The Inner Eye : A Documentary by Ray

The Inner Eye
1972, India. 20 min, Documentary, Colour.

Credits
Producer: Films Division, Govt. of India
Script, commentary & Direction: Satyajit Ray
Cinematography: Soumendu Roy
Editing: Dulal Dutta
Sound: Satyajit Ray
Music: Satyajit Ray
Sitar composition: Pt. Nikhil Banerjee

Summary
At the age of 54, Binode Bihari Mukherjee, an accomplished painter, lost his sight following an unsuccessful cataract operation. He continued to create art despite his loss of sight. The documentary explores Binode Bihari’s inner eye that guides his fingers to create art.
Comments
Ray was a great admirer of the painter's work and had been his student when he was at Shantiniketan, the university founded by Rabindranath Tagore.The film ends with a moving sequence of images of Binode Bihari creating wax sculptures and his paintings underscored with a radiant composition in Raga Asavari on sitar played by Pt. Nikhil Banerjee. The sequence ends with a frozen shot of the painter in dark glass and the following words:"Blindness is a new feeling, a new experience, a new state of being". - Binode Bihari Mukherjee.
What others say...
"The Inner Eye… is a small masterpiece. It is quite simply the finest short documentary about a creative artist I have seen…"- Andrew Robinson, Ray's Biographer (Author of “Satyajit Ray - The Inner Eye)

Awards
President's Gold Medal, new Delhi, 1974