Deep Focus, a collection of his writings, is being published by Delhi-based HarperCollins Publishers India in association with the Kolkata-based Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films, better known as Satyajit Ray Society. It is expected in December.

The book is an outcome of an intensive search by the Society for long-lost articles by Ray lying scattered in various dailies, magazines, film bulletins and other publications, some of which have now gone extinct.

The book is edited by Ray's filmmaker son Sandip Ray in association with actor Dhritiman Chaterji, Deepak Mukerjee and Debasis Mukhopadhyay. Eminent filmmaker Shyam Benegal has written the foreword and will release the book in Kolkata. Benegal has also been invited to deliver the Ray Memorial Lecture, a day after the book release.

The Society plans to screen Benegal's two-hour documentary on Ray at the event. "I spoke to Benegal a few weeks ago. He said he was all set to do a new film, but the schedule for the movie had not yet been fixed. He assured me he would give us his dates for the book release and the Ray Memorial Lecture on two consecutive days as soon as the scheduled was fixed. We do very much look forward to hearing from him." said Ray Society chief executive officer Arup Kumar De.

Sandip Ray, in the preface to the book, has written that when the society decided to put together a book compiling articles of his father they had no idea exactly how many of them existed, as Ray never made any meticulous effort to preserve his published writings.

The book contains 22 essays and talks - the oldest dating back to 1949 (when Ray was a 28-year-old). The essays have been divided into three sections: The master filmmaker's craft, pen portraits and his celebration of cinema. The first section contains Ray's essays and talks on cinema, the second his views on such other great directors as Godard, Antonioni, Bergman, Chaplin as also on Uttam Kumar, the matinee idol of the Bengal screen who played the lead roles in his Nayak (The Hero) and Chiriakhana (The Zoo).

The third section deals with Ray's experiences of, and views on, film festivals. The book is rich with images like film and production stills, rare portraits of Ray, and sketches and photographs by Ray. In addition to the images in the main part, the book will contain 24-page photo-inserts printed in art paper. The publications the essays have been culled from several reputed dailies. The cover of the book has been designed by Pinaki De, under the acting guidance of Sandip Ray.

"The book also contains a detailed filmography of Satyajit Ray, a short piece on his contributions to films by others, a select list of the honours he received and a note on our Society's work to restore, preserve and disseminate his works as also our plans to set up a Ray Heritage Centre in his hometown," De said.

Source: TNN, Nov 21, 2011