Extracts from a Banaras Diary ...Part I...

Reading a book, especially one which you've been trying to find a copy of for a long time, is a source of immense pleasure. Currently, I'm privileged enough to indulge in this pleasure while reading Satyajit Ray's "Our Films,Their Films". Amazingly, after a number of failed attempts, I got hold of a battered first edition copy of this gem of a book while flipping through cheap pirated versions of contemporary novels in a roadside book-stall at Gariahat. What were the odds???!!...weird ..eh??.

Right from the first passage, I've been thoroughly amazed at the brilliance and insight of each and every article in the first part of the book,namely,"Our Films".So, I thought of sharing a few excerpts from my coveted possession for fellow Ray lovers who haven't had the chance to read it (also partly because I don't really have an original post right now [:P]).

The following passages has been taken from Ray's diary while shooting for Aparajito(The Unvanquished) during March,1956,in Banaras.

"March 1,1956-- Set out at 5 a.m. to explore the ghats.Half an hour to sunrise,yet more light than one would have thought,and more activity. The earliest bathers come about 4 a.m.,I gather.The pigeons are not active yet,but the wrestlers are.Incomparable 'atmosphere'. One just wants to go on absorbing it, being chastened and invigorated by it.The thought of having to work-planning, picking sites and extras, setting up camera and microphone, staging action- is worrying. But here, if anywhere, is a truly inspiring setting. It is not enough to say that the ghats are wonderful or exciting or unique. One must get down to analyzing the reasons for their uniqueness, their impact. The more you probe, the more is revealed, and the more you know what to include in your frame and what to leave out.
                                                         In the afternoon, the same ghats present an utterly different aspect. Clutters of immobile widows make white patches on the greyish ochre of the broad steps. The bustle of ablution is absent. And the light is different, importantly so. The ghats face east. In the morning, they get the full frontal light of the sun, and the feeling of movement is heightened by the play of cast shadows. By 4 p.m. the sun is behind the tall buildings whose shadows now reach the opposite bank. Result-- a diffused light until sunset perfectly in tune with the subdued nature of the activity. Morning scenes in the ghat must be shot in the morning, and afternoon scenes in the afternoon.




March 2-- Explored the lanes of Bengalitola. Those of Ganesh mahalla are perhaps the most photogenic. What makes them so?-- The curves in the lanes, the breaks in the facades of the houses, the pattern created by the doors, windows, railings, verandahs, columns ... here the light is qualitatively unvarying, and one could pass off a morning shot as an afternoon one.
                                                                                                                                                  We chat with the people of the neighbourhood and they promise cooperation. Where would we be without it? We are in fact at the mercy of the residents here and must deal with them with utmost caution. The smallest faux pas and the whole arduous enterprise may be wrecked."


TO BE CONTINUED.....