Satyajit Ray

Hello. My name is Satyajit Ray, but my family called me Manik. I was born on May 2nd, 1921, in a city called Calcutta in India. My family loved to create things. My grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, wrote and illustrated wonderful children's stories. My father, Sukumar Ray, was famous for his funny poems and drawings. Growing up, our house was filled with books, art, and music. All of these things made me dream of telling my own stories one day.

When I was a young man, I loved to draw and watch movies from all over the world. In 1940, I went to a special school called Visva-Bharati. This school was started by a great writer named Rabindranath Tagore. There, I learned to see the beauty in the art and culture of my own country, India. Learning about my home inspired me to share its amazing stories with everyone.

After I finished school, I worked as an artist and designed covers for books. Then, in 1947, my friends and I started the Calcutta Film Society so we could watch and study great films together. One day, I saw a movie from Italy that showed the lives of regular people, just like you and me. It made me realize I could make movies about the everyday lives of people in India. I decided right then to make my very first film. I called it Pather Panchali, which means 'Song of the Little Road'.

Making my movie Pather Panchali was a big adventure. It took a few years to make, and sometimes we didn't have enough money to keep going, but we never gave up. When it was finally finished in 1955, people all around the world loved it. I was so happy. After that, I made many more films. But I didn't just make movies. I also wrote exciting detective stories about a character named Feluda and created a funny scientist named Professor Shonku. I even composed the music for my films myself.

Throughout my life, I received many awards for all of my work. One of the most special was an Oscar, a famous movie award, which I received in 1992 for all the films I had made. I lived to be 70 years old, and I spent my life sharing the stories that I loved. Today, people still watch my movies and read my books to see the world through my eyes and discover the magic in ordinary life.