Speaking about the essence of his book, the veteran actor explains, ‘Satyajit Ray: The Man Who Knew Too Much’ is more than just an account of the making of a film. “It is a detailed and informative study of the various avatars of Ray as a filmmaker: his sense of script and ear for dialogues, 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.”
The book was recently launched in Kolkata in presence of Barun Chanda, Srijit Mukherji and Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri. Also present on this occasion were Dhritiman Chatterjee and Siddhartha Chatterjee, both of whom featured in Satyajit Ray’s films.
After obtaining a master’s in English, Barun Chanda used to teach for a while in a college, before moving over to advertising which he confesses was an absolutely exhilarating experience. In between, he appeared in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Seemabaddha’ as its protagonist. Early in 2000, he decided to quit advertising and become a whole-time writer. Film offers started coming in again after his self-imposed exile for almost twenty years. He has four Bengali and two English books to his credit, the last two being Coke and Murder in the Monastery, both crime thrillers. This book on Ray is his first non-fiction work.
