Gist:
Satyatjit Ray was a director, producer, screen writer, composer, author and graphic designer. He says that film making is a tough job. The first thing is that the director needs a story. The cinema people call it ‘property’. If the director is not amateur, he will also have taken into account his public. Experience has taught him that this would be for his own good. If the film did not bring back its cost, his financial supporters would lose faith in him.
In Hollywood there are some ‘block busters’ as they can choose grand themes because they have the money, market and the technical expertise. Here in India, and more particularly in Bengal, directors or producers dare not plunge into vast epics. Firstly they do not have money. They lack even the special knowledge and experience of producing big ‘block busters’ to compete with Hollywood. Indians do not have strong love for such films of grandeur and impressive themes. Therefore they have chosen for themselves the field of the intimate cinema.
In India the directors are beset with a very special set of problems native to the place. Directors have to face several hardships, problems and obstacles at various levels to make slightly modified classics and films based on political themes.
There is just now an alarming shortage of good professional actors and actresses of middle order and above. There are roles that can only be brought to life by professionals. It the directors can overcome all these odds, we can really have very good films.
Questions with Answers :
a. According to Satyajit Ray, what are the three factors that should guide a director when he/she chooses a story for a film?
The first thing that director needs is a story. The cinema people call it ‘property’. The choice of the director is made on two major considerations, his affinity with the theme of the story and his belief that the story would make a good film. Experience has taught him if the film did not bring back its cost, his financial supporters would lose faith in him.
b. How does Ray describe the films that are commonly made in India ?
In India and more particularly in Bengal, directors or producers dare not plunge into vast epics. Firstly, they do not have money. Indians do not have strong love for films of grandeur and impressive themes. They have chosen for themselves the field of the intimate cinema. It is the cinema of mood and atmosphere rather than the grandeur and spectacle.
c. What kind of balance between the two extremes of avant-grade cinema, which is beyond the understanding of most people, and pure make-believe did Ray try to strike in his films?
Avant-grade cinema means – new and with very modern idea which are delightful and surprising. This is applicable mostly to ‘art’ films of novelty and innovative nature. Ray is faced with limiting factors non existent in other countries, in the choice of a story itself. A full bodied treatment of a story of physical passion is not possible in the case of Indian audience. In the case of Satyajit Ray, he would not shoot or direct a film that called for open treatment of the love aspects than ruin it by dilution. He strikes a balance between the two types with creativity, credibility and originality besides amusement.
d. What problems do Indian directors face when they make slightly modified versions of classics and films based on political themes?
In India if the classics are modified, the elite as well as the masses find fault with the directors concerned. We cannot make films with political theme. The Board of Censors will trouble at such themes. The directors cannot show on the screen a small-minded office boss. The directors have to face several hardships, problems and obstacles at various levels to make slightly modified classics. As corruption and hypocrisy are the basic roots of all evils, Indian directors cannot do anything on the screen in this aspect.
e. What do film makers in India usually do in order to find extras?
Film makers in India are usually left to search for the ‘extras’ in the streets. They can scan the faces of pedestrians or go to race – meets and cocktails and wedding receptions. But satyajit Ray has generally been lucky in finding the right players for his parts or characters. In fact there is just now an alarming shortage of good professional actors and actresses of middle and above.
f. Why was Satyajit Ray not troubled by the lack of comfort and facilities in the studios where he shot films?
The studios in Calcutta show their historical past in every aspect meant for filming. The low voltage, groaning cameras, shabby studio and other odds he has faced were innumerable. He was almost frightened by the heavy odds in the studios, where he had shot his films. Ray has overcome all the obstacles both predictable and unpredictable. There was something about creating beauty in the circumstances of shoddiness and privation that was truly exciting.
Bits :
- Film making is a tough business
- Hollywood made Spartacus
- Soviet Russia made War and Peace
- Pather Panchali was made in two years
- Story of a film is called property
- Avant-gardism is a luxury not yet afford in our country
- Chunibala was acted for Pather Panchali
- Jalsaghar, Devi, Kanchenjungha were all written with Chhabi Biswas in mind
