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Suranjan Ganguly is an Associate Professor and
teaches Film Studies at the University of
Colorado at Boulder with a special emphasis on
European and Asian Cinema. He has done his
bachelors in arts from the University of
Calcutta and completed his masters from Jadavpur
University, Calcutta. He did his doctorate from
Purdue University, U.S.A.
Satyajit Ray: In Search of the Modern
Satyajit Ray: A doyen among filmmakers
worldwide, ushered in modernity in the Indian
Cinema, which was then tradition bound.
This book analyses six of Ray's major films,
focusing on issues like the importance of
education, human biases, women's liberation,
identity crisis in Post-Colonial India and the
rise of the new middle class.
The movies whose readings form a part of the
book are: Pather Panchali(1955), Aparajito
(1956), Apur Sansar (1959), Charulata (1964),
Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) and Pratidwandi (1970).
The famous Apu Trilogy forms an essential part
of this book. All the six selected films give an
account of Ray's interest in how a culture
acquires a composite hybrid shape through the
fusion of history and modernity.
The reading on Charulata is an explanation of a
woman's growing sense of self in a male world.
Four men, in the postcolonial period, are out on
holiday from the city and reinvent India in
English: this is the main focus of the chapter
on Aranyer Din Ratri. As the reader goes through
the concluding chapter on Pratidwandi, he gets
to know Ray's contemplation about the nature of
action in a society suspended between two
extremes, that of passiveness and revolution.
In spite of Ray being one of the leading
directors of the world, only a few books have
been published on him. Suranjan Ganguly offers a
radically different approach by placing Ray's
films within the socio-cultural and historical
context of Indian modernity. Not only will it
enable the Western readers to comprehend the
maestro's work, but also it will provide deep
insights into his typical style of filmmaking to
his compatriots.
"… provides a solid introduction to the themes
and stylistics of the great Bengali director …
Ganguly's useful bibliography makes this an
excellent place for undergraduates to start."
– CHOICE |
