Lee Road renamed as Satyajit Ray Dharani

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the renovated pavement in front of the house of the renowned director, Satyajit Ray, on Bishop Lefroy Road, at 5 pm on Monday. The portion of the pavement in front of the house has been decorated with paraphernalia, including posters of the master’s films.

Mamata Banerjee on Monday inaugurated the revamped Bishop Lefroy Road, on which stands the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s house and renamed it as Satyajit Ray Dharani.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has refurbished the thoroughfare. Photographs of the films that included Pather Panchali, Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen, Mahanagar and Sonar Kella have been put up. 40 posters and still photographs of Roy, eight garden benches and decorated lamp posts have also been installed along sidewalks. 

The pavements have been upgraded with coloured blocks.

Banerjee has asked to maintain the installed property. “We make things but we do not maintain them. Citizens must also share equal responsibility. When people will pass through the busy road they will remember how Roy made us all proud,” she said “Today is the day to feel proud. There are moments which should be felt silently,” she added.

The Chief Minister said that the road will have statues or murals made by Jogen Chowdhury. She said as the Railway minister she had laid the foundation stone of a stadium in Behala which had been named after Roy. “Bengal is the cultural hub of the whole world and it is our duty to make our younger generation aware of our rich culture,” she said.

Sandeep Roy, his son Souradeep and wife Lalita were also present at the event. Barun Chanda who has acted in Roy’s film Shimabaddha was also present. Roy started staying in the house at 1/1, Bishop Lephroy Road from the 1970s. Earlier, he used to stay in a flat at Lake Temple Road. Soumitra Chatterjee had stayed in the flat for over a decade before he moved to his house at Golf Green.

Roy’s house at Bishop Lephroy Road is considered to be a pilgrimage for cinema lovers throughout the globe. The first film he directed after moving to this house was Aranyer Dinratri.  

He had penned his immortal characters like Pheluda and Professor Sanku in this house. His compositions in Goopi Gayen Bagha Bayen, Hirak Rajar Deshe and Satranj ki khiladi were made during his stay here.  

He was assisted by Bijoya Roy who died two years ago. Great actors like Sir Richard Attenborough, Sayed Jafri and Sanjeev Kumar had visited the house.   

Soumitra Chatterjee, Kamu Mukherjee, Rabi Ghosh and Parimal Roy were frequent visitors to this house and had attended Roy’s famous ‘adda’.