Maybe Satyajit Ray Would Have Liked Us For At Least Attempting 'Ray': Ali Fazal On Comparisons

Srijit Mukherji, who directed Forget Me Not and Bahrupiya, two out of the four stories in Ray, an anthology inspired by the legendary Satyajit Ray, had said that he was expecting backlash even before the Netflix series was released.

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"I¡¯m expecting a backlash from the purists, and possibly a thumbs up from people who have who don¡¯t have linkages with Ray. For the purists, it might be a bit difficult. Especially in Bengal, Ray is a bit of a holy cow in terms of approaching and interpretation. So the purists who were very happy with Feluda Pherot might guillotine me this time. I think Vasan Bala and Abhishek Chaubey music will have it easier because they are not from Bengal," he had told News 18.

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What he feared has sort of come true. Not many people are happy with the modern interpretation of the stories. The comparisons are all over social media.

Ali Fazal who starred in Forget Me Not, the episode based on Satyajit Ray¡¯s short story Bipin Chowdhury¡¯r Smritibhrom, says "Maybe, he would have liked us for at least attempting 'Ray'".

"I have seen that a lot of people are trying to make comparisons but can¡¯t possibly because his cinema was very different from his writing. This is a written piece. In fact, in the original, there were no female characters. So, we included female characters in our short. We tried¡­ of course, it takes a darker path.

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"He was a great man and he led by example. He was a very progressive man. Maybe, he would have liked us for at least attempting ¡®Ray¡¯. If we were making a remake of his film then the comparisons would have made sense. It is our little version and tribute. We have tried to push the boundaries," Fazal was quoted as saying by IANS.

Satyajit Ray's son Sandeep Ray says he is scared to watch the series, especially after the underwhelming response. He said he didn't like the trailer at all.

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"From your response and you say the reviews are underwhelming, I feel I should have insisted on being more participative. Now it¡¯s too late I guess. But let me tell you, I didn¡¯t like the promo at all. Now I am scared to watch it. On the other hand, I am also curious to see what has been done with my father¡¯s stories," he was quoted as saying by Spotboye.com.

Sandeep revealed that he was not involved in the project at all. The makers asked for his permission but he had no role in the approval of stories and nor was he shown the final prouct.