Rays Of Tagore in Satyajit

Anindita Mazumder

“On the seventh of August 1941, in the city of Calcutta, a man died. His mortal remains perished but he left behind him a heritage which no fire could consume. It is a heritage of words and music and poetry of ideas and of ideals. And it has the power to move us to inspire us today and in the days to come. We, who owe him so much, salute his memory.”  Thus begins Satyajit Ray’s commentary in his documentary, Rabindranath Tagore – his tribute to the poet on his centenary year in 1961. In this edition, we write about this unique rapport between Tagore and Ray who share their birth anniversaries in the same month.

Satyajit Ray’s association with Tagore was not limited to the realms of creativity but the family’s ties went back to the days of his grandfather, Upendrakishore Raychowdhury, a friend of the poet. The two shared a common interest in writing and publishing books for children; when Tagore wrote a long poem, Nadi, Upendrakishore did the sketches. The latter also named his first-borns, Hasi and Tata after the children in Tagore’s work Rajarshi. Tata grew up to be Sukumar, Ray’s father whom Tagore referred to as his “young friend”. Sukumar and his friends started a movement among the young Brahmos for including Tagore as an honorary member in Sadharon Brahmo Samaj and despite the opposition of the more conservative members the younger generation succeeded after a referendum. Tagore was present during his marriage to Suprabha. Then came the tragic news of Sukumar’s fatal illness. The poet who visited him on August 29, 1923, before the final end, sung two songs at his request- “Aache dukkho, aache mrityu” and another “Dukkho e nai, sukh nahe go”- the second one – twice, on Sukumar’s request.

The family continued visiting Santiniketan often during vacations. Ray remembered how Tagore had written a short poem in his autograph book when he was ten. It described how the poet had wandered far off and wide in foreign lands but failed to step out and watch the beauty of a solitary dewdrop on the tip of a rice grain in his own country. One wonders while watching the scenes of Apu and Durga caught in the rain or running across fields overgrown with kash in Pather Panchali, Ray’s first film, whether it was Tagore who unfolded the young boy’s inner eye.

And his interests in Japanese martial art began after he witnessed students practising in Santinikatan and he himself started learning the art after his return to Kolkata. Remember, Feluda indulges in the art in Ray’s detective novel, Bombaier Bombete? After Ray completed his graduation he was sent to Kalabhavan in Visva Bharati to study art but returned after the death of Tagore.

Although Ray began his filmmaking career with the literary works of Bibhuti Bhusan Bandopadhyay, time and again he came back to Tagore for plots and music, moved by their eternal appeal. Apart from the documentary on the Nobel laureate, Ray made a series of films based on Tagore’s short stories and novels including Charulata (Nostoneer), Ghare Baire, Teen Kanya (Postmaster, Monihaara and Samapti).  Another documentary on Binod Bihari Mukherjee – his teacher at Kalabhavan, reflected Ray’s deep association with the place of learning which he had left long back.

Incidentally, Ray began composing music with Teen Kanya, based on Tagore’s short stories although he had earlier chosen to leave the task of composing music to maestros like Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan and Ali Akbar Khan. Hailing from a family of Brahmos, Ray grew up in an environment of music, particularly Tagore’s compositions sung during upasana. His maternal aunt, Kanak Das was a famous Rabindrasangeet exponent and his mother and later, his wife, Bijoya were also good singers.

Ray also took recourse to Rabindrasangeet to express the state of mind of his characters in films. In Monihara he used the song, “Baje karun sure” to impart the deep sense of loneliness and insecurity that the central character felt. In his own words: “It is a very ornate, very lonely song that absolutely suited the mood. It is not that the words actually reflect her situation – they are not important here – it’s the time.”  Again in Agantuk we find Sudhindra humming Sandhyabela chameli go… (“Ami pathbhola ek pathik esechi”) the final words “Amai cheno ki” are unspoken but resonate the unasked question in Sudhindra’s sceptical mind about Monomohan’s identity. In Charulata , Ray uses those songs of Tagore which were inspired by Western melodies including “Ami chini go chini tomare” and “Phule phule, dhole dhole” to reflect the mingling of the oriental and occidental cultures in Bhupati’s house-hold. Apart from songs the maestro had also paid his tribute to the bard in using his melodies in the background score with great effect.