‘ Pather Panchali is the first ‘total cinema’ film, you cannot think of Indian cinema without Satyajit Ray ‘_ in this very long take, Mrinal Sen talks without stopping about the Calcutta Film Society, his friendship with Ritwik Ghatak, the writing of his first reviews, the shooting of his first films, about his admiration of Ray’s first films, about the cold public reaction to ‘Aparajito’, about the train scene in Pather Panchali, about some scenes he likes and dislikes in Ray’s cinema, about Ray’s fabulous ’10 years’, from Pather Panchali to Charulata, about Ray’s last three films he really didn’t like and by-and-large, about ‘contemporaneity’….If you don’t have time or patience to watch the full shot, make sure you’ll watch from 34’02, where Mrinal Sen starts talking in a very profound and subtle way about his long relation with Ray, and about his respect and criticism of his oeuvre ( recorded in 1999 in Calcutta )

this short film is branch#38 of a big tree entitled ‘memories of ray’

‘ i never thought of becoming a filmmaker ’ _ Mrinal Sen talks in details about his youth, his early interest in literature and cinema, which came much later in his life, after having read ‘cinema as a graphic art’, a highly technical book about Eisenstein: « That’s why i say that my journey into cinema was very accidental: only after having read all the books on cinema available at the Imperial Library, then i started watching films! ». Mrinal Sen also talks about the special relation between Ray and the great art director Bansi Chandragupta, and the early years of the Calcutta film Society (recorded in 1999 in Calcutta)

this short film is branch#37 of a big tree entitled ‘memories of ray’