SATYAJIT RAY DEATH ANNIVERSARY: One of the greatest storytellers from the Indian soil who possibly had done it all, Satyajit Ray, was also an extremely gifted author. His name comes with multi-hyphenated prefixes. Filmmaker at the core, he offered supreme narrative in his stories as an author. April 23 also marks UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. On Satyajit Ray’s death anniversary, take a look at some of his best books that are even adapted in Ray, a Netflix anthology series about him.
Indigo
One of the best books by Satyajit Ray, a short story collection titled Indigo talks about ordinary people taking over larger than life and overwhelming circumstances. Unprecedented storylines, supernatural themes mixed with adventure make Indigo one of the books that live forever. The presentation of stories is unparalleled as none of the stories are like one another.
Bonkubabur Bondhu
A not-so-popular interest of Manikda was his interest in the realm of science fiction. He wrote Bonkubabur Bondhu for his grandfather Upendra Kishore Ray’s magazine Sandesh. In 1913, he imagined a world where aliens came from outer space having supernatural powers to the earth.
Feluda Samagra
Feluda Samagra by Satyajit Ray is a gem. It’s safe to say it’s one of the things you ought to know about if you’re a Bengali or a literature lover. Late actor Soumitra Chatterjee played the role in Feluda film series with such brilliance that it went on to live forever in all eternity. It is believed that Feluda was only written for Chatterjee.
The little snippets from Feluda’s story such as his address, 21 Rajani Sen Road, Ballygunge, Kolkata, his way of calling his nephew and the story’s narrator Topshe, his cigarette, Charminar, are considered huge pop culture references, even today.
Childhood Days
Childhood Days was Satyajit Ray’s own story, his memoir. In this one, he took on his life with humor, understanding and affection. He talked about his years growing up in Calcutta and how it shaped his mind that took on the world with a genius art.
Some of the books that talked about the creative genius that Ray was are:
- Professor Shonku
- Our Films, Their Films
- My Years With Apu
- The Unicorn Expedition, And Other Fantastic Tales Of India
Alongside fetching international popularity and spotlight via his movies, most of his writings are classics that are remembered till this date.
