Google wishes Satyajit Ray happy birthday with Apu doodle

If you haven’t gone to Google’s homepage today, then click to it. To honour the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray on his 92nd birth anniversary, the Google Doodle shows a scene from one of Ray’s most beloved films, Pather Panchali. Pather Panchali was Ray’s first film and the idea of making the film came to him when he was commissioned to draw illustrations for Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s novel, Aam Atir Bhepu. When Pather Panchali was released in 1955, it drew immense praise and and received several international accolades, including an award for Best Human Document at the Cannes Film Festival. Ray was immediately established as one of Bengal’s most beloved sons. The scene Google has selected from Panther Panchali is from one of the most famous sequences from the film. It shows a little boy called Apu, who is the protagonist, run across fields festooned with kans grass (kaash phool in Bengali) with his sister, Durga. They’re delightedly chasing the whistle and curling smoke of a distant train. Google is spelt out by the wispy smoke. [caption id=“attachment_745311” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Google doodle on Satyajit Ray’s 92nd birth anniversary shows the famous scene from Panther Panchali.[/caption] In the course of his career, Ray directed 36 films, including documentaries and short films. He also authored several books, including the famous Feluda and Professor Sanku series. Ray was the son of poet and author Sukumar Ray and grandson of legendary writer Upendrakishore Roychowdhury. He graduated from the Presidency College of Kolkata and studied art at Visva-Bharati University when Rabindranath Tagore suggested Ray join Kala Bhavan to hone his artistic skills. After Santiniketan, Ray worked in advertising. A visit to London led him to realise his passion for films after watching the works of cinema legends like Vittorio de Sica. Inspired as he was by Western cinema, Ray’s stories focussed upon the world that he knew: Bengal. The best of his films explore with elegant subtlety how society negotiates its way through change and conventions. Among his most acclaimed films are His timeless classics Apu Triology, Jalsaghar, Charulata, Mahanagar and Devi. Ray’s work influenced many film makers across the world, including Akira Kurosawa, Francois Truffaut, Martin Scorsese, James Ivory, Elia Kazan, Abbas Kiarostami, Carlos Suara and Danny Boyle. Ray was also India’s first and only Oscar-winning director. An honorary Oscar was awarded to him  for lifetime achievement weeks before his death in Calcutta.