The first sketchbook of Satyajit Roy’s timeless creation Pather Pachali has been found after many years. Filmmaker Sandip Roy, son of Satyajit Roy, has acquired a digitalized copy of the 58-page sketchbook that was reported lost earlier.
After his arrival from abroad in 1950, Satyajit announced to make a movie based on Bibhutibhushan Bandhyapaddhay’s Pather Panchali. To make the goal a reality, he created a comic-like colourful sketchbook framing the whole story. The pictures included two-three dialogues while there were four to six sketches on every page. The legendary filmmaker approached several producers with this sketchbook.
The influential movie that changed the history of Indian cinema was released on 26 August in 1955. After the release of Pather Panchali, Cinematheque Francaise, a renowned museum in Paris, requested Satyajit to let the sketchbook be in their collection.
In response to that request, Satyajit sent the book to the museum. While in his sickbed, few months before his death, he expressed his wish to see the book but the museum reported it lost alongside the screenplay of his another masterpiece - Opur Sangsar.
To celebrate the filmmaker’s 95th birthday, Sandip has recently announced to publish a book on 2 May that will include those sketches by Satyajit, which is now stored in Satyajit Roy Archive in Calcutta. Sandip Roy is the curator of the archive.