Satyajit Ray’s Seemabaddha (1971), a stinging indictment of the corporate rat race, remains one of the iconic film-maker’s most feted works. It starred debutant Barun Chanda, who won a special prize for his performance. Now, fifty years later, Barun Chanda documents his memorable experience of working with Ray. Satyajit Ray: The Man Who Knew Too Much is more than just an account of the making of a film. The author also presents a detailed and informative study of the various avatars of Ray as a film-maker: his sense of script and ear for dialogue, his instinctive grasp of the nuances of music, his penchant for casting non-actors and ability to get the perfect face for a role, his genius in designing a film’s title sequence. Insightful and informed by a rare understanding of the master’s works, this is an invaluable addition to the corpus of work on Satyajit Ray.
