Satyajit Ray: Almost No Money for His First Film… Then an Honorary Oscar

He had almost no money for his first film.

His wife's jewellery was pawned.

The film took about three years.

This is the story of Satyajit Ray.

Welcome to brightlivesenglish.com, where we teach real English using real-life stories.

Screenplay. A screenplay is the written story of a film, with what the actors say and do.

He wrote the screenplay himself.

Director. A director is the person who leads the making of a film.

He was a first-time director.

Budget. A budget is the amount of money you can spend on something.

The film had a tiny budget.

Release. To release a film is to show it to the public for the first time.

The film was released in 1955.

Acclaim. Acclaim is great praise from many people.

The film won acclaim around the world.

Now, one pattern: no matter how.

It means it does not change anything.

No matter how little money he had, he kept filming.

Ready? Let's begin.

Satyajit Ray was born in Calcutta, in India, in 1921, into a family of writers and artists.

His grandfather wrote and drew books for children.

His father died when he was a small child.

Later, he studied art at Rabindranath Tagore's university.

He got a job at an advertising company.

He also drew pictures for a children's version of the novel "Pather Panchali", about a poor village family.

He dreamed of making the story into a film.

In 1950, on a work trip to London, he watched about a hundred films.

One Italian film, "Bicycle Thieves", showed him that a great film could use ordinary people and real places.

Back home, he wrote the screenplay himself.

He was a first-time director.

Most of his actors had never acted before.

The grandmother was played by an old woman of about eighty.

He filmed in a real village near Calcutta.

The film had a tiny budget.

He still had his job, so he filmed on Sundays.

When the money ran out, he borrowed against his life insurance, and his wife's jewellery was pawned.

No matter how little money he had, he kept filming.

Then the money ran out completely, and he had to stop for about a year.

Would the film ever be finished?

Finally, the government of West Bengal paid for the rest.

After about three years, the film was finished.

The film was released in 1955.

In 1956, at the Cannes film festival in France, it won a prize called "Best Human Document".

The film won acclaim around the world.

It became the first part of the Apu Trilogy, three films about Apu's life.

He made more than 35 films.

He wrote his own screenplays, he composed music, he designed posters, and he wrote stories for children.

He also edited "Sandesh", the children's magazine that his grandfather had founded.

The Japanese director Akira Kurosawa once said, "Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon."

In 1992, he was very ill.

Audrey Hepburn presented him with an honorary Oscar, and he received it by video, from his hospital bed in Calcutta.

He said, "It's an extraordinary experience for me to be here tonight to receive this magnificent award."

That year, India also gave him its highest award, the Bharat Ratna.

He died a few weeks later, in April 1992.

Let's review. He wrote the screenplay himself.

He was a first-time director.

The film had a tiny budget.

The film was released in 1955.

The film won acclaim around the world.

And remember: no matter how little money he had, he kept filming.

Satyajit Ray's story teaches us: you don't need a big budget to make something great.

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