Throwback Thursday: When Satyajit Ray bagged unanticipated Oscar

On 30 March 1992, Satyajit Ray became the first Indian filmmaker ever to receive the coveted Oscar award. The filmmaker who wielded enormous influence on filmmakers and audiences around the world with his work was surprisingly never nominated for any Oscar awards during his lifetime.

Mumbai: For ace filmmaker Satyajit Ray, winning a special Oscar for "lifetime achievement" was the ultimate triumph in a film making career adorned with numerous laurels. The filmmaker, who was an institute in himself, said that he looks at the honour as the climax of his career.

The honour could not have come at a better time as the ace storyteller was recovering from cataract operation and a prolonged heart ailment. Bishop Lefroy Road, the street that houses the residence of the renowned filmmaker in south Kolkata was thronged by visitors post the award was announced.

The unwell body couldn't dampen the spirit Seemabadhha helmer as he was occupied with the screenplay of his 31st film then. The stalwart was left with no appetite for recognitions but when asked how it felt being felicitated with coveted honour, Ray had said it is the climax of sorts for his career.

"Well, I had reached a point when awards meant less and less to me. But this I never expected. This comes as a sort of climax to my career. Because for a filmmaker, an Oscar is like a Nobel Prize, you know. So I am very happy... delighted. There is nothing more after this. I cannot hope to get anything more prestigious." said Ray in an interview dated in 1992.

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Ray was also awarded the Legion d'honneur(Legion of Honour) by the President of France in 1987. He was also awarded the honorary Doctorate by Oxford University, the second film personality to receive the honor after Charlie Chaplin.

Ray's celluloid wonders are part of various Film Studies curricula across the world. Besides the international honours, the multifaceted personality received 32 National Film Awards in his illustrious career spread over nearly 43 years.

In the later years of his filmmaking career, the Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne helmer had grown very sensitive to criticism like every creative person. Speaking of critics in Indian cinema, the iconic celluloid master had said that the level of "criticism is pretty low" in our country. He also quipped that the dearth of critics with sound knowledge of cinema upsets him the most which made him averse of movie reviews.