Now Satyajit Ray's world a click away

Kolkata: The world of Satyajit Ray is now just a click away.

"We are launching a website www.worldofray.com on August 26 coinciding with the 51st anniversary of the maestro's maiden film Pather Panchali. It will allow millions of Ray enthusiasts to get to know my father better," Satyajit Ray's son, Sandip Ray said.

The 250-page website that will be hosted by Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films is will have exhaustive details on the multi-faceted maestro.

It deals with every aspect of Ray's life and creation starting from some audio and video clips of his films and music to his manuscripts, book-jackets which he had designed and also some of his ads.

"The portal will be interactive and informative while keeping the entertainment content in mind. We are hosting several of Ray's pictures, digitised versions of his manuscripts, sketches and documents that will give the website a real life feel," Sandip said, who is the member secretary of Ray Society.

“The portal will have a downloadable image at some stage and there will also be an e-shop from where Ray goodies can be brought at a price,” Sandip added.

In 1992, the world watched a frail Satyajit Ray speak clearly and firmly with wry humour from his hospital bed in Kolkata.

It was the 64th Annual Academy Awards night at the Dorothy Chandler Auditorium in Los Angles where Ray was honoured with a lifetime achievement Special Oscar.

The Academy's Grants Committee, chaired by Daniel Taradash, gave a modest grant to Dilip Kr Basu, Director of Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection. It enabled Basu to accompany David Shepherd, a pioneer in film preservation, to India to examine the original Ray film negatives and file a technical report.

"The work of no other world class filmmaker hangs on such a thin thread as Satyajit Ray's." Shepherd wrote in his report.

The report drew the attention of Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and on its initiative on May 1993 the idea of forming an organisation to restore and preserve the luminous legacies of Ray was born, Sandip said.