Never saw Satyajit Ray angry: Mamata Shankar

New Delhi: Renowned Bengali actress Mamata Shankar started her career with Mrinal Sen, but she got a chance to work with Satyajit Ray on films such as 'Ganashatru', 'Shakha Proshakha' and 'Agantuk'. She describes the differences in the working styles of both the legendary filmmakers.

Q: You always wanted to work with Satyajit Ray.

A: It was my dream to just show my face in one small scene, just to boast that I have worked with Satyajit Ray, but it was my great fortune that I got the chance to work in his last three films.

April 23, 2012 marks the 20th death anniversary of Satyajit Ray, a master of Indian cinema. We pay a tribute to his art recapturing the timeless moments from his feature films. This is a still from his 1960 film Devi (The Goddess) set in the late 1800s in rural Bengal. When her father-in-law has a dream that she is an incarnation of goddess Kali, Dayamayee's life takes a strange turn.
Pather Panchali in 1955 is perhaps Ray's best known work to date and is the first part of his Apu Trilogy. He sees the world through the eyes of his protagonist Apu and weaves his brand of lyrical realism in the film. It has won honours at the Cannes Film Festival and is counted amongst the best films in World Cinema.
This is the third part of Ray's Apu Trilogy (1959) and charts the adulthood of Apu, his marriage to Aparna and tearing of his roots to feed the wanderlust in him.
Soumitro Chatterjee plays Narasingha, a rough taxi driver. Ray blends cynicism with the love of a man for his machine in this 1962 film.
This 1991 film is Ray's last and adapted from one of his stories. A stranger comes to visit the woman he calls his niece, who has little recollection of him as a child. The story follows the turmoil he creates in the nuclear household with his arrival.
Aparajito is the second of the Apu Trilogy and sees Apu growing up into a teen and tells the moving story of a fledgeling leaving the nest his mother so lovingly created.
Four friends explore the untapped wild charm of tribal Palamau in Bihar to get away from civilization. The lines blur when the so-called civilized and the uncivilized find themselves in company of women and wilderness.
Set in a village in Bengal during World War II, the film is based on the Great Famine of 1943 and tells the story of a doctor and wife's struggle for existence in times of starvation.
One of Ray's finest films, Charulata tells the story of a lonely housewife whose husband runs a newspaper in colonial Calcutta. Ray explores relationships with Madhavi Mukherjee in the lead role.
Ray based this suspense thriller on a story by author Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. Uttam Kumar plays the Bengali sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi in the film as he investigates a crime in one of the city's strange farm houses that is home to a bunch of social outcasts.
'Enemy of the People' is a 1990 film by Ray adapted from Henrik Ibsen's play 'An Enemy of the People'. It was screened at Cannes and dealt with the deep seated superstitions associated with religion.
Based on a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, Ghare Baire is the conflict of ideals, the duel between realism and idealism brought out beautifully by Ray.
One of the greatest children's film ever made, Goopi Gayen and Bagha Bayen are exiled from their village. They seek shelter in a forest and come in contact with a cluster of ghosts living there. They grant the duo three wishes.
Hirak Rajar Deshe, a children's film, is also a powerful social commentary. Ray tackles with grave subjects such as corruption and exploitation through a lyrical and amusing tale.
Jalsaghar is the tragic narration of how an aristocrat and landlord deals with the abolition of the zamindari system by the government.
A part of Ray's Calcutta Trilogy, this film is the lyrical narration of the problems of unemployment of the educated middle class in Bengal.
Joy Baba Felunath is part of his series on his self-created detective Pradosh Mitra. This time Feluda goes to Benaras to solve a crime.
A family takes a vacation in the popular hill station of Darjeeling. As the story unfolds, so do their interpersonal relationships.
A scriptwriter takes shelter in the house of a couple and is surprised to find that the wife is his old girlfriend who he had let down. Now that he is a successful man, he urges her to leave her husband and elope with him.
The hilarious film is adapted from the popular story 'Birinchibaba' portraying a fraud godman and his unmasking.
In Mahanagar, Ray leads his heroine from the sheltered domain of her home to the streets as a salesperson to meet economical demands of a household. It is based on a story by Narendranath Mitra.
A nationally known film star takes a train journey and comes in contact with a journalist. His flamboyance and panache is a cover for deeper insecurities and inner demons.
When a common man stumbles upon a touchstone, his life goes topsy turvy. Gold prices fall and the economy is in tatters. Tulsi Chakraborty is brilliant in Parash Pathor.
Filmed in 1971, at the peak of the Naxal movement, the film is part of Ray's Calcutta trilogy. Pratidwandi is the story of Siddharta, caught in the ethical dilemma and revolutionary ideals of his time.
Sadgati, made in 1981, is based on a short story by Munshi Premchand and has won a National Award. This is Ray's second Hindi film after Shatranj Ke Khiladi and takes a critical look at the perils of Indian caste system.
Starring Barun Chanda, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Parumita Chowdhury, Sharmila Tagore and Haradhan Bandopadhyay, this is the story of a man's fall from respect even as he deals with a professional crises successfully.
Made in 1990, Ray brings four generations of a Bengali family under one roof with this film and lets them sort out their differences.
Sonar Kella is part of series on his self-created detective Pradosh Chandra Mitra. Feluda goes to Rajasthan to investigate the truth behind a boy's claims of re-incarnation and bust a gang that kidnaps him.
A lonely postmaster finds an unusual friend in a little helper girl during a posting to a far flung area of rural Bengal.
A woman's attachment to her jewels takes a terrible turn in this three-part series by Ray.
This is the poignant story of the coming of age of a village girl as she discovers sympathy, kindness and love in her young husband.

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Never saw Satyajit Ray angry: Mamata Shankar

Bengali actress Mamata Shankar describes the differences in the filmmaking styles of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen.

Q: Mrinal Sen introduced you to the audiences.

A: I had acted in many films, but it was an actor's dream to work with Ray. It was Mrinal Sen who introduced me to the audiences in 'Mrigya', but I also wanted to learn something from Satyajit Ray.

Q: Why Mrinal Sen and Satyajit Ray were so different as filmmakers?

A: They were entirely different. Mrinal Da was very spontaneous like he might have the script and then he might have gone to the location, and then something might inspire him to construct a scene then and there. He was normally very relaxed with the script. On the other hand Manik Kaka (Satyajit Ray) had everything planned, everything chalked out. He had a red note book 'kherol khata' in which every shot was sketched.

It was always bursting with energy on Mrinal Da's sets while Satyajit Ray's sets were calm and quiet.

Q: Such a strict discipline could have formed a creative gap.

A: No, no, he never forced anything on us. Firstly, he would read out the script and he wanted all his actors to be present during the narration session. He would suggest changes but while shooting he just watched the performances on the screen, and if he felt that certain things need to be done then only he would interfere otherwise he would leave everything to the actors.

He was disciplined but not strict in that sense. He had his own style, I never saw him getting angry. He would never criticise anyone publically. Even if he wanted to take another shot, he would say we have to take another shot due to some technical failure, and since we are doing this again can we improvise a little.

Q: Can you still remember your first shot with the master?

A: I won't forget the first day of working with Ray. It was pin drop silence on the set and after I gave my first shot, everybody started clapping. It was a ritual in his unit to clap after the first shot given by a newcomer. So, when everybody clapped hundreds of pigeons that used to live there started flying, so for me everything was like a dream in slow motion. I was in a kind of trance.