Satyajit Ray
THE Iti, Satyajit Da book has a few shortcomings (“A man of letters”, June 17). The 52 letters the maestro wrote to Nilanjana Sen were all handwritten in
Bengali, so readers not used to reading handwritten Bengali script will find it difficult to decipher them. Transcripts of the letters were very much needed.
In the absence of this, readers have to fall back on the accompanying English translations. But such a poor job has been made of the translation that Ray is lost in the English versions. His choice of words and idioms, the mainstay of his literary genius, has been thrown to the winds, and the literary nuances he introduced in his writings are missing.
For instance, Ray addresses the lady in all his letters as “Bhai Jana” (Jana being her nickname), which in literal translation would be “Brother Jana”; but that would be disastrous, so the translator preferred to make it “Dear Jana”. But the word “dear” has a perfect Bengali translation: Priyo or Supriyo. The maestro, it should be noted, did not address her as such. He purposefully addressed her as “Bhai Jana”, which gives it a tone of affection. So, it would have been apt to translate it as “Jana Dear” in English.
There are factual blunders too in the English version. In the letter dated September 24, 1977, Ray mentions the euphoria in Calcutta about Pele’s football match (in Bengali Ray writes “Pele’r khela”) that was supposed to be held in the city. One is flabbergasted to find that the English version speaks about the enthusiasm in the city for “Dol khela”, or the Holi festival! A little more attention and a lot of care were needed to bring out a book of such importance.
Kudos to Frontline for focussing on the important “Iti, Satyajit Da” art show in Kolkata, which sadly saw very few visitors during its month-long stay.