Lockdown brings to light priceless Satyajit memorabilia

The pan-India lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic has led to coming to light of some priceless memorabilia associated with master director Satyajit Ray at the loft of his house on Bishop Lefroy Road in south Kolkata.

Among the memorabilia found locked up in separate trunks by the late director's son Sandip last week are more than 1,000 negatives of still photos shot by either Satyajit Ray or his close confidants and the maestro's correspondences with his contemporaries.

According to Sandip, the negatives included shots of his film shoots from 1950s till early 90s, including "Pather Panchali", "Aparajito" and "Apur Sansar" as well as later works like "Charulata", "Jalsaghar" among others, Sandip told the media in Kolkata.

He said that when his father began shooting the outdoors of path-breaking "Pather Panchali" in early 1950s, he did not have a still photographer to record the happenings and many still frames were captured by the film's art director Banshi Chandragupta. Some shots were also clicked by Ray himself.

But the findings in the loft could be just half of the total collection kept in the boxes all these years and further search might bring out more, our New Delhi correspondent reports quoting Sandip.

"We had often thought about opening the vault and check what lay inside but did not have the required space and time. But the lockdown gave us that time," he said.

Also among the findings are letters and telegrams to Ray from legendary directors Akira Kurosawa, Richard Attenborough and Arthur C Clarke.

With Ray's birth centenary next year, Sandip said he hopes to put all the findings together and make them public through an exhibition in Kolkata.