enthusiasm for the screening of the new Merchant Ivory production Gaach, at Warner Bros off the Champs Elysees, in the presence of our Ambassador, Mr Sethi, Ismail Merchant and the director of the film, a French student of cinema, Catherine Berge. The film presents Soumitra Chatterji, Satyajit Ray's hero of over 15 films including Apur Sansar, Charulata, Devi, clippings from which are effectively used to narrate the life of this extraordinary stage and screen actor.
An excited Berge said after the screening of the 70-minute docudrama: "It was 1992. I was at Columbia University. The Academy Award ceremony was on.Satyajit Ray was dying. In fact, he died a week later. I was at that time preparing a lecture on Tag-ore and Ray. I saw the film Ghare Baire several times. And I thought, my God, has there ever been such a long relationship between a great director and actor. I read that Merchant, Ivory were restoring Ray films. I met Ismail in New York. In five minutes he said go ahead. And I was on a flight to Calcutta to meet Soumitra."
The film was shot on location in nine days. There are interviews with Bijoya Ray, Aparna Sen, Sharmila Tagore, Mamta Shankar. An interesting narrative device is the use of the patua scroll by Robi Ghosh. Madhabi Mukherjee appears in a scene from one of the hundreds of stage plays Soumitra has acted in. Gaach, or The Tree, will be shown at the Venice film festival as a tribute to 50 years of Independence.
