Ray’s lensman captures magic moments in book

KOLKATA: It was the era of black and white cinema. For most filmmakers of the country, the colours black and white on the set, or on actors’ clothes, were an anathema. Satyajit Ray entered the film scene in 1954 to change it all. Be it the walls or clothing items like the saree, shirt or dhoti — white remained white. Ray wouldn’t do anything to tamper with the natural; be it colour, lights or even faces of actors. Soumendu Roy, the cinematographer to 21 Ray masterpieces, has paid a glowing tribute to his Manik-da in a book — ‘Chalachhitro Chalachhitro’ (Dey’s Publishing) — that is releasing on May 2, Ray’s 96th birth anniversary.
Roy was just a greenhorn in team back then and admits Manik-da simply changed all conventional ideas about filmmaking. He was groomed by legends like cinematographer Subrata Mitra and art director Bangshi Chandra Gupta, but he maintains it was Ray’s genius that made the difference. “A large part of ‘Aparajito’ was shot indoors in Kolkata, but Ray was careful that no one could make out it was not Varanasi and a unique lighting scheme was created that was used by Nykvist, Ingmar Bergman’s cinematographer, 10 years later,” says Roy. That was how bounce light made its debut — a white screen was created overhead and light was bounced off that. The idea was that very little light enters rooms of houses in the narrow congested alleys of Varanasi.
Ray’s first colour film ‘Kanchenjunga’ was shot in Darjeeling, negating another convention that outdoors should always be bright and sunny. Ray was firm that he would capture the myriad moods of the Darjeeling weather almost like a painting, remembers Roy, who was still an assistant to Subrata Mitra then. Similarly, it was Ray’s imagination that helped Roy create that uncanny light for ‘Abhijaan’ to highlight intrigue, tension and a dark power struggle. “We used car headlights to create that effect. Those days, we used 100 ASA (film speed) and it was impossible to shoot under car headlights. There was no halogen in headlights. So we used the landing lights of an airplane,” reminisces Roy. Again, for ‘Gupy Gayen Bagha Bayen’ and the classic Halla Choleche Juddhe scene, Ray suggested that three trolleys bearing cameras should move simultaneously from three angles — another first.
No Ray story is complete without recalling ‘Pather Panchali’, feels Roy. “Back then, Manik-da would not shoot on weekdays as he was working in an ad agency. But the rest of us would be on the spot. We were all connected together, as if through remote control. Take for example the scene with Apu and Durga getting soaked in rain. As Manik-da worked in his office, we sat at Boral village waiting for rain, day after day, till it finally came,” Roy remembers.