Satyajit Ray revisited

What does Ray mean to the younger generation?
Does he have a contemporary relevance? These were topics for the first memorial lecture which marked the beginning of a week-long Satyajit Ray festival to commemorate his 88th birth anniversary and was held at a city art gallery on Sunday. To speak on the occasion, Satyajit Ray Society, the think tank behind this event, invited Javed Akhtar.Apart from a host of dignitaries, social activist Sundeep Bhutoria too was present.
But with the session held outside the auditorium, the management had a tough time dealing with the Nor���westers. Host Dhritiman Chatterjee, wittily remarked, ���You can see, we���re fighting the elements every moment. As I speak here, water is dripping on Javed saab���s head.���
Taking up from where he had left off, Akhtar continued, ���I humbly acknowledge my inadequacy to the magnitude of the subject. Though mother Nature has done her best to stop me from speaking.��� He quoted instances from his life and regaled guests with how he knew this boy from Bhopal who used to pen letters to Ray and spoke good English, how he himself was thrilled to meet Ray for the first time.
���I spoke less, as I lacked the courage,��� he added and cited examples from Ray���s films like Apur Sansar, Pather Panchali, Jalshaghar, Shatranj Ke Khiladi and Kanchanjungha.
There was also an exhibition of Ray���s film posters, scanned pages of costume sketches, make up sketches, floor plans and
pictures taken by him.