This year’s hue and cry over the Academy Awards urged me to look up the matter on the internet. I could not take out time to watch most of the films that won the Oscar this year, but I should watch a few of them very soon. I am more a voracious reader than a movie buff, but all the buzz about the awards got me thinking. Somehow, the word Oscar reminds me of Ray. Satyajit Ray. And it drags me down memory lane to the summer of 1992.

By the time I turned twenty, I had lost count of the number of times I had watched Pather Panchali. The space Ray left for the audience to think and feel between the shots is something I cherished watching his films. I would not debate that this film should have won the Oscar, but this film definitely needs to be seen atleast once to understand the in-depth portrayal of human relationships. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Satyajit Ray an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement twenty four days before his demise in recognition of his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world.

A man who put Indian cinema on the world map with his lyrical narratives received the highest honour critically ill and bedridden. In this digital age, we can watch the Oscars live, many of us watch many of the films that are in the nominations, and we get all information from none other than the stars themselves live from the red carpet.

Times have changed. Nominations and categories have increased, and even the statue has been changed from gold-plated britannium to gold-plated solid bronze. But even today whenever Oscars are announced, it is Ray that I first remember.