kolkata every year on his may 2 countless admirers pay a visit to his 11 bishop lefroy road residence none of that will happen on satyajit rays birth centenary this sunday amid a raging pandemic his 100th birthday has coincided with the counting day in bengal to decide a keenly contested election initial plans of allowing people to offer flowers to him have been cancelled said his filmmaker son sandip ray respect of course is in the mind and not just physical gestures though ray was not known for his political films one wonders what he would have done in todays digital world of political polarisation i dont think he would have made an outandout political film perhaps he would have directed hirak rajar deshe part ii he was professor shonku himself and would do wonders with the new technology though i cant visualize him shooting movies on iphones he would have loved working on the ott platform that guarantees exposure and mileage the ray scion said on rays centenary tributes are being paid from all quarters a book is on the cards titled three rays stories from satyajit ray it has more than 40 previously unpublished stories autobiographical writings and illustrations by ray in sandesh we are publishing headpieces of all his stories none of them are available in the books its good to see the global interest in his works but i am against colourisation of his films including apur sansar which are available online he said there are talks about biopics and a film on the making of pather panchali there is no question of granting permission to an authorized biopic using his name who will play baba he wondered what about unauthorized ones where the connection if evident despite fictional names one has to see who is doing it and the intent he said he doesnt support the trend of paying tributes by recreating scenes from ray classics with new actors such recreations in the name of tributes need the permission of the original producer the goahead from the bansals is mandatory if a scene from charulata is to be recreated in a new film there is complete disregard for seeking permission to adapt copyrighted material on screen and books this violation of intellectual property rights is irritating and dangerous he said during last years lockdown three diaries of ray from 1935 1936 and 1939 were found along with his letters and even a christmas greeting card from akira kurosawa the diary entries are interesting the last two pages after december 31 were kept for his reviews of hollywood movies he would give star ratings just like the way toi does now he said so anna karenina had got four stars which meant outstanding while all quiet on the western front had got two stars less meaning good looking back what does he think about his fathers style of working many of his films turned into flabfree masterpieces on his ruthless editing table in some