Two (1964 film)

1964 short film by Satyajit Ray

Two

Title card of the film

Directed by| Satyajit Ray
Screenplay by| Satyajit Ray
Produced by| Esso World Theater
Starring| Ravi Kiran, Babu
Biswas
Cinematography| Soumendu Roy
Edited by| Dulal Dutta
Music by| Satyajit Ray
Distributed by| Esso World Theater (in public domain)

Release date

* 1964 (1964)

Running time

| 12 minutes
Country| India
Language| No dialogue

Two: A Film Fable is a 1964 Indian black-and-white short film directed by Satyajit Ray. The film was made under the banner of Esso World Theater at the request of a non-profit American public broadcasting television, PBS.[1] It was made as part of a trilogy of short films from India. The other two films in the trilogy featured Indian Sitar player, Pandit Ravi Shankar and a Ballet troupe from Mumbai, then known as "Bombay". Ray, who worked prominently for Bengali cinema, was requested to make a film in English language with a Bengali setting, however Ray being an admirer of silent film decided to make a film without any dialogue as a tribute to the genre.[2]

The short film shows an encounter between a child of a rich family and a street child, through the rich kid's window. The film is made without any dialogue and displays attempts of One-upmanship between kids in their successive display of their toys. The film portrays the childlike rivalry with the help of world of noise and that of music.[3] The film is among less known films of Ray but experts rated the film as one of Ray's best. It is often regarded as a prelude to another Ray film, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969). Made during the Vietnam War, experts believe that the film makes "a strong anti-war statement"[which experts] as it ends with street kid's flute sound overpowering sound of expensive toys.

Academy Film Archive, part of the Academy Foundation, took an initiative to restore Satyajit Ray's films and could successfully restore 19 Ray films. Two was preserved in 2006.[4][5] The film's original script was included in a book named Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray, put together by Ray's son Sandip Ray.[6]

## Plot

[edit]

The film begins with a rich kid (Ravi Kiran) shown to be playing with his toys and enjoying the bottled soft drink possibly symbolising the imperialist capitalist First World. While playing, he overhears a sound and curiously overlooks the window to see a slum kid playing a flute, possibly symbolising the exploited Third World. In order to show off his toys, the rich kid takes out his toy trumpet to make loud sounds. The street kid then goes back to his hut and returns playing a small drum to which rich kid shows his battery-powered monkey drummer toy. When the street kid comes out home-made mask and bow and arrow, rich kid wears various masks including one of a demon, native American and Cowboy brandishing swords, spears, and guns. Disappointed, the street kid returns to his hut and the rich kid also goes back to play with his toys with a sense of sadistic satisfaction.

While playing, the rich kid notices a kite flying in the sky, through the window. Curious to know who is flying the kite, the rich kid runs to the window to see the slum kid holding the kite string, Manja. Furious on seeing the street kid happily flying the kite, the rich kid gets his slingshot to attack the kite. Unable to aim properly, he then gets his toy air-rifle and successfully shoots down the kite and taunts the poor street kid with a sense of cruel satisfaction. The Street kid then returns to his hut with tears in his innocent eyes and a torn kite and gives up on trying to be friends with the rich kid.

The rich kid then comes back to his toys and starts playing all of them, with each making its own sound. The film ends when rich kid could still hear the flute sound through the window despite the loud noises of his toys and ponders over his deeds as the toy robot he had left playing hits the toy tower and makes it fall to the ground.

Since it was made during Vietnam War, it is very probable that the rich bossy kid and the poor street kid are personifications of the United States of America and Vietnam respectively.

## Credits

[edit]

### Cast

[edit]

* Ravi Kiran Karla as Rich Kid
* Street Kid

### Crew

[edit]

* Editor: Dulal Dutta
* Art direction: Bansi Chandragupta
* Sound designer: Sujit Sarkar
* Cinematographer: Soumendu Roy
* Music direction: Satyajit Ray

## Restoration

[edit]

After Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Satyajit Ray an honorary Academy Award in 1992 for Lifetime Achievement,[7] Academy Film Archive, part of the Academy Foundation, which mainly works with objectives as "preservation, restoration, documentation, exhibition and study of motion pictures" took an initiative to restore and preserve Ray's films.[8] Josef Lindner was appointed as a preservation officer and Academy could successfully restore 19 Ray titles so far. The academy has restored the movie 'Two' in 2016 and has uploaded the movie in their YouTube Channel.[5]

## In media

[edit]

Satyajit Ray mentioned about Two and its timing in his biography Portrait of a Director: Satyajit Ray by Marie Seton that he considered that the film "packs quite a punch in its ten (actually 15) minutes".[2][9] The film had its first public screening at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata.[10] On 19 January 2008, a week-long exhibition "Art of Ray: A Ray Society Exhibition" was inaugurated by then Governor of West Bengal, Gopalkrishna Gandhi and showcased Two. At "Ray Festival 2009", Satyajit Ray Society screened Two along with other three Ray documentaries, namely Rabindranath Tagore, The Inner Eye and Sukumar Ray on 7 May 2009.[1] The film's original script was included in a book named Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray, put together by Ray's son Sandip Ray along with an ex-CEO of Ray Society, Aditinath Sarkar, which also included original scripts of Ray's other films.[6][11]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "News: Film, Music and Exhibition@satyajitrayworld.com". Archived from the original on 6 August 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
2. ^ a b "Two@satyajitray.org". Retrieved 1 January 2013.
3. ^ "Parable of the Two". Archived from the original on 22 February 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
4. ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
5. ^ a b "Saving a legacy". Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
6. ^ a b Nag, Ashoke (9 April 2011). "Satyajit Ray: Saluting the auteur". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
7. ^ "The 64th Academy Awards (1992)". oscars.org. 30 March 1992. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
8. ^ "About the Academy Film Archive". oscars.org. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
9. ^ Seton, Marie (1971). Portrait of a Director: Satyajit Ray. Penguin Books. p. 416\. ISBN 014302972X.
10. ^ Mitra, Prithvijit (13 November 2008). "Soundtrack snag in rare Ray screening leaves organisers shame-faced". The Times of India. Kolkata. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
11. ^ Ray, Satyajit (2011). Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray. DC Publishers. p. 216\. ISBN 978-8180280016.

## External links

[edit]

* Two at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Satyajit Ray

* Filmography
* Bibliography
* Accolades

Directions|

| The Apu Trilogy|

* Pather Panchali (1955)
* Aparajito (1956)
* The World of Apu (1959)

|

Calcutta Trilogy|

* Pratidwandi (1970)
* Seemabaddha (1971)
* Jana Aranya (1976)

Goopy - Bagha|

* Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969)
* Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980)

Feluda|

* Sonar Kella (1974)
* Joi Baba Felunath (1978)

Byomkesh|

* Chiriyakhana (1967)

Documentaries|

* Rabindranath Tagore (1961)
* Two (1964)
* Sikkim (1971)
* The Inner Eye (1972)
* Bala (1976)
* Sukumar Ray (1987)

Others|

* Parash Pathar (1958)
* Jalsaghar (1958)
* Devi (1960)
* Teen Kanya (1961)
* Kanchenjungha (1962)
* Abhijan (1962)
* Mahanagar (1963)
* Charulata (1964)
* Kapurush (1965)
* Mahapurush (1965)
* Nayak (1966)
* Days and Nights in the Forest (1970)
* Distant Thunder (1973)
* The Chess Players (1977)
* Pikoo (1980)
* Sadgati (1981)
* Ghare Baire (1984)
* Ganashatru (1989)
* Shakha Proshakha (1990)
* Agantuk (1991)

Screenplay
and story|

| Goopy - Bagha|

* Goopy Bagha Phire Elo (1991)
* Goopy Gawaiya Bagha Bajaiya (2014)

|

Feluda|

* Baksho Rahashya (1996)
* Bombaiyer Bombete (2003)
* Kailashey Kelenkari (2007)
* Tintorettor Jishu (2008)
* Gorosthaney Sabdhan (2010)
* Royal Bengal Rahashya (2011)
* Badshahi Angti (2014)
* Double Feluda (2016)

Tarini Khuro|

* Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy (2012)
* The Storyteller (TBA)

Professor Shonku|

* Professor Shonku O El Dorado (2019)

Others|

* The Alien (unproduced)
* Target (1995)
* Bombay Talkies (2013)
* Chaar (2014)
* Anukul (2017)

Cinematic
literature|

* Our Films, Their Films
* Bishoy Chalachchitra
* Ekei Bole Shooting

Characters|

* Feluda
* Professor Shonku
* Tarini Khuro
* Lalmohan 'Jatayu' Ganguly
* Topshe

Related|

* Sandesh magazine
* Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute

* Category

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