Plan to keep entire body of Ray work under one roof

Kolkata, July 5 (PTI) - Plans are afoot to preserve the
entire collection of works by legendary filmmaker Satyajit
Ray, including films, scripts, sketches and others, under one
roof here in his favourite city.

Dubbed as the only of its kind in the country, the centre
being planned by the Society for the Preservation of Satyajit
Ray films will preserve the maestro's films, sketches,
scripts, film-posters, notebook and all other memorabilia for
research and reference work.

Ray's son Sandip Ray, who is a talented filmmaker in his
own right and one of the founder members of the Society, said
all restored, digitized films, both features and short ones of
his father, would be kept in a vault under regulated
temperature.

There are plans to keep his sketches, scripts and other
memorabilia of the master, including the 'Kheror Khata'
(scribblings on notebook), in separate enclosures with proper
infrastructure for maintenance.

The films made by Ray in the 60s and 70s and retrieved
digitally by the Academy of Motion Pictures (A.M.P.I.), U.S.,
would be kept in the vault under the supervision of A.M.P.I.
professionals, Sandip said.

The films made by Ray post-80s were in better condition
in film laboratories in the country and do not need rigorous
digitized restoration procedures of the Academy.

"While 18-19 films of my father had to be digitally
restored due to their condition, some other films' master
prints are not in shape. We will bring all these works to the
vault," Sandip said.

He said the restoration of Ray classic 'Kanchenjungha' by
the Academy was at its initial stage and needed time to
complete.

Besides the films, databasing all works of Ray, his
posters, his sketches, his scribbles, his literary drafts,
were in progress for proper preservation at the complex to
enable Ray aficionados to have a peek into his mind and
thoughts, Sandip said.

The exhibits will also touch the musical side of Ray who
was a gifted composer and had vast knowledge of western and
Indian classical music, Sandip said.

"We are planning to have a seminar hall, a permanent
exhibition gallery, a not-so-big auditorium having about 40-50
seats to screen films at times, besides the film vault and an
archive for other memorabilia for Ray enthusiasts in the
world," he said.

Land for the complex, which Sandip wished to set up
within the city, is being searched.

"We will prefer to have a structure where we can build
facilities like a big apartment having close knit rooms," he
said.

On funds for the project, he said the Society's C.E.O.,
Arup Dey, was exploring means of collection and talks were on
in this regard.

"While there is an archive on my father with some
digitized works in state government film complex Nandan, we
intend to do it on a vast scale capturing the many facets of
the genius of the man who sported the hats of director,
producer, writer, composer, cinematographer and editor with
equal panache.

Asked if the exhibits would include the Oscar lifetime
award given in 1992 which Ray was seen clutching on his
deathbed and delivering an address, Sandip said he was not too
sure in view of the loss of the Nobel medallion of
Rabindranath Tagore. However, there would be replicas, he
added. PTI