Satyajit Ray, New Cinema, and the FFC/NFDC

Abstract

Year 2021–22 was celebrated as the birth centenary of Satyajit Ray. The Film Finance Corporation (FFC) and National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) were two of his important financiers and pro-ducers. Ray’s Charulata (1964), Nayak (1965), and Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1968) were financed by the FFC. NFDC produced some of his later films, viz. Ghare Baire (1984), Ganashatru (1989), and Agantuk (1992). This article remembers Ray by recalling the Corporation’s support towards and celebration of the Master’s films. It revisits Ray’s views on Indian films, New Cinema movement of the 1970s, and films and audience in general with a view to highlight his curious relationship with the alternative cinema movement of India.