Satyajit Ray is familiar to us as well as the whole world through his classics such as Songs of the Road (Pather Panchali), Adventures of Goopy and Bagha (Goopy Gain Bagha Bain), The World of Apu (Apur Shongshar), Distant Thunder (Ashoni Shangket)... the list goes on.

Nemai Ghosh, a brilliant photographer who is a loyal devotee of Ray and Ray's work, has followed the titan around for a period of over 25 years. Ghosh has about 95,000 negatives of Ray on the sets, working away completely oblivious to the surroundings. Ghosh was everywhere Ray was; hence his presence often became discreet to the filmmaker. Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts is holding an exposition of these photographs titled Satyajit Ray: From Script to Screen, at the Bengal Shilpalaya. The exhibition opened on February 8.

At the inaugural, Nemai Ghosh said, "I'm ecstatic that this exhibition is being held in Dhaka. Ray is a source of pride to every Bangalee, he highlighted the traditional Bangalee lifestyle -- rural and urban -- to the outer world. I'm thankful to the Indian High Commission to Bangladesh, Indian Council for Cultural Relations, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi and Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts to make this exhibition possible."

Noted actress Bobita said, "I was introduced to 'Manikda' (Ray) through Nemai Ghosh. It was in 1973 when Ghosh shot some photographs of me at actor Razzaque's residence. Apparently he showed my photographs to Manikda. One day I received a letter that said Satyajit Ray would like to meet me regarding a major role in one of his upcoming movies (Ashoni Shangket). My first reaction was, someone is obviously pulling a practical joke on me. Why on earth would Ray want to cast me in his film when there's no lack of talented actresses in India.

"It was only after the High Commission of India contacting me regarding the offer that I realised it wasn't a joke. I consider Nemaida (Ghosh) my link to Ray."

Among others speaking on the occasion were Veena Sikri, the Indian High Commissioner, Professor Rajeev Lochan, director of National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) and eminent filmmaker Subhash Dutta who was the chief guest.

The specialty of the photographs are, they are all black and white; flash has not been used either during the shots. Ray was on top of everything and that's what becomes apparent in the photographs. One gets to see the talented director doing what he did best -- creating magic on screen. The photographs show Ray sharing notes with art director Ashok Bose for Gharey Bairey (1984), reading the script of Agantuk to Utpal Dutta, instructing Tapan Chatterjee and Robi Ghosh on the sets of Goopy Gain Bagha Bain (1968), explaining a scene to the short-lived actress Smita Patil on the sets of Sadgati (1981), rehearsing a take with Santal women for a dance sequence in Shantiniketan for his last film Agantuk and many more.

Viewers also get a demonstration of the maestro's multifaceted talent -- designing titles cards for Sonar Kella (1974), a caricature of the legendary screen-diva Nargis, a visualisation of Dayamoyee in the final sequence of Debi, a sketch of Apu's room for Apur Shongshar, different stages during the scoring, rehearsing, recording and the final take of a song sequence in Hirok Rajar Desh-e.

One cannot completely perceive the magnitude of a creative titan like Ray. But these images, apart from being wonderful artwork all by themselves, give one an insight to the working process of the master filmmaker. The exhibition is a treasure trove for cine-enthusiasts and connoisseurs of photography but namely anyone who has ever been mesmerised by any of Ray's timeless classics.

The exhibition will remain open till February 14.