I wrote this article on the occasion of National Doctors’ Day in India (July 1). It was published in ‘thewire.in’. Here is the link.

Below is an excerpt:

Satyajit Ray and Pather Panchali – Satyajit Ray had to struggle to fund his film Pather Panchali, later on a world-famous venture. After several dead-ends, his mother finally came to his rescue. Through an acquaintance of hers, Chief Minister BC Roy was apprised of the project and he agreed to provide governmental funding. In fact, after the film was made, Roy even arranged a special screening for Nehru, something which helped quell the opposition the film was facing from prominent officials and personalities (they thought, highly prescient of current controversies, that the film “showed India in bad light”).