ray's films are both cinematic and literary at the same time; using a simple narrative, usually in a classical format, but greatly detailed and operating at many levels of interpretation. Satyajit Ray movies are generally an eye opener and generally based on basic social evils crept in Indian Society. The basic elements of Ray Modernity are emancipation of woman, liberal thoughts, importance of western education, and influence of sociological and anthropological writings, intercultural communication and portray human individuality in most elusive manner. For Ray, the modern is inseparable from this sense of plural that incorporates within itself its history of multiple dislocations.
Satyajit Ray was very much a product of his times and cultural heritage as well as his own creative self. All his films are political; the degree of their political intensity increased as the social and economic crisis deepened in India. While Satyajit Ray insists on retaining the real cultural features of the society that he portrays, his view of India - even his view of Bengal - recognizes a complex reality, with immense heterogeneity at every level. Ray emphasized that the people who "inhabit" his films are complicated and extremely diverse. That modern term came to India through the British, and yet in its genesis there is a remarkable Indian component
In his own words, the modern is not conceived in terms of past, instead it emerges through a dynamic relationship with the post. Ray not only traces the lineage of modern but points to its future as he connects past and present, Ray portray contemporary India i.e. a time when India is changing and Indians is changing. Satyajit Ray is often credited with introducing modern themes to the otherwise tradition-bound Indian cinema. Apparent in his works is a diversity of influence, from classic music to impressionist art to modern documentary, photography but a singular perspective- one reflecting the paradoxes and cosmopolitan and problematic of identity and discourse in a postcolonial society.
Instances of Modernity in Satyajit Ray Movies'Mahanagar' is instantly notable for the beautiful cinematography and for remarkable performances from all - from start to finish the film has a flowing, hypnotic gracefulness which compliments the story of a woman overcoming her and her family's apprehensions as she takes a job out of financial necessity, only to discover her independence and emerge with a newfound sense of confidence. The family is very conservative, and this upsets everyone. Her husband's manhood is somewhat insulted, her father- and mother-in-law feel that it's just not right, and her son thinks he's been forgotten. The only one who supports her is her younger sister-in-law; she sees her as a role model. The movie made a very famous statement-"The place of women is at home". Through this movie, he makes the actress breadwinner and a role model for her family and society.
Devi focuses on a young woman, who is deemed a goddess when her father-in-law, a rich feudal landlord, envisions her as the Goddess Kali. The story is very specifically about the Indian culture (its revealing investigation into Hinduism could have happened nowhere else) but its tale of strife between generations is something anyone can understand and feel. The film generated some controversy on its release in India. It was seen as an attack on Hinduism itself by a few protesters, who tried to prevent the film's international release. However, the film was eventually released and went on to receive a government award, the President's Gold Medal.
Charulata displays a subtle story about the contradictions facing a cultivated and intelligent - yet idle - woman in a male-dominated society.After a series of difficulties that affect her husband's newspaper and her own sentimental self, Charulata finally take a step forward and propose to collaborate with her husband. Charulata (the film) is increasingly formalistic in its look, with the aloof classicism of the cinematography underscoring the characters' ever-increasing distance from each other. Exploring sexual and class politics - with great depth and complexity - in a historical setting (while - in its' exploration of idealistic, nationalistic politics - making subtle connections to the present-day handling of the same issues in Bengali society), with flawless performances from all.
If we look at Satyajit Ray movie his main characters were middle class and lower middle class who are still occupied by tradition but postmodernism is opening door of modernity in their life. No doubt Satyajit Ray 1portrays contemporary India and pass on the message of modernity to Indian masses. Modern s best understood as a total experience in relation to how people feel, think and act within a changing society.
