Satyajit Ray: In Search of the Modern

Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) revolutionized Indian film and is widely considered to be one of the great filmmakers of all time. In this work, Ganguly (U. of Colorado) examines Ray's negotiations with history and modernity in the six major films he made between 1955 and 1970: Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apur Sansar, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri, and Pratidwandi. Overall, Ganguly sets himself the task of examining how Ray's films convey the filmmaker's belief that the modern is best understood as a total experience in relation to how people express themselves in a changing society, although more specific concerns such as Ray's preoccupation with subjectivity in contexts such as education, urban culture, and the management of grief; the nature of action in a society suspended between apathy and revolution; and writing as a form of female discourse frequently intrude. This is a paperbound edition of a work first published in 2000. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Suranjan Ganguly teaches film at the University of Colorado at Boulder with a special emphasis on European and Asian cinema.