Speaking Of Films (The Penguin Ray Library) - Softcover

Satyajit Ray (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0144000261 ISBN 13: 9780144000265

Publisher: Penguin Books India, 2020

Synopsis

Presents India's greatest film-maker on the art and craft of films. "Speaking of Films" brings together some of Ray's most memorable writings on film and film-making. With the masterly precision and clarity that characterize his films, Ray discusses a wide array of subjects: the structure and language of cinema with special reference to his adaptations of Tagore and Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, the appropriate use of background music and dialogue in films, the relationship between a film-maker and a film critic, and important developments in cinema like the advent of sound and colour. He also writes about his own experiences, the challenges of working with rank amateurs, and the innovations called for when making a film in the face of technological, financial and logistical constraints. In the process, Ray provides fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses of the people who worked with him - the intricacies of getting Chhabi Biswas, who had no ear for music, to play a patron of classical music in Jalsaghar, the incredible memory of the seventy-five-year-old Chunibala Devi, Indir Thakrun of "Pather Panchali", and her remarkable attention to details.

About this title

About the Author

Satyajit Ray (1921-92) was one of the greatest film-makers of his time. Ray was also a writer of repute, and his short stories, novellas, poems and articles, written in Bengali, have been immensely popular. He has published several books in Bengali, most of which became best-sellers. He is also the author of Our Films, Their Films and Bishay Chalachitra, both immensely popular books of essays on cinema. Gopa Majumdar has translated several works from Bengali to English, the most notable of these being Ashapurna Debi's Subarnalata and Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay's Aparajito, for which she won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2001. She has translated several volumes of Satyajit Ray's short stories and all of the Feluda stories for Penguin Books India.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books India
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0144000261
• ISBN 13: 9780144000265
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240