Enter the Art Gallery at the Alipore Museum and you would find yourself entering the backstage of a Satyajit Ray film or documentary. Hanging in mostly Black and Whites; and some coloured photographs are scenes from Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Joy Baba Felunath, Sonar Kella, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, Seemabaddha and many more all captured by Nemai Ghosh. The ace photographer had a relationship and collaboration with Satyajit Ray for over 25 years and was present on the sets of almost all his films and documentaries, capturing in details, sights the common man had probably never seen. Years later, DAG and Alipore Museum invites all to experience the world of Ray through Ghosh’s lens at the photography exhibition titled, Light and Shadow: Satyajit Ray through Nemai Ghosh’s Lens.
Satyajit Ray is a legend whose works – movies, music, art, graphics, and powerful statements – run in the veins of film lovers and Bengalis. Having set up an exhibition in his homeland and that too of photographs which are probably not on the public domain would trigger that nostalgia in the people. At a time of weekend watches and binge watching, a trend that Gen-Z catches up with just fine, maybe the exhibition might lure people to re-rewatch and binge-watch the iconic legend’s movies.
Coming to the man himself, Nemai Ghosh, spent most of his time working with Ray alone right from Goopy Gyne in 1969 to Aguntuk in 1991. A recipient of the Padma Shri in 2010, he has also served on the jury of the National film Awards in the year 2007. Nemai Ghosh passed away in 2020.
What attracts people from the moment you enter the exhibition are the OG BTS visuals. Nemai Ghosh captured these snippets from his lens when neither OG nor BTS were a thing. Where in one frame you can see Sharmila Tagore sitting in a beauty parlour getting groomed on her off day in sets, another frame captures Manik Da (Satyajit Ray) and Soumita Chatterjee where the latter is dressed as Lord Ram. One momentary glimpse of Amjad Khan from the twirls of the hookah pipes to an enigmatic dim light capture of Victor Banerjee and Swatilekha Sengupta, are photographs not to be missed.
Interestingly the photographs take you back to a time when several well-known actors today were in their young and prime, a visual seen only in movies. From Sharmila Tagore, Simi Garewal, Shabana Azmi, to Saeed Jaffrey, Aparna Sen and Smita Patil, you can see them all. In fact, in one photograph Smita Patil herself turns photographer pointing the camera at Ray in jest. A young ‘Babu’ aka Sandip Ray is also seen sharing space with his father during direction.
Remember to check out the title cards beside every photograph which explains the scenario or the story behind capturing the moment in details. While Nemai Ghosh became the storyteller through his photos, incidentally only one slight mirror reflection catches the photographer himself in action.
Some photographs also document never before scenes of Ray with Benod Behari Mukherjee and several others during the making of documentaries, which are rarely discussed. Since ghosh had an access to Ray’s home, many stills capture the man himself in retrospection while one even catches his ancestral home – in Kolkata.
With photographs clustered as per movies or documentaries with proper namecards it becomes very easy to navigate through them. One can also go through the catalogues for greater details. The Light and Shadow is an exhibition which takes time to imbibe and is definitely worth slowing down to soak in all the details.
What: Light and Shadow
Where: Alipore Museum, Kolkata
When: till September 13, 2025
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