The bicycle thief , Satyajit Ray and Simplicity

I started watching Satyajit Ray's movies a month ago. When someone says, "Hey, U must try his movies, he's a great director", "Hey she's real hot, must watch dude", "He's the ultimate best" kinda comments or suggestions we get to evaluate them basing on the credit we give to that person. If we like them a lot we'll try our best to do it and just because that particular person suggested us and not any other.
It applies to everything. Some drink Coke, only because Aamir Khan told them to do so. Only AXE told women will be around with that spray. Sachin told similar thing about Boost.

Satyajit Ray

Apu

In one situation or the other every acclaimed director of the Hollywood told he was highly influenced by Satyajit Ray's taking. So I downloaded The Apu Trilogy. Saw it. Then after no words to describe Ray. By any standard he is a genius. The themes of his movie, the taking, background score, narration are very simple and yet have a profound and lasting effect on the audience. There were no huge sets or acclaimed actors to get the initial recognition. Each and every frame has its importance and a significant role in the movie on the whole. The point common to every great film is that it makes the audience an integral part of the film and yet there is no role to play except a witness to those incidents narrated. Ray did it with finesse. With amateur technicians he created magic on the screen. When I went through Ray's biography he quoted The Bicycle Thief as the movie that inspired him to take movie making.

I downloaded The Bicycle Thief  Mr. Ray told it is a career deciding movie for him. In simple words the whole story is that of a poor husband who needs a bicycle for certain job in order to feed his wife and two kids. His bicycle is stolen and he goes on days hunt for it and ultimately..................................
He didn't get his bicycle back...
Sooo very simple eh, but it is not so. Importance of things varies in proportion to the value they hold to us. For him his bicycle and for us? It varies. A pen lost while I am in elementary has the same effect if I lose my mobile now. But the emotional strain and haste to get it back has not changed. It takes intense observation to make a movie with such simple theme and get credit as the Sight and Sound's all time second best movie.Sitting here I can make no guess what all they did to get such simple and everlasting effect. But all they did was to narrate a story very simply inspite of the great complexities the characters hold.