Story of Satyajit Ray, whose understanding and work remained unmatched

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This is from October 1976. Javed Siddiqui, who was starting his career at that time, rang the phone.

On the other side was the famous screenwriter Shama Zaidi. He told Javed that Satyajit Ray wants to meet you. By that time, Satyajit Ray had touched the heights of world cinema.

When Javed went to meet him, he had no idea that Ray was as tall in real life as he was in the world film industry. Full six feet four inches.

Satyajit Ray was also called by his fans by the name of ‘Manikada’. Ray made Javed sit on the chair and said, “I have heard that you write good stories.”

Javed humbly said, “I have been writing more columns than stories. I don’t know whether I can write good stories or not.”

Satyajit Ray got up from his place and pointed towards him a plastic file kept on the pillow and said that this is Premchand’s story ‘Chessranj Ke Khiladi’ and you are writing its dialogues.

Before Javed Siddiqui, Ray was advised to get the dialogues of ‘Shasran Ke Khiladi’ written by Rajender Singh Bedi. There, the film’s hero Sanjeev Kumar was of the opinion that Satyajir Ray Gulzar should write the dialogue. Shabana Azmi’s advice was that no one could be better than her father Kaifi Azmi for this work.

Ray believed that Bedi and Gulzar were certainly good writers but both hailed from Punjab and might not do justice to a film set in Lucknow.

Manikda also had a meeting with Kaifi Azmi. But Kaifi never gave preference to any language other than Urdu, whereas Satyajit Ray did not know any language other than English and Bengali. There was an offer that Shabana could work as a translator but Ray did not like this. He declared, “I don’t need big names. I’m not against the new guy provided he has equal command over Urdu and English.”

Manikada wrote every dialogue of ‘Shasran Ke Khiladi’ in Bengali

Javed Siddiqui explains, “Manikda first got all the dialogues translated into English so that he could understand the difference between the original screenplay and the dialogues written by Javed. Then he read every dialogue written by me in Bengali and read it. Have seen it.”

“When I asked him the reason for this, he said, ‘Zubaan koi ho, words have their own rhythm. This rhythm should be right. If one note is wrong, the whole scene becomes meaningless’.”

In this film, Manikda cast Sanjeev Kumar, Amjad Khan and Saeed Jaffrey besides Victor Banerjee.

Satyajit Ray’s wife Bijoya Ray writes in her autobiography ‘Manik and I Life with Satyajit Ray’,

“In those days Victor came to meet Satyajit Ray. He was good looking and well educated. Manik liked him very much. He simply asked Victor, ‘Can you speak Urdu?’ Victor answered ‘Yes’ without hesitation. Manik immediately gave him the role of the Prime Minister of Wajid Ali Shah.”

“When the shooting was over, Victor told me the secret that at that time he did not even know a word of Urdu. But from the very next day he kept a good master of Urdu and started learning the language. He worked with Ray. Didn’t let go of the opportunity to do it and spoke excellent Urdu despite not knowing the language.

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Amjad Khan played the role of Wajid Ali Shah, the Nawab of Awadh in ‘Shasran Ke Khiladi’. This was the story of the helpless Nawab whose princely state Awadh was on the target of the East India Company.

Old-fashioned ledger script

Javed Siddiqui explains, “Satyajit Ray’s script was like a ledger used by grocers once upon a time. Light brown papers were covered in red bindi and contained all the Urdu dialogues and their English and Bengali. I would have written the translation neatly.”

“Manikda’s voice was never loud on the sets. He used to give instructions to the artist in such a low voice that I could not hear what he was saying even after sitting next to him several times.” “No matter how far he stood from the actor, he would never shout and talk to him. He would go up to him, say something in his ear and then walk away.”

Lost Wajid Ali Shah Badge

‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’ was a period film in which a lot of old things were used.

A friend of his, Kejriwal gave him old Jamawar shawls which were extensively used in the film.

Wajid Ali Shah was very fond of keeping a cat with him.

Bijoya Ray writes in his autobiography, “We were looking for a cat for the film. Our old friend Jahan Aara Choudhary solved this problem by giving his badge. But because of this cat, we also had to bear the embarrassment. “

“It happened that after the shooting of the first day, this badge suddenly disappeared. We searched for it everywhere but we could not find it. After losing his lovely badge, tears came to Aara’s eyes.”

“Manikada also had to stop the shooting because that badge was to be with Wajid Ali Shah forever. The next day when we came to know that the badge had been found, we came to life.”

Just one Chicken Sandwich and Mishti Doi a day

Satyajit Ray had another habit. After reaching the set, he used to come out of the set only after pack-up in the evening.

Javed Siddiqui explains, “He used to sit in his chair with a pen in one hand and a chicken sandwich in the other. The script ledger was open in his lap and his eyes were on the pages. In eight-hour shifts, he would Used to eat only a chicken sandwich and frozen misty curd in kulhad.”

“After that he used to smoke a cigarette to change the taste. Despite being a cameraman, he liked to operate the camera himself. No matter how complex the shot was, he did not let the cameraman touch the camera. He also edited his films himself. “

Manikda used to respect women a lot

Artist Saeed Jaffrey has also mentioned this film in his autobiography ‘Saeed’.

Saeed Jaffrey writes, “Manikda used to make sketches of all the shots in his red book. Behind the camera, his emphasis was on the nuances of the light. Sanjeev and I used to come fully prepared for the shoot, so all the shots were taken in one take. Would have been okay.”

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“Manikda did not drink alcohol. So he used to go straight to his house after the shooting was over and make sketches of the next day’s shooting.”

“One day we were shooting in a village in Lucknow. Someone gave Manikda’s stool to my wife Jennifer to sit on. Jennifer had no idea that Manikda used to operate her camera while sitting on this stool. Prati Manikda’s respect was so deep that for a long time he waited for Jennifer to rise from the stool and then said very shyly, – My dear Jennifer, may I borrow your stool for a while?”

When Satyajir Ray went to Sonagachi?

Satyajit Ray was looking for a young dancer to perform in the film ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’. Later this role was done by Saswati Sen.

Someone told Manikda that a woman from Sonagachi, a redlight area of ​​Calcutta, could play this role well.

Javed Siddiqui explains, “Manikda could have invited the woman to her and she would have happily come to meet him. But Ray thought that the woman should not feel uncomfortable coming to his studio. So he went to her to meet her. went.”

“The lanes of Bazaar-e-Husn were so narrow that his car could not enter it. Ray got down from his car and walked to the house of Gauhar-e-Maqsood. On reaching the kotha, he first saw his mujra and then his Talked. When Ray was coming out of the kotha, people recognized him and a crowd gathered to catch a glimpse of Ray not only in that street but all around.”

“Surprisingly, people didn’t surround him the way they often surround film actors. They respectfully paved the way for him. Manikada kept walking ahead and people followed him to drop him in his car.”

Food lover but hate mango

Satyajit Ray was very fond of food. He used to go to the famous Fleury restaurant in Calcutta for breakfast every Sunday morning.

Along with European food, he also loved Bengali food. He was especially fond of Luchi, Arhar Dal and Baigun Bhaja.

Satyajit Ray’s wife Bijoya Ray writes in her autobiography, “Satyajit used to eat fish only when it was either baked or grilled. My mother-in-law used to try her best to bring her a piece of Rohu fish, But he had little success in it.”

“He was also allergic to shrimp. Yes, he was very fond of eggs, especially its yolk. Manik was not too fond of fruits. He also hated the aroma of mangoes. We crave to eat mangoes in summer But Manik’s instruction was that we should start eating mangoes only when he gets up from the dining table.”

“My son also does not like mangoes but he likes to eat strawberries, cherries and plums. Manik did not like all these fruits either.”

Documentary made on Sikkim banned

Satyajit Ray made a documentary on Sikkim. The Chogyal of Sikkim gave him the responsibility of making this documentary in 1971.

Till that time Sikkim had not been controlled by India. When Sikkim merged with India in 1975, the film was banned because it talked about the sovereignty of Sikkim.

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This ban was lifted by the Ministry of External Affairs of India in September 2010. The film was shown to the public for the first time in November 2010 at the Film Festival of Kolkata. But before it was shown elsewhere, the director of the film festival got an order from the Sikkim High Court that the film has been banned again.

Audrey Hepburn presented the Oscar

When Satyajit Ray was informed that he was being given the ‘Lifetime Oscar’ award, he expressed his wish that the award should be given to him by the famous Hollywood actress Audrey Hepburn.

Honoring his wish, Audrey Hepburn presented him this award on 30 March 1992.

Sitting on his bed in a nursing home in Calcutta, he accepted the award which was shown live through video link all over the world. This trophy was given to him by his wife Bijoya in the hospital.

She later wrote in her autobiography, “When I was holding the Oscar trophy to Manik, I realized that it was too heavy. If Manik’s Dr. Two days after the announcement of the Oscar award, the Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna.

Coincidentally, a few weeks after receiving this award, Satyajit Ray passed away on 23 April 1992.

A few months later, in January 1993, Audrey Hepburn also left this world.

Satyajir Ray’s ‘Third Eye’

Satyajit Ray had never met Amjad Khan before casting him in the film ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’. He first saw her in the film Sholay. The next day he painted his portrait. He wore diamonds around his ears and neck, and placed an embroidered dupalli cap on his head. After seeing that picture at a glance, this is the picture of Jaan-e-Alam Wajid Ali Shah.

Not only Amjad Khan but also Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen and Soumitra Chatterjee were brought out of the pit of oblivion by Satyajit Ray and made stars.

It is said that Satyajit Ray used to have a third eye. Something that did not go unnoticed came immediately to Ray’s attention.

Javed Siddiqui narrates an anecdote, “When he came to the studio to see the set of Mir Roshan Ali’s house, he immediately said that the walls should not be clearly visible. Then suddenly he went to a bucket in which the paint brushes were kept for drying. He picked up a brush that was soaked in dirty water and threw it on the clean wall.”

Pretentiousness

Some people believed that Satyajir Ray believed in appearances.

Once a journalist after watching ‘Apur Sansar’ asked him that there are many tracking shots in this film whereas in your first film ‘Pather Panchali’ only still shots have been taken. What was the reason you changed your style of filming? Manikda replied, “That was because during the days of Pather Panchali, I did not have the money to buy a trolley.”

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