Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was born in Calcutta on May 2, 1921. His father, Late Sukumar Ray was an eminent poet and writer in the history of Bengali literature.

In 1940, after receiving his degree in science and economics from Calcutta University, he attended Tagore's Viswa-Bharati University.

His first movie Pather Panchali (1955) won several International Awards and set Ray as a world-class director.

Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1961.

In 1967, he wrote a script for a movie entitled "The Alien". Columbia Pictures was in talks to produce it. Peter Sellers and Marlon Brando were supposed to be up for the leading roles. However, Ray was surprised to find that the script he had cowritten had already been copyrighted and the fee appropriated. Brando dropped out of the project and, though an attempt was made to bring James Coburn in to replace him, Ray was disillusioned, had enough of Hollywood machinations and returned to Calcutta. Columbia was interested in reviving the project in the 1970s and 1980s but nothing came of it. When E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial (1982) was released in 1982, many saw striking similarities in the film to Ray's earlier script. Ray himself believed that Steven Spielberg's movie "would not have been possible without my script of 'The Alien' being available throughout America in mimeographed copies." Spielberg denied this by saying, "I was a kid in high school when this script was circulating in Hollywood".

Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1982.

He won a special life-time achievement award at the 1992 Acadamy Awards. He's the second Indian to have won an Oscar. The first was Bhanu Athaiya in 1983.

Interviewed in "World Directors in Dialogue" by Bert Cardullo (Scarecrow Press, 2011).