Subrata Mitra to a cameraman...Almost every shot of "Pather Panchali" posed a problem for me, innumerable problems, many sleepless nights spent on ruminating over the prospects of the next day's shooting..."Pather Panchali" had many excellent shots--both technically and artistically, but it had many bad shots too." From 1997 until his death, Mitra was an emeritus professor of cinematography at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) at Kolkata. Subrata Mitra Subrata Mitra (12 October 1930 – 7 December 2001) was an Indian cinematographer. Acclaimed for his work in "The Apu Trilogy" (1955–1959), Mitra is often considered one of the greatest of
Satyajit Ray Renoir about his idea of filming "Pather Panchali", which had long been on his mind, and Renoir encouraged him in the project. In 1950, D.J. Keymer sent Ray to London to work at its headquarters office. During his three months in London, Ray watched 99 films. Among these was the neorealist film "Ladri di biciclette" ("Bicycle Thieves") (1948) by Vittorio De Sica, which had a profound impact on him. Ray later said that he came out of the theatre determined to become a film-maker. Ray decided to use "Pather Panchali" (1928), the classic "Bildungsroman" of Bengali literature, as the basis