Satyajit Ray (Bengali: 唳膏Δ唰嵿Ο唳溹唰� 唳班唳) was an Indian filmmaker and author of Bengali fiction and regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of world cinema. Ray was born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and watching Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist 1948 film, Bicycle Thieves.
Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents.
Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. This film, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Award in 1992. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.
Early Life and Background: Ray's grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious and social movement in nineteenth century Bengal. Sukumar Ray, Upendrakishore's son and father of Satyajit, was a pioneering Bengali author and poet of nonsense rhyme and children's literature, an illustrator and a critic. Ray was born to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray in Calcutta.
Ray completed his B.A. (Hons.) in Economics at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, though his interest was always in Fine Arts. In 1940, he went to study in Santiniketan where Ray came to appreciate Oriental Art. In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das and the couple had a son, Sandip ray, who is now a famous film director.
Literary Works: Ray created two of the most famous fictional characters ever in Bengali children's literature鈥擣eluda, a sleuth in Holmesian tradition, and Professor Shonku, a genius scientist. Ray also wrote many short stories mostly centered on Macabre, Thriller and Paranormal which were published as collections of 12 stories. Ray wrote an autobiography about his childhood years, Jakhan Choto Chilam (1982). He also wrote essays on film, published as the collections: Our Films, Their Films (1976), Bishoy Chalachchitra (1976), and Ekei Bole Shooting (1979).
Awards, Honors and Recognitions: Ray received many awards, including 32 National Film Awards by the Government of India. At the Moscow Film Festival in 1979, he was awarded for the contribution to cinema. At the Berlin Film Festival, he was one of only three to win the Silver Bear for Best Director more than once and holds the record for the most Golden Bear nominations, with seven. At the Venice Film Festival, he won a Golden Lion for Aparajito(1956), and awarded the Golden Lion Honorary Award in 1982. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
1. Who struck the judge with knife? 2. Who struck him with heavy blunt object on his head? 3. Who took his valuable finger ring?
Judge shaheb has announced many death sentences throughout his career. Took note all of those in his diary. And he is not convinced about 6 death sentences he announced.
Read the English translation 'Peril in Paradise'. Slightly long for a Feluda adventure. A little more than necessary was mentioned about the beauty of tourist attractions of Kashmir, it was actually intersting though.
A former judge, retired due to health reasons, having given death sentences to a few which he thinks were not falling in place with his conscience, is now conducting seance to speak to the people he ordered to be hanged. He is murdered and Feluda is put in action though he is in Kashmir purely for vacation. Everyone is under suspicion, judge's son, his secretary, his bearer and his friend's newly made friend. Feluda unravels the mystery and finds three culprits committing different crimes in this engrossing suspense thriller.
Feluda was originally written by Satyajit Ray for the children鈥檚 magazine 鈥楽andesh鈥�. The popularity of the series was such that Ray went on to include a few adult themes in the later stories when he realized that even adults were enjoying the series. I actually read Feluda before Agatha Christie and as such Feluda was my introduction to detective fiction. The best part of the stories is the evergreen manner of Ray鈥檚 narrative. I remember reading 鈥楤aadhshahi Angti鈥� which was written in 1960s and when I visited Lucknow in 1990s, I could still recognize the places described in the book. The other thing that I loved about the series was that in every story we learned something new 鈥� be it about geometry or about telepathy. Absolutely and irrevocably in love with Feluda and his adventures 鈥� forever a fan.
Feluda and his team travel to Kashmir, where they meet retired Judge Siddheshwar Mallick. The judge has a peculiar habit of summoning souls through a planchette, with the help of a medium named Dr. Chowdhury. Judge Mallick is working on his autobiography, assisted by his secretary, Sushanta Som, who is transcribing the judge's written diaries. The judge's household also includes his servant, Prayag, and his son, Bijoy Mallick, a former addict who now lives with his father after overcoming his addiction.
Judge Mallick often calls upon the souls of individuals to whom he had given the death penalty, particularly those he believes might have been innocent. He seeks their confirmation of guilt or innocence and offers apologies if he finds they were wrongly convicted.
One day, Feluda discovers Bijoy Mallick injured and unconscious by the roadside, having been struck on the head with a stone. Earlier, Feluda himself had been attacked but escaped unharmed. Sensing a connection, Feluda decides to investigate the incident. Soon after, Feluda is also attacked and found unconscious by Topse and Jatayu. To uncover the motive behind these attacks, Feluda begins reading Judge Mallick's diaries.
Before heading to Pahalgam, a man named Arun Sarkar joins Judge Mallik. However, tragedy strikes when Judge Mallick is found dead one night, stabbed in the chest, and his expensive ring is missing.
Through his investigation, Feluda deduces that Prayag is not the servant's real name; he is actually Mishra. Mishra had attempted to kill Bijoy Mallick to inflict the same pain on the judge that he had suffered when the judge sentenced his son to death. However, Mishra did not kill the judge. The judge was murdered by Arun Sarkar, whose real name is Sapru. Feluda discovers through flight records that Sapru is the son of Manohar Sapru, whom Judge Mallick had sentenced to death. Sapru confesses to the murder but denies taking the ring.
Feluda reveals that the ring was taken by Bijoy Mallick. He further explains that Judge Mallik was stabbed twice鈥攐nce by Sapru and once by Bijoy. Bijoy, drowning in debt and fearing that his father would disinherit him, had also participated in the murder to secure his inheritance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Feluda's trip to Bhuswarga (Heaven on Earth) - Kashmir spins magic once again intermingling the beauty of Travel and Crime thriller. Hail Satyajit Ray the great.