Soon, it may be time to go “on location” of films shot by legendary filmmaker late Satyajit Ray. The tourism ministry, in association with the West Bengal government, has decided to take up “Satyajit Ray Trail” as a mega project on a priority basis. It entails identifying and developing the exact spots where the Oscar-winning filmmaker shot the scenes for his films celebrated and discussed across the world.
The West Bengal government wanted to start the “trail” from Boral, barely five km from southern limits of Kolkata. This was the place where Pather Panchali, one of the most acclaimed films of Ray, was largely shot. However, since the place has been taken over by urbanisation and the spots where the film was shot have “vanished”, it was decided to identify other places where Ray shot his films.
The “trail” may now begin from Shantiniketan in Bolpur, where Ray studied and later also made documentaries. The ministry is hoping that several guest houses and tourist lodges in the area will make more and more people to take “trail”.
Aiding in identifying the exact spots will be Ramesh Sen, one of the crew members of Ray, and his only son, Sandip Ray, who virtually grew up on his father’s film sets and later also assisted him in direction since 1976.
Besides being his assistant director, Mr Sandip Ray is said to have completed the entire project of Ghare Baire after his father suffered two massive strokes. Of course, he essentially followed detailed instructions issued by the cinematic genius.
Most of these spots are likely to be in Birbhum district and some are in the adjacent Burdwan district. The district, nearly 160 km from Kolkata, is connected through the National Highway-34 that goes up to Siliguri. The visitors will get to see a scene or sequence shot at a particular location following which they would be told about the trivia and the anecdotes related to it.