Film studio celebrates Satyajit Ray’s 97th birth anniversary with a web series on his short stories

Satyajit Ray, unarguably one of India’s finest filmmakers, continues to inspire movie makers through his films, books and short stories. Today, the world celebrates his 97th birth anniversary and to commemorate this day, Viacom18 Motion Pictures has announced X Ray — Selected Satyajit Shorts. This presentation will be a 12-part web series produced by Tipping Point, the digital content brand of the film studio, in collaboration with National Award-winning director Srijit Mukherji.
Viacom18 Motion Pictures, known for bringing cutting-edge content to the big screen and breaking away from the formulas and clichés, has now ventured into the digital space with its digital content brand, Tipping Point. It will extend the studio’s ethos of creating content focused on engagement and entertainment, while pushing the creative envelope with a host of web series and short films for online consumption.
Commenting on the development, Ajit Andhare, COO, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, said, “Having conquered the big screen through unconventional narratives, it’s time for us to make a mark in the rapidly-emerging digital content space. Tipping Point will appeal to consumers looking for edgy, contemporary, provocative yet relatable content, typically missing in traditional or mainstream media. Through Tipping Point, we will evolve from being a film studio into a holistic content studio, reaching beyond theatrical offerings into millions of screens on mobile and personal devices with its unique storytelling.”
Srijit Mukherji added, “One aspect of Satyajit Ray, which probably gets overshadowed by his cinematic genius, is his remarkable treasure trove of short stories, which an entire generation grew up on. These stories appeared in groups of 12, across years, and covered diverse genres like horror, drama, satire etc. It is an honour to get an opportunity to adapt 12 such stories for the web series. We will also relocate the setting of these stories across 12 cities/towns to give them a pan India feel.”
That’s not all. The brand’s offering will also see a host of other web series — an untitled crime thriller created by Imtiaz Ali, Jamtara, a story about a small district in Jharkhand, known to be India’s phishing capital, directed by Soumendra Padhi, and Best Days, a psychological thriller by Abhishek Sengupta.