Nostalgic Nuggets: It's Satyajit Ray's birth centenary today

Despite being from distant Bengal and having most of his 36 films made in his mother tongue, Satyajit Ray (1921- 1992) was never considered a regional film director from the eastern part of India. This is because he is considered a cultural icon whose works have impressed and influenced a horde of Hollywood film directors from Francois Truffaut and Martin Scorsese.

Born on May 2, this iconic movie mogul was not just famed for helming films but was also reputed to be a superb short story writer, an illustrator, a music director and screenplay writer. He made 29 feature films out of which two were in Hindi.

' Shatranj Ke Khilari', a much-hailed movie was the first of his two works which was based on the works of Hindi writer Munshi Prem Chand. It was released in 1977. Boasting of a classic star cast of that time which included Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kumar and Saeed Jaffery, the film was roundly rejected by the distributors when they saw it as a preview. The producer Suresh Jindal went into financial difficulties, yet it has remained a cult classic in the minds of film patrons all over.

The second, a 52-minute film released in 1981 was 'Sadgati' which had reputed artistes like Om Puri, Smita Patil and Mohan Agashe in the lead. This film was a critical take on the caste system of India and was critically acclaimed also.