At the North Gallery of Academy of Fine Arts in Calcutta, an exhibition on Satyajit Ray, started from 19th January, 2008. It’s likely for the first time Calcuttans are experiencing Satyajit’s days (1940-1950) at D.J.Keymer, the reputed advertising agency which was situated at Calcutta. Ray’s layout of ‘Jabakusum Hair Oil’ reminds one of Calcutta in 1940’s and 50’s.
There is a unique collection of title cards from Ray’s film ‘Kanchendzonga’ (1962). Ray himself had drawn the pictures and had used a font looking similar to that used in Sikkim and Bhutan.
This shows how much complete he was in making a film. The original exhibit of Ray’s design of ‘Ek-khon’ magazine’s cover, made from a simple paper, hand cut and not cut by scissors, gives idea of his imaginative powers.
Then there were those inventions of fonts namely ‘Ray Roman’, ‘Bizarre’ etc (1976-77) literally forgotten by the common men today. A close look at the 'Holiday Script' tells you how descriptive he was in communicating the leisurely mood of a man free from his daily commitments. Viewers are aware how Ray explicitly made diagrams detailing each step his camera and crew members would follow much before he had communicated his plans to his fellowmen. One can appreciate details of such schedule while he was filming ‘Sonar Kella’. At the bottom of this poster you will find scribblings like KAMU, R.K made by Ray. It is likely he was recalling his favourite anti-hero Kamu Mukerjee.
There is a unique collection of title cards from Ray’s film ‘Kanchendzonga’ (1962). Ray himself had drawn the pictures and had used a font looking similar to that used in Sikkim and Bhutan. This shows how much complete he was in making a film. The original exhibit of Ray’s design of ‘Ek-khon’ magazine’s cover, made from a simple paper, hand cut and not cut by scissors, gives idea of his imaginative powers. Then there were those inventions of fonts namely ‘Ray Roman’, ‘Bizarre’ etc (1976-77) literally forgotten by the common men today. A close look at the 'Holiday Script' tells you how descriptive he was in communicating the leisurely mood of a man free from his daily commitments. Viewers are aware how Ray explicitly made diagrams detailing each step his camera and crew members would follow much before he had communicated his plans to his fellowmen. One can appreciate details of such schedule while he was filming ‘Sonar Kella’. At the bottom of this poster you will find scribblings like KAMU, R.K made by Ray. It is likely he was recalling his favourite anti-hero Kamu Mukerjee.Ray had gathered immense practical knowledge and technical ability in visual art while working at D.J. Keymer. He had literally toyed with every branch of arts and fine art before his final productive years in films disapproving the saying that rolling stone gathers no moss. His noteings in pencil like ‘Reduction’ on cover design of his book “Badsahi Angti” (1966) , ‘ 5 ½’ , ‘on zinc’ on the layout “Halum” , ‘pashapashi dui patai jabe’ (eng. To be covered in two pages) , ‘9``’ on the layout “Hatyapuri” are examples of his in depth knowledge in printing and book designing. Even he has made a note in pencil ‘Pierce’ , where to put the binding material. He kept a note of all his thoughts, even what not to do. On the layout of book “ Hypnogen” he wrote ‘Ei blokta kalikai pathano hobe na’ (eng. This block is not to be sent to Kalika). Even the size of the block ‘12``’ is seen noted. The unused hoarding design of his film “Devi” (1960) is a rare display. You will be surprised to know that even the half moon shaped glass window on the door you see in his film “Ghare Baire” was designed by him. If you look closely at the layout planned by him on the sets of “Goopy Gayen, Bagha Bayen” you will find intentionally lightly sketched with a pencil, pictures of three spotlights, placed at different angles. Only a detailed research will enlighten us about his plans. He was keen in detailing the wizard’s room in “Goopy Gayen…”. The film being in black and white, he has used only a pencil in his sketching. A diagram of two rectangles put one above the other at right angles to each other, occupying the upper right corner of this layout is a mystery. How he has used the road plan of Darjeeling in his film “Kanchendzonga” tells us how scientific and logical his mind was. Of all these drawings, a small sketch of a sculpture from Ellora caves in Maharashtra, will tell you how matured his fingers were when he was barely twenty.
A film poster designed by him for the film ‘Satranj Ki Khiladi’ (Chess Players), which was finally not used by Ray, deserves a look because even the discarded ones from this master look the best in the world. The bold letters bearing the name of the film resemble the pieces on a chess board expressing completeness in his imagination. His imagination showed immense restraint that never went naive. Similarly the fonts used in the cover designing of the book "Birbaler Galpo" (eng.Story of Birbal) mimic the Urdu script simply because Birbal was a Musalman and spoke Urdu.
Credit goes to the organisers undoubtedly but Sandip Ray, Ray's son, who is also a film maker, deserves a praise without prejudice for carefully and meticulously preserving Ray's originals. Hats off to him. ( See posts in VISUALS. Photographs courtesy Ray's exhibition. )
