Satyajit Ray's ancestral home: Why does Bangladesh want to demolish it? Son Sandip Ray speaks out

With the controversy around the proposed demolition of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s ancestral house in Bangladesh raging on, all eyes are on the Bangladeshi government on whether it will reconsider its decision.

 

Formerly used as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, the building belonged to Ray's grandfather, Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury.

 

Yesterday, India formally offered help to preserve the building, and urged Bangladesh not to demolish Ray’s ancestral property as it symbolises Bangla cultural "renaissance".

 

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) termed Bangladesh’s move to demolish the building as a matter of "profound regret", and urged it to convert the building into a museum symbolising shared culture of the two countries.

 

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, too, had weighed in on the controversy, calling the move "extremely distressing" and said the building is intricately tied to the cultural history of Bengal.

 

Why does Bangladesh want to demolish Satyajit Ray’s ancestral home?

 

The property, presently owned by the Bangladesh government, was built by Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury more than 100 years ago in Kishoreganj's Katiadi Upazila (sub-division), where he was a zamindar in Masua.

 

Neglected by the authorities for more than a decade, the landmark building fell into a state of disrepair.

 

Bangladeshi daily The Daily Star quoted Md Mehedi Zaman, the district children affairs officer, as saying that the Shishu Academy was operating from the rented space, and that a semi-concrete building will replace the old house to restart the academy's activities.

 

What did Sandip Ray, Satyajit Ray’s son, say about the ancestral house in Bangladesh?

 

Filmmaker Sandip Ray – Satyajit Ray's son – told NDTV that he had never been to Bangladesh to see the ancestral house, but said that his father once wanted to use pictures of the building while working on the Sukumar Ray documentary.

 

Satyajit Ray sent an associate to Bangladesh to take pictures of the house, but seeing the condition of the house from the photos, he decided against using it in the documentary.

India