Ray to them

"To have not seen the films of Ray is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun."

-----Akira Kurosawa

Satyajit Ray is among the world's greatest directors, living or dead... Isn't it curious that the newest, the most modern of the arts, has found one of its deepest, most fluent expressions in the work of an artist like Ray, who must make his seamless films - many have been masterpieces - in a chaotic and volatile corner of one of the world's oldest cultures, amidst the most stringent shortages of today's advanced movie-making material and equipment?
----------James Ivory, Film Director, 1991

I have admired his films for many years and for me he is the filmic voice of India, speaking for the people of all classes of the country... He is the most sensitive and eloquent artist and it can truly be said in his case that when we honor him we are honoring ourselves.

-------Elia KazanFilm Director, 1991


The quiet but deep observation, understanding and love of the human race, which are characteristic of all his films, have impressed me greatly... I feel that he is a "giant" of the movie industry.

The work of Satyajit Ray presents a remarkably insightful understanding of the relations between cultures, and his ideas remain pertinent to the great cultural debates in the contemporary world, not least in India.

-------Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate EconomicsSatyajit Ray and the art of Universalism,The New Republic, April 1, 1996.


... when Satyajit Ray did his films you suddenly not understood the culture because the culture was so complex but you became attached to the culture through the people, and it didn't matter what they were speaking, what they were wearing, what their customs were. Their customs were very, very interesting and surprising, and you suddenly began to realize there are other cultures in the world.

---------Martin Scorsese, Film DirectorMartin Scorsese Pays Tribute to Satyajit Ray, Washington Post, February 28, 2002


In recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world.

--------Citation for Lifetime Achievement Oscar®Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 1992


I have admired his films for many years and for me he is the filmic voice of India, speaking for the people of all classes of the country... He is the most sensitive and eloquent artist and it can truly be said in his case that when we honor him we are honoring ourselves.

---------Elia KazanFilm Director, 1991

Like Renoir and DeSica, Ray sees that life itself is good no matter how bad it is. It is difficult to discuss art which is an affirmation of life, without fear of becoming maudlin.

But is there any other kind of art, on screen or elsewhere? "In cinema," Ray says, "we must select everything for the camera according to the richness of its power to reveal.

--------Pauline Kael, Film Critic,I Lost It at the Movies, 1965

...his extraordinary body of work has not only greatly influenced so many filmmakers, but has profoundly affected their humanitarian attitude. The seeming "simplicity" of his films is the mark of a truly great master...

---------John Schlesinger Film Director/Producer/Writer, 1991

Ray's magic, the simple poetry of his images and their emotional impact, will always stay with me... His work is in the company of that of living contemporaries like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa and Federico Fellini.

-------Martin Scorsese, Film Director, 1991

I can never forget the excitement in my mind after seeing it (Pather Panchali). It is the kind of cinema that flows with the serenity and nobility of a big river. People are born, live out their lives, and then accept their deaths. Without the least effort and without any sudden jerks, Ray paints his picture, but its effect on the audience is to stir up deep passions. How does he achieve this? There is nothing irrelevant or haphazard in his cinematographic technique. In that lies the secret of its excellence.
--------Akira Kurosawa Film DirectorIn Eksan, 1987

... Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.

-----------Akira Kurosava

Satyajit Ray is an extraordinary filmmaker with a long and illustrious career who has had a profound influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world.

-------George Lucas Film Producer/Screenwriter, 1991

In film after film, he investigates India's social institutions and the power structures to which they give rise, or vice versa. He works out, in concrete terms, the conflicts and issues of his times, both in his own state of Bengal and in the larger Indian nation.

-----Darius Cooper, Author & Film Critic The Cinema of Satyajit Ray: Between Tradition and Modernity, 2000