Soham: I still remember how Satyajit Ray used to pamper me on the sets

For

Soham

, watching Shakha Proshakha on Satyajit Ray’s birthday has become a ritual of sorts. The actor was only five years old when he got an opportunity to act in the film.

“To celebrate jethu’s (Satyajit Ray) birthday on May 2, we make it a point to watch Shakha Proshaka at home every year. There were times, when I visited his house too. I was five years old when jethu cast me in the film. I still remember how he would pamper me on the sets. I was very fond of ice creams and he made sure I got one whenever I wanted. His style of working was simple. He would enact a scene three or four times, so that the actor understood what exactly he wanted. Only then he would take the final shot,” recalled Soham during an exclusive chat with ETimes.

Soham had played the nave grandson in Shakha Proshakha who would ask his ailing grandfather what do numberi money means and this scene is like etched in our minds forever.

Ray had a secret bonding with children. Be it ‘Pather Panchali’ or ‘

Agantuk

’, he used to handle

children

like entities on their own. He would often pick them from their urban, educated, modern backdrop to set them in a more rural setting whenever the script would demand and they never looked like out of place. They didn’t even behave or speak like precocious children as we see in many films. Even in his literary works for children he used to follow the same thinking that children are more imaginative than older readers.