Satyajit Ray’s cinematographer Soumendu Roy passes away

Eminent cinematographer Soumendu Roy passed away. He was 90. He breathed his last on Wednesday at his residence at Ballygunge Circular Road. He was suffering from age-related ailments. 

Soumendu Roy became Satyajit Ray’s trusted cinematographer after Subrata Mitra developed health problems. He started to work with Ray from his documentary on Tagore and finally went on to work on 21 of his films. Out of 15 feature films by Ray, he started with Teen Kanya and worked in Chiriyakhana, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, Aranyer Din Ratri, Pratidwandi, and others. Besides Ray, he worked with eminent directors, such as Tapan Sinha, Tarun Majumdar, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, MS Sathyu, and others. 

Sandip Ray’s wife Lolita Ray remembered Soumendu Roy. In an interview with Aajkal Dot In, she said, “Soumendukaka worked with Ray since his first film. He was a part of our family. We have a lot of memories with him. He was homebound due to his deteriorating health. Last time, we met at Nandan at a Satyajit Ray memorial event. He was immobile. He came in a wheelchair.” 

Soumendu Roy started working with Ray in Pather Panchali as an assistant of cinematographer Subrata Mitra. He received the National Film Award thrice for Ashani Sanket (1974), Sonar Kella (1975), and Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1978).