Ahead of Satyajit Ray’s birth centenary on Saturday, Souvik Das, locked down at home away from his Sector V office, turns quiz master to test your Ray quotient

1. This movie of Satyajit Ray about the garden of Indra displayed the garden’s evident wealth disparity. In a sequence, the film cuts synchronously between shots of the royal guests indulging themselves and poor locals enjoying a meagre feast of rice and pork on the streets. This landed the film in a controversy that continued for decades.

2. Satyajit Ray is renowned for the design of the covers of various books and magazines. One of his earliest ventures into this passion was for a book on history which was written from the viewpoint of a freedom-fighter, and is concerned more with the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings of Indian culture than with recounting a historical narrative. Which book are we talking about?

3. A proper noun connects Satyajit Ray, a mythological character who invented bucolic poetry and a tiny inner Saturnian moon. Name it.

4. Who connects Satyajit Ray, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Dev Anand, Geeta Bali?

5. This cinema directed by one of the legendary directors of our times received some not-so-kind comments from Ray, who wrote about the movie “a delectable heroine, an ear-filling background score, and a simple, wholesome wish-fulfiling screen story (summary in seven words: Big Bad Bureaucrat Reformed by Rustic Belle) … essentially old-fashioned and Indian beneath its trendy habit.”

6. Conversation circa 1960 depicts two figures seated on stools, their bodies facing in opposite directions. The figure on the left has its torso and head turned to face the other person, suggesting the movement of twisting around while engaged in conversation. Who created this paper collage?

7. What connects Umrao Jaan by Muzaffar Ali, 36 Chowringhee Lane by Aparna Sen, Jangal Mein Mangal by Rajendra Bhatia and Balika Badhu by Tarun Majumdar?

Focus on supporting acts

Starting from Chunibala Devi in Pather Panchali, movies of Satyajit Ray saw some stellar performance in supporting roles. In fact, Victor Banerjee was the first ever recipient of the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Supporting Actor for his role in Ray’s Ghare Baire. Take a look at the movie stills below and identify the lesser-known faces who played pivotal characters in these movies.

Quiz questions The Telegraph

SpotlIght on props

Props in cinemas enhance the narrative, conveys a circumstance and makes characters instantly recognisable. Satyajit Ray used props in the most amazing ways in his movies. He was always flexible about letting actors add their touch to a scene. One story goes like this — while researching his part as General Outram, Richard Attenborough found that the man smoked cheroots and wore a pince-nez. He thus not only began practising a Scottish accent but also brought the props with him. In the following visual clues, some of the most important props used in Satyajit Ray films are shown.

Who wrote this letter which turned the world of the reader upside down in this movie?

The plank of wood called pniri is a symbol of matrimony in Bengal. For whom is this wooden plank (pniri) getting decorated?

This single shot pistol was slowly getting obsolete during the years this film tries to portray. The more sophisticated ones were becoming more popular. In this shot who is aiming this pistol at whom?

In this book, Alan Isaacs sees religious faith as a private necessity for many: for society as a whole, even in the nuclear age, he acknowledges that the concept of God may serve a useful function in the enforcement of moral codes. To whom does this book belong in this film?

When the cigarette was perhaps more harmful than the smoke... Who did the cigarette belong to before being burnt to ashes in this scene?

This movie comprises a series of prophetic nightmares, ominous daydreams and memories less about people and more about birds. In this iconic scene, what are these skeletons waiting for?

Whoever said that we are the sum total of our experiences and not of our possessions, has undermined how our possessions sometimes let the cat out of the bag. Ray’s use of this screwdriver to put this movie en route the climax has been nothing short of a masterstroke. Who was the owner of this screwdriver before this scene?

Mail your answers to saltlake@abpmail.com by May 5, 2020. Names of those with the maximum correct responses will be published.