Short Essay On Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was born in one of undivided Bengal’s most famous and intellectual Brahmo

families on May 2, 1921. His grandfather, Uprendrakishore Roy Chowdhury was a writer and

painter par excellence and was deeply involved with Bengal’s religious and social movements at

the start of the 20 th century. He was also involved in printing business and published and edited

the famous juvenile monthly, Sandesh from his own publishing house, U Roy and Sons.

Upendrakishore’s other brothers were also highly educated and famous in their respective fields.

Upendra’s eldest brother, Saradaranjan, was the principal of a famous Kolkata college and was a

big cricket enthusiastic. Under his tutelage, top Bengal cricketers like Shutey Banerjee and Berry

Saradaranjan was known as the “father of

Bengal cricket.” He was also often described as WG Grace of Bengal.

Satyajit’s father, Sukumar, was a genius in many fields including photography and lithography,

in which he had a degree from London. But he would be best remembered for his amazing flair

in children’s literature and nonsense rhymes. Sukumar still remains unmatched in Bengali

nonsense rhymes and is often described as the “Lewis Carroll” of Bengal. Sukumar, however,

did not live long and passed away at the age of 37. Three days before his death, Rabindranath

Tagore, a close friend of the Ray family, came to see Sukumar.

Unfortunately, when Satyajit was born, his great family was going through a crisis.

Upendrakishore had died and Sukumar was critically ill. He finally breathed his last in

September 1923 leaving behind the two-and- half-year- old Satyajit and his mother. Despite the

rich family background, Satyajit’s mother, Suprabha Devi, faced severe financial crisis and

raising the young son was a struggle.

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Despite all the problems, Satyajit turned out to be a highly intelligent person from the

beginning. Like his grandfather and father, Satyajit showed great flair in art, culture and