1. Rendezvous with RayGaston RobergeSatyajit RayPresentation by:CVVMMK DhavejiSchool Assistant ScienceTaylor High SchoolNarsapur 534275Andhra Pradeshmuralidhaveji@yahoo.com

2. The friendshipbetween a French-Canadian Priestand a Bengali film-makerled to path-breakingwork infilm studies 3. Fr. Gaston Roberge was acquaintedwith the works of Satyajit Ray throughthe Apu Trilogy 4. He found the world ofApu so fascinating thathe saw all three films inone sitting; and therebegan his longstandinglove affair with thepeople of India andBengali cinema andculture 5. Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road, 1955)Pather Panchali tells the story of a poor familyliving in a Bengal village. A priest - Harihar, hiswife - Sarbajaya, his two children - Apu andDurga, and his aged cousin - Indir Thakrun,struggle to make both end meet.Harihar is frequently away from home on work.The wife is raising her mischievous daughterDurga and caring for elderly cousin Indir. Apu isborn. Soon, Durga and Apu build a bond as theyexplore the world around the village. Thesequences of Durga and Apu are the mostcinematic moments in the film. On a stormy day,following a joyous dance in the monsoon rains,Durga dies. On Harihar's return, the family leavestheir village in search of a new life in Benaras.The film closes with an image of Harihar, wifeand son - Apu, moving way in an ox cart. 6. Aparajito (The Unvanquished), 1956The film opens with Apu wandering and exploring thecity.Harihar falls ill with fever and collapses at theriverbank. Harihar's death leaves mother and son tofend for themselves.The mother decides to return with Apu to live in avillage where an old uncle works as a priest. Shemakes sacrifices so that he might pursue his studies.Apu, now sixteen, wins a scholarship and departs forCalcutta, leaving her alone. It breaks Sarbajaya'sheart, but she relents. Her health is failing, and theloneliness in the village takes its toll.Engulfed in city life - studying during the day andworking in a printing press at night to pay for hisexpenses - Apu grows away from his mother. Shewaits silently for her son's visit as her illnessaccelerates and falls into a depression.On a night , Sarbajaya dies. Apu comes back to anempty house. He grieves for his mother, but soonfinds strength to leaves the village for the last time, tocarry on with his new life in the city ... 7. Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959Apu is now a graduate and without a job. He iswriting a novel based on his life, which he hopeswill make him famous. His life takes a turn whenhe meets his old friend Pulu. He coerces Apu totravel to his ancestral village to attend thewedding of his cousin, Aparna (Sharmila Tagore ). Onthe day of the wedding, the bridegroom turnsout to be mentally deranged and the wedding iscancelled. Apu primarily of out sympathy for thebride and some convincing by Pulu, agrees to bethe substitute groom. He has not even seen heryet.Soon, a warm and caring relationship develops.Apu willingly takes up the clerical job.Pregnant, she goes to her parents' place and diesduring the childbirth. Apu's world shatters. Heleaves Calcutta to lead the life of a wanderer.Apu comes back to the village. On seeing his son,Apu is overwhelmed by affection. United, theyleave for Calcutta to make a new beginning.. 8. In his latest book,Satyajit Ray Essays:1970-2005, acompilation of hisessays , Robergeprovides a scholarly,original analysis ofRay's works, giving aninsight into thegreatness of Ray bothas a person and as anartist.works of Satyajit Ray 9. The Apu Trilogy was, in fact, my first portal toWest Bengal and its people, he told Frontline. 10. Roberge knew ofBengal was through- 11. Roberge knew ofBengal was through-Some poems of 12. Roberge knew ofBengal was through a -ARTICLE ONMOTHERTERESA 13. If the harshimage of povertybrought out bythe article onthe Saint of theslums hauntedhim, Apus worldcame as areassurance.SAINT OF THESLUMS 14. Roberge does not endorse the accusationof Ray's detractors that the master directormade his reputation selling India's povertyto the West. 15. "What struck me most was not the material povertydepicted in the films, but the enormous spiritual richnessof the characters, whose poverty didn't prevent them frombeing so deeply human and so full of joy. Besides, thespiritual poverty of some rich people is much moredeplorable than material poverty," he said. 16. Roberge does not speak with the arrogance of thewest. "I was here on a quest to know the world andin the process know myself. I did not come here toconvert. In fact, I am the one who got converted." 17. It took him nine years to muster up theconfidence to meet Ray in person. 18. "Although I wanted to meet him right away, I didn't wantto just go and see him like he was a living museum piece.I wanted to prepare myself, get to know his works more,so that when we met, there could be a worthwhiledialogue," 19. "When they finally met, it wasthe beginning of a closefriendship that lasted 22 years- until Ray's death in 1992 20. "It was a very quiet friendship that developedover the years. Manikda [as Ray wasaffectionately called by friends] was a shy personand always very discreet about displaying hisemotions," said Roberge. 21. Though to outsiders, Ray's massive stature -physical and intellectual - might have madehim come across as cold, aloof and evenintimidating, he was in reality a very simpleand unassuming man with a subtle sense ofhumour. 22. It was an unspoken arrangement betweenthe two of them to meet on Sundays at 9a.m. at Ray's residence on Bishop LefroyRoad, Kolkata. 23. . Ray would invite Roberge over for privatescreenings of his latest films and welcomedcomments on them. 24. . He was evenshy of receivingcomplements. 25. Ray's screenplay manuscripts were an art bythemselves, Roberge says, "hand-written inBengali, with notes in English for his set-designer,with sketches here and there, andoccasional staff notation of fragments of music". 26. Like RabindranathTagore, Raystrode his timelike a colossus. 27. . Roberge writes, It is as if all Bengal was in Manikda: therich and the poor, the powerful and the humble, thepeasants and the city persons, children, teenagers, adultsand old people, men and women. 28. Philosophically too, Roberge feels, Ray took offwhere Tagore signed out. 29. If one compares thelast major prose pieceby Rabindranth Tagore,"Shabhyatar Sankat"(Crisis of Civilisation),which contains hisimmortal dictum that inspite of what washappening it would bea sin to lose faith inMan , 30. and the last threefilms of Ray Ganashatru(Public Enemy),Shakha Prashakha(Branches of the tree), andAgantuk(The Stranger) the analogy becomesclear. 31. "In these three films Ray was at his mostpersonal and when some critics saw thefilms as didactic and verbose, he feltdeeply hurt. 32. For, in these last films, Satyajit was directlytalking to us, conveying his personal messageon society and civilisation. 33. If the impulse that motivated his earlierfilms was aesthetics in the last three it wasself- expression. And there we were denyinghim his right to speak. As the saying goes, noone is a prophet in his own country, saidRoberge. 34. An agnostic throughout his life, it ispossible, Roberge feels, that in the face ofdeath Ray was searching for an answer.This was suggested by some of the music that he used in Shakha Prashakha. 35. The last time the two friends met,Ray was in hospital, on his deathbed.It was a Sunday and Roberge, true tohabit, arrived on the dot at 9 a.m. 36. He had grown so weak that he looked frailas a child. I did not stay long, d as I wasleaving, Manikda said, Bhalo laglo [it wasnice]. Those were his last words to me, saidRoberge. 37. One important fallout of this friendship wasthe establishment of Chitrabani , acommunication and film institute, the first ofits kind in West Bengal, which Robergefounded in 1970 and to which Ray, as a tokenof friendship, lent his name as co-founder. 38. Ray was in the first governing body and aftera few terms readily agreed to be theinstitutes adviser. Roberge arranged most ofthe initial funding from Canadian agencies. 39. I had no reservationsapplying for them, for Ifeel richer countries inthe West are indebtedto countries like India,he said. 40. For 26 years Roberge wasthe director of Chitrabaniand under him theinstitute not onlyproduced importantdocumentary features,but also becamebreeding ground for localtalent for film-making