MASTER OF METHODS

Satyajit Ray was one of the versatile filmmakers of Indian cinema.

His movies were mostly the saga of the common man.

He was a master of parallel as well as commercial movies.

He was involved in all the aspects of filmmaking: scripting, casting, costume designing, directing, shooting, scoring, editing.

He used to work in a structured and organized way.

His process of film-making was like solving a mathematical equation.

He was also highly disciplined and strict about punctuality.

But his methods to apply the discipline were unorthodox and practical.

The late actor Farooq Shaikh had once shared his experience of working with him.

The movie was Shatranj Ke Khiladi/The Chess Players released in 1977.

The cast was of prominent actors such as Amjad Khan, Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaafrey, Farooq
Shaikh, Shabana Azmi and many more.

The cast and crew were instructed to reach the sets before 9.30 am.

Every day at 09.30 AM, Satyajit Ray used to visit the makeup room of the artists.

He used to wish Good Morning to every actor and crew members; no matter whether he/she was a
junior or senior.

Newbie’s and the actors who were working with Ray for the first time where totally surprised by his
behavior.

A highly versatile, world famous, and one of the greatest filmmaker, is greeting them every
morning.

It was a big thing for them.

How a great filmmaker can be so simple and well-mannered?

There was no doubt that Ray was a simple and well-mannered man.

But his habit of wishing everyone in the morning was a part of his wise plan.

Wishing everyone was actually his way of keeping a tab on the punctuality of his cast and crew.

If someone was missing, he would inquire about that person.

Some famous actors who had a habit of coming late initially also started to come on time when
they heard about Ray’s gesture of greeting everyone at 09.30am.

They understood what Satyajit Ray was actually trying to convey to them.

Everyone was on time.

Satyajit rays creativity had solved the problem without any arguments, debates, or maintaining an
attendance register.

Indeed, he was a master of methods.

Do not get excited if your boss is greeting you every morning.

He/she is just checking your punctuality.