Where is our Ray of light?

Be it his literary works such as Feluda or films like Pather Panchali — the legacy of late Bengali film-maker Satyajit Ray continues to live on even now, many years after his death. Today on his 89th birth anniversary, we find out if Ray still casts his influence on young film-makers in India...

Zoya Akhtar
Only a certain section of film-makers are still influenced by Satyajit Ray. Most film-makers today tend to be populist and commercial. I don’t think half of them in our film industry have even watched Ray’s films. If you walk into a DVD store in London or New York, you can buy a Satyajit Ray DVD. But it’s not the same in India. This certainly reflects something about our country and the way we look at Ray.

Abhishek Kapoor
It’s sad that many film-makers today do not realise the impact and implications of Satyajit Ray’s works. His philosophy was to make films which left a subtle and intelligent message for the audience. That is still missing in our industry.

Ram Madhvani
Satyajit Ray is like the Bible that every film-maker must go through. If you don’t see works like his today, it’s because people are following their individual style of film-making.

Pooja Bhatt
Satyajit Ray was a master of his works. But he never wore his greatness on his shoulders. When you talk of influence, the young generation of film-makers must discover his great works on their own. The question, however, remains is that how many people today can create outlasting work like him.