Diwali throwback: Satyajit Ray as a Shyama Sangeet composer; know which film and why

Did you know Satyajit Ray wrote a Shyama Sangeet? Even if that appears quite incredible, it's true. The filmmaker wrote the song for his film Devi, in which he questioned religious dogmatism in his polite, understated but deeply empathetic tone. It was Ray's sixth feature film.

Few remember the Shyama Sangeet Satyajit Ray secretly wrote

"The song was composed by Ray himself. There are two songs in the film. One shows a beggar at the steps of a temple singing a Ramprasadi song," says Ray researcher Debasis Mukhopadhyay. But the director was stumped when he was searching for another song to be used on an occasion when the beggar was supposed to vent his expressions at the goddess.

"Ray searched a lot but could not find lyrics that would suit the occasion. Undaunted, Ray picked up the pen to compose a Shyama sangeet himself," said Mukhopadhyay. Though Ray has written many lyrics and scored music for a number of his own films, writing a Shyama sangeet remains a little-known but remarkable piece of creativity from the director. 

The song is Ebar Tore Chinechhi Ma (Mother, I have recognised you now). Ray not only composed the lyrics but also set the tune for it. "Many don't know the role of the beggar who sings the Shyama sangeet in the film at the steps of the temple was played by Mohammad Israil," Mukhopadhyay added a valuable aside. The overall music composer for Devi was sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan.

Ray made Devi in 1960 from a short story by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay. It featured Sharmila Tagore, Soumitra Chatterjee and Chhabi Biswas and dwells on what happens after a zamindar -- played by Chhabi Biswas, who else? -- dreamt that his daughter-in-law (Sharmila Tagore) is a goddess incarnate. The plot is set in rural Bengal of the 19th century.

It was chosen as the best feature film in Bengali of 1960 in the country and was nominated for the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962. Elia Kazan called it "poetry on celluloid" while Francis Ford Coppola considered it to be Ray's best work and "a cinematic milestone".

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