বাংলায় পড়ুন
Satyajit Ray, the ace director had set a landmark in the map of the world and his journey from the release of ‘Pather Panchali and its success was quite a phenomenon. Ray shared all his challenges and intriguing incidents of filmmaking career in his book ‘My years with Apu’. Here we talk about a few significant filmmaking tips to learn from Ray.
It is always good to work with an amateur crew. His crew and cinematographer Subrata Mitra worked for the first time in the film and that didn’t look amateurish at all. It is the responsibility of the director to guide the entire crew with confidence and clear vision.
Actors with no prior acting experience are easy to work with. At times, it is tough to extract the best out of them but that’s where the ability the director is judged. Ray had the capability to make his actors do exactly what he wants.
Every director should always be ready to face the challenges of low budget. Do you remember ‘Pather Panchali’? No songs, dance, high profile star, no conventional storyline were there in it. The only expense was for film stock and camera. In his era, it was genuinely not easy to make a low-budget film with such excellence. Patience and dedication pay a lot.
Believe in natural light and real location. Creativity is good but not always. You cannot just create everything. ‘Pather Panchali’ was a simple manifestation of thought. The entire film was shot in a village of Boral apart from the night scenes.
It is important to explore ideas from literature. Ray believes in being unique and logical yet he chose to work on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s novel. He believed that Bandopadhyay’s works have the cinematic expression and the visual appeal from the very outset.
