I first got into satyajit Ray from my library. A lot of big cities that have many branches of local libraries have a good selection of hard to find films, a lot of which are on VHS but who cares? Netflix has some but no the most important ones. If you get the chance watch pather panchali and the other two films in the apu trilogy. The chess players is also really good and the music room. I’m lucky enough to have a fairly decent library and a video store that specializes in hard to find films. Good luck.
get a multiregion player.
Artificial Eye has released 2, and soon to be 3 sets of his films the third are of films that I am completely unfamiliar with, so I am very excited.
Also, Eureka has “Abhijan” in its Masters of Cinema set.
Other films of his can be found in the UK and America.
The Apu trilogy is an obvious starter, but I only really love the first film of the three: “Pather Panchali”
Other favorites of my, from those that I have thus far seen, would be: Nayak, The Adversary, Charulata, and Abhijan.
I would definitely recommend picking up this set:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Satyajit-Ray-Collection-Vol-1-DVD/dp/B0014E91AQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1277760029&sr=1-1
I’ve watched two of the films in vol. 2, Kapurush and Mahapurush, and while I liked both, neither are among his best films. Ray rarely makes a ‘bad’ movie, but some are better, more poetic, or more profound than others.
There are still a bunch that I have yet to see.
I have seen, and like in order:
Nayak (The Hero)
The Adversary
Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)
Abhijan
Kapurush (The Coward)
Mahapurush (The Holy Man)
Aparajito (Apu part 2)
The World of Apu
The Chess Players
Once I found a website called Induna selling Indian DVD’s, included most of Ray’s. Just check the net, normally you’ll be able to buy them at good. Otherwise, the best would be to to Calcutta where you just find all of Ray’s films at any store. Just for a start: “The Apu Trilogy”, “The Music Room”, “Charulata” and “Devi”.
has anyone bought any from calcuttaweb.com? they’ve got some ghatak, mrinal sen etc as well as ray…i keep wandering over, tempted, but unsure about postage….any experience with this site?
@Twodeadmagpies
Though I don’t know this site you’re talking about, normally there are not postage problems with Indian shops. If I were you I’d go ahead. Anything for having Ray’s dvd’s!
@Twodeadmagpies: I bought the complete Ritwik Ghatak DVD-box-set from that website and the image quality was overall decent with the exception of Komal Ghandhar which had horrible quality. A lot of films they sell are actually TV-rips and no official releases, but it’s a rare opportunity to purchase films that aren’t available anywhere outside of India on DVD with English subs.
“The British label artificial eye has released many of his relevant films in wonderful editions (Vol.1; Vol.2), "
Also, volume three is coming out soon: Satyajit Ray Collection Vol.3 – Amazon
and there are 5 others available direct here as well as amazon etc.
Theres also Abhijaan on Masters of Cinema.
I found, unexpectedly, Abhijan in Reykjavik City Library. I don’t know what the moral of that statement is. Try your local library, I guess :D
Somebody mentioned VHS tapes. I bought Jana Aranya and Charulata VHS tapes from amazon and the quality was pretty good.
Oh, to answer the OPs second question, Ray biographer Robinson considers the first segment of “Two Daughters” (“postmaster”) to be the best intro to Ray. I don’t disagree. The trilogy, days and nights in the forest, and charulata are also good choices.
In all honesty, in one sense the best way is probably to wait for prints of the films that have been restored to either be shown in a retrospective or make to it home video.
Robert Somers: If I’m not mistaken, Netflix currently has 10 Satyajit Ray films available to rent. While it’s a shame that the Apu trilogy isn’t among them, I would certainly exhaust this valuable resource first before going any further. I see that Charulata is one of those films and it wouldn’t be a bad place to start. You may also want to consider a couple of earlier suggestions such as The Music Room and Nayak.
twodeadmagpies: A few years ago, the British Film Institute made two Ghatak films available on DVD: The Cloud-Capped Star and A River Called Titas. Two of his best from what I’ve seen from him. I wish I had that box set Marc has. The latter was recently restored by the World Cinema Foundation, so I’m hoping that it would one day end up on Criterion.
There is a Satyajit Ray Retrospective in Singapore next month from 1-24 Oct. You could travel to Singapore to see his films too!
By the way, any recommendations on what to watch from the retrospective program? I have already watched “Song of the Road”, “The Unvanquished”, “The World of Apu” and “Days and Nights in the Forest”. Thinking of catching “The Lonely Wife”. What else is a must-watch from the list? Thanks!
Hidden Behind the Screen
Netflix hardly has any available to rent, and on Amazon they’re important and way overpriced. Does anyone know a good place to buy/watch his best films? And which ones would you recommend to someone who’s new to this filmmaker.