Saturday, October 23, 2010

Singapore: The Art of Ray


Thank life for poetry, chilled theatres and Satyajit Ray films. Nothing is a better cure for a stormy mood than a good art film - viewed by oneself, of course. The National Museum of Singapore is retrospecting(!) Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray (1955-1992). I knew very little of Ray before today - the Bengali Bergman, a Kalkutta Chekov. I was transcended from weekend misunderstandings. I caught the first film in his Kalkutta Trilogy - The Adversary (1970). The story of Siddartha (Dhritiman Chatterjee), as a young idealistic medical student looking for work after his father's death. Dhritiman Chatterjee was there to introduce the film - unbelievable luck! What an extraordinary time in India's history, Kalkutta's urban landscape (modernization), intellectuals and working artists. Ray! Ray!