When Satyajit Ray spoke about his ambition of adapting 'Mahabharata' to screen

Mumbai, April 26 (IANS) An old video of the late filmmaker Satyajit Ray has re-surfaced on the Internet, in which the filmmaker spoke about his ambition of adapting the Indian epic of ‘Mahabharata’.

The video has been shared by the Indian broadcaster, Prasar Bharati. In the video, the filmmaker said, “Yes, there are a few things which haven't been done yet. For instance, I've always wanted to do an epic. I had been fascinated by the ‘Mahabharata’ and I'm still fascinated by the ‘Mahabharata’, but I don't think the whole of Mahabharata can be tackled”.

He further mentioned, “So perhaps a segment of an epic, a segment of Mahabharata, I'd do using our tradition of stylization, perhaps using Kathakali. I really haven't got a very clear notion of what I want to do, but I definitely do want to do an epic, a story which everybody knows from beforehand. That is something which I want to do”.

Satyajit Ray is one of the most respected filmmakers in world cinema. His ‘Apu’ trilogy is a work of fine cinematic art. He has inspired several great filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, who is known for films like ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Raging Bull’, ‘The Departed’, ‘Shutter Island’ and others. Marty has publicly expressed his admiration and the profound influence of Satyajit Ray's filmmaking, particularly Ray's "Apu Trilogy" and his overall cinematic style

The National award-winning filmmaker Shoojit Sircar is also a great admirer of Satyajit Ray and his work, considering Ray to be his ‘guru’. Shoojit believes that his own films are heavily influenced by Ray’s cinematic legacy.

Recently, at a panel discussion at IFP, Shoojit Sircar said, “Satyajit Ray has been my guru and still I think his films are so much influence in my life and in my films also. Apart from that, I have watched a lot of Oliver Stone films, Fellini, Buñuel (Luis Buñuel), Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak, there are many. So, at that time, I think those films didn’t have this kind of exhibition, this kind of distribution”.

He added, “For example, if it was Mumbai and if it was a Ray film, it will be showing in maybe one in somewhere in town in one theatre. It never had a chance to go to many theatres. Things are different now, I mean there are many theatres to exhibit your films but at that time it was only, like I grew up in Delhi and it was only one theatre where I could see these kinds of films, wherever Bergman films or Buñuel films or Ray films. So I think these films were my influences”.

--IANS

aa/