Ray got govt support not known to filmmakers today: Sudeshna Roy

PANAJI: Satyajit Ray’s ‘Pather Panchali’ too failed to pull the crowds to the theatres when it was first released, just like the present-day Bengali off-beat films, Bengali filmmaker Sudeshna Roy said, speaking in Panaji at the venue of the 45th International Film Festival of India (Iffi).
“The film was shot in the 1950s, when there were only three film industries producing films in the country.The then Bengal chief minister gave Satyajit Ray funds from the public works department only because the film name had the word ‘road’ in it. His film was then screened in every school,” Roy said, highlighting the support Ray received that allowed his film to be widely viewed and then become a classic screened in every film school around the world
for students.
Roy said that the present day filmmakers do not receive such support. “Hindi films are dubbed into Bengali and cinema halls give small filmmakers slot of 10.30am for screenings when nobody is available to watch a film except students who bunk classes. We need at least small viewing rooms where our films can be screened for the minimum of one week,”
Roy said. tnn