Satyajit Ray’s Work Inspires Projects From Big Bazaar, Roadshow (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comNaman Ramachandran A restored version of Indian master Satyajit Ray’s “The Adversary” is playing at Cannes Classics this year and films inspired by his works are being planned.Kolkata-based Indian producer-director Aritra Sen’s Roadshow Films and Los Angeles-based British writer-director Alex Harvey’s Big Bazaar Films are producing two films this year, which take their inspiration from Ray’s life and work.
First up is feature documentary “Forest of Humans,” which looks at Ray’s creative relationship with Kolkata, the city where he lived and worked all his life.
Directed by Harvey and produced by Sen, the documentary explores the many ways in which Ray used Kolkata’s diverse humanity to create an entire cinematic world.
Filming almost entirely on location in Kolkata, “Forest of Humans” aims to show how Ray’s poetic world is still mysterious and alive in the city today. “Kolkata endlessly fed Ray’s imagination,” says Sen. “In return Ray gave the city its sense of self.”“His films never try to idealise Kolkata but constantly transform how it is perceived,” says Harvey. “Look at ‘The Adversary’s’ disaffected anti-hero who is seen apart from his city, unable to find solace in its casual pleasures.”“The Adversary” also partly provides the inspiration for “Prantik,” a contemporary drama set in Kolkata and London.
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