Subrata Mitra as a cinematographer with Satyajit Ray, the legendary Indian film maker, for "Pather Panchali" (1955). He continued to work with him for many of Ray's later films. He is known for pioneering the technique of bounce lighting, while filming "The Apu Trilogy". Satyajit Ray thought that "Subrata Mitra’s camera work is better than Raoul Coutard’s". Coutard was at the time much more acclaimed than Mitra having collaborated with Godard on many of his film projects. One of his most important technical innovations was his introduction of bounce lighting, which he pioneered while filming "Aparajito" (1956), the second part of "The
Pather Panchali the countryside. When Ray told him about his longstanding wish to film "Pather Panchali", Renoir encouraged him to proceed. In 1950 Ray was sent to London by his employer, the advertising agency D.J. Keymer, to work at their headquarters. During his six months in London, he watched about 100 films. Among these, Vittorio De Sica's neorealist film "Bicycle Thieves" (1948) had a profound impact on him. In a 1982 lecture, Ray said that he had come out of the theatre determined to become a filmmaker. The film made him believe that it was possible to make realistic cinema that was