COCHIN FILM SOCIETY
 

Why A Ray Festival Now?

Primarily because it is his tenth dath anniversary year and it is Cochin Film Society's humble way of paying homage to the great master. It was Satyajit Ray who gave to the World Cinema an Indian idiom. An idiom which was different from what the world had experienced till then. Ray gave Indian cinema a sense of purpose and direction. He has inspired many an Indian film maker and also set standards which are not easy to attain even today. 

It was almost exactly 50 years ago, 27th October 1952 to be precise, that the first scene of Pather Panchali was shot. The budget for the film was a mere Rs. 70000/-. Now 50 years after, we have a film shot at a cost of Rs. 50 crore. Pather Panchali went on to win the Special Jury Prize for the Best Human Document at Cannes. Whereas Devadas failed even to get a mention. Thus this festival is perhaps a timely reminder that it is not money and opulence that matter in the making of good films. Satyajit Ray wrote in 1951 - "It should be realised that the average American film is a bad model, if only because it depicts a way of life so utterly at variance with our own. Moreover, the high technical polish which is the hallmark of the standar Hollywood product, would be impossible to achieve under existing Indian conditions. What the Indian cinema needs today is not mere gloss, but more imagination, more integrity and a more intelligent appreciation of the limitations of the medium."

How relevant it is even today!

That's why a Ray festival. And also because a good film is a joy for ever. Like a favourite song or a fabulous piece of music, it always goes on to give you something that you had missed the last time around. Like the missing of a heart beat which one never notices. 

                                                                                                                                 P. N. Venugopal