Ray Shorts

Watching Ray on Netflix was a good experience but it left me wishing I had actually read the stories on which this series is based. Notwithstanding, as a Ray fan who has watched just about every movie he made, I echo the sentiments of this reviewer: 

But try as they might, the sizeable cast and crew are unable to bring out the depth in Ray’s stories. As an artist, it is important to understand the context in which Satyajit Ray created his oeuvre.
In the early ‘70s, Bengal was ushering a new era of corporate bigwigs. Under an ever-growing capitalistic market, the cultural babus were choosing to denounce years of arrogance from ancestral zamindari days and join the workforce to earn an honest living. Ray’s works then became a mirror to society, a direct naysayer to the reigning communist government of the time.

This production is not about nuance and it anyone comparing it to the the subtle qualities of movies like Agantuk or Seemabaddha would only come away disappointed. I was willing to accept a modern interpretation that is more in your face, does not try too hard to be multi-dimensional with layers of meaning a viewer can unearth over the years and multiple viewings. 

The leading men in all four stories are complex characters. There was a lot more potential to play out that complexity even in the interest of making the stories more "sticky" in a modern day digital marketing sense that Ray might have never approved of. Since no one sought his approval anyway there was no harm in putting more effort into character development. Despite my peeves I am very glad to see this effort and its presence on Netflix and will gladly watch any more to come in this series. There is no sense in allowing perfect standing in the way of good enough - there is no Ray anymore to deliver perfection.