Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Greatest film-maker

This refers to the editorial "A salute to India's greatest film-maker" (May 31). As rightly pointed out, Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali remains a classic half a century after its release. The Apu Trilogy features in the list of 100 all-time great films compiled by the Time Magazine.

But Ray had his critics who said he exported poverty. But Ray was one of the early masters of realism in cinema; and poverty was an inevitable component of Indian reality. Time Magazine critics Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss aptly describe Ray's work: "Ray's film-making is direct in manner, simple in its means and profound in its impact." Ray's place among the greatest is safe and secure.

B.J. Krishnan,
Udhagamandalam, T.N.

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