Book Review – Satyajit Ray in 100 Anecdotes

Book Title: Satyajit Ray in 100 Anecdotes

Author: Arthy Muthanna Singh, Mamta Nainy

Publisher : Puffin (19 April 2021)

Blurb:

A collector’s edition to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Satyajit Ray on 2 May 2021
The book is an easy introduction to the genius of Satyajit Ray with short anecdotes presented in a wonderful package
The book has gorgeous line arts that complement the text to create an engaging book that readers will enjoy reading

Tracing his magnificent life with 100 little-known and inspiring incidents as well as unusual trivia, this collectible edition pays homage to the maestro on his 100th birth anniversary.

A master filmmaker, a remarkable auteur, a writer par excellence and an artist of immense reach and range, Satyajit Ray was an indefinable genius. This book is a classic tribute that celebrates his many accomplishments across literature, music, art and more

My Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Satyajit Ray – An artist, unforgotten to date. A man who has given a different perspective to the cinema. He was born in the land of artists – Kolkata. He has been an inspiration to budding filmmakers across the globe. Satyajit Ray in 100 Anecdotes – is a tribute to a legend born in India.

A book that brings out Satyajit of various age groups to life. Satyajit was fondly known as Manik, similar to every Bengali household, he also had a pet name. His classmates never called him Satyajit, it was used only by his teachers. The book draws details of the child who was born an artist. He was good at everything, he was great at drawing.

The details from his life have been drawn out perfectly, describing moments such as purchasing an autograph book and yearning to get it signed by Rabindranath Tagore first. The event has been described beautifully, where Ray got his notebook back with a Bengali poem written along with the autograph. There are various movies mentioned dating back to the golden era of cinema. A lot of them, young readers wouldn’t be able to recognize. I wasn’t able to recognize them myself (definitely worth Google search though).

People learning fine arts would relate to the fact where Manik’s journey in Santiniketan has been mentioned. Many people wish to turn into commercial artists, but Indians have been hesitant enough to pursue their passion as their career. The Chinese watercolors, miniature paintings, Indian sculptures – it transported me to my childhood days when I was getting my Fine Arts classes. The book describes the artistic influences Satyajit Ray had during his days at Kala Bhavan.

Santiniketan played a role in shaping him further as an artist and for most, his mother was the reason who drew his passion to the doors of an institution perfect in itself. His love for Western music concerts was crazy, he mentioned in letters to his mother. “He asked her to send the newspaper clippings of Western music concert reviews. His journey from a graphic artist to a filmmaker is a historical event.

I do recommend everyone to read about his journey in this book. The authors have done a terrific job, listed 100 anecdotes about the Legend. I am sure there is a lot written about him and found in the National Library, Kolkata, and Film Societies across the world.

Buy Amazon

Review Goodreads

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nidhi Srivastava (@nidhantrika)