Satyajit Ray

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Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and composer. Ray is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors in the history of cinema. He is celebrated for works including ''The Apu Trilogy'' (1955–1959), ''The Music Room'' (1958), ''The Big City'' (1963) and ''Charulata'' (1964) and the ''Goopy–Bagha'' trilogy.

Ray was born in Calcutta to author Sukumar Ray. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent film-making after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film ''Bicycle Thieves'' (1948) during a visit to London.

Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries, and shorts. Ray's first film, (1955) won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. This film, along with ''Aparajito'' (1956) and (''The World of Apu'') (1959), form ''The Apu Trilogy''. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. He also authored several short stories and novels, primarily for young children and teenagers. Popular characters created by Ray include Feluda the sleuth, Professor Shonku the scientist, Tarini Khuro the storyteller, and Lalmohan Ganguly the novelist.

Ray received many major awards in his career, including a record thirty-six Indian National Film Awards, a Golden Lion, a Golden Bear, two Silver Bears, many additional awards at international film festivals and ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. In 1978, he was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna, its highest civilian award in 1992. On the occasion of the birth centenary of Ray, the International Film Festival of India, in recognition of the auteur's legacy, rechristened in 2021 its annual Lifetime Achievement award to "Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award".