Unpacking controversy over alleged demolition of Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Bangladesh

Indian Express

20-07-2025

There is no consensus on whether a dilapidated building that was being razed in Mymensingh, Bangladesh was the ancestral home of film-maker Satyajit Ray. But coming a month after a mob vandalised the ancestral mansion of poet-polymath Rabindranath Tagore in Sirajganj district in June, the demolition in Mymensingh, first reported in Bangladesh on Tuesday (July 15), was bound to draw a response from New Delhi and stir up controversy in India.
Here's a breakdown of all that has happened so far, and why the destruction of a run-down building in Bangladesh has inflamed passions in India.
* A day after the demolition began, two leading Bangladesh dailies The Daily Star and Prothom Alo on Tuesday reported the demolition of Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Mymensingh.
The Daily Star's report, carried with the headline 'Satyajit Ray's ancestral home being demolished', stated: 'The century-old house, located on Harikishore Ray Chowdhury Road in Mymensingh, is tied to the legacy of the illustrious Ray family, whose contributions to Bangla literature and arts are considered foundational. Harikishore Ray Chowdhury himself was an ancestor of Upendrakishore, Sukumar, and Satyajit.'
It added: 'According to the Department of Archaeology, the house was built over a century ago by Upendrakishore, a zamindar from Masua in Kishoreganj's Katiadi upazila. After the partition of 1947, the property came under government ownership and started housing Mymensingh Shishu Academy in 1989.'
* The news was soon picked up in West Bengal, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee taking to X to criticise the demolition.
'News reports reveal that in Bangladesh's Mymensingh city, the ancestral home of Satyajit Ray's grandfather, the renowned writer-editor Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, steeped in his memories, is reportedly being demolished. It is said that the demolition work had already begun. This news is extremely distressing,' Mamata posted on X on Tuesday evening.
Citing the building's intricate ties to the 'cultural history of Bengal', the West Bengal Chief Minister appealed to 'the Bangladesh government and all the conscientious people of that country' to preserve the house, and the Indian government to 'pay attention to this matter'.
By this time, the news had spread on Indian social media, triggering outrage across the country.
* On the heels of Mamata Banerjee's social media post, New Delhi too released an official statement on Tuesday night.
'Given the building's landmark status, symbolising Bangla cultural renaissance, it would be preferable to reconsider the demolition and examine options for its repair and reconstruction as a museum of literature and a symbol of the shared culture of India and Bangladesh. The Government of India would be willing to extend cooperation for this purpose,' said the statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.
* The public outcry, in India and among a section of the Bangladeshi population, led municipal authorities to halt the demolition in Mymensingh on Wednesday, The Daily Star reported. But the very same day, the interim government in Dhaka issued a statement denying that the house had anything to do with Satyajit Ray and his family.
A more comprehensive statement on Thursday from Bangladesh's Foreign Affairs Ministry said: 'Detailed inquiry into the archival records re-confirmed that the house in question never had any relation with the ancestors of the esteemed laureate Satyajit Ray. It was built by a local Zamindar Shashikant Acharya Chowdhury, next to his bungalow house 'Shashi Lodge', for his employees. Upon the abolition of the zamindari system, it came under the control of the government. The government later… leased to Shishu Academy on a long term basis.'
It added that the Ray family did have a house on Harikishore Ray Road, 'which they had sold long ago… A multi-storied building was constructed there by the new owner', and said that the building that is now being demolished was 'dilapidated, risky and unusable' and 'the abandoned house became a den for unlawful activities by local anti-social elements' after the Shishu Academy moved out about a decade ago.
New Delhi responded to media reports coming from Bangladesh, after which Dhaka issued a swift denial. As such, emminent voices on both sides of the border are in disagreement over whether the being demolished used to belong to the Rays.
What we know for sure is that the Ray family's ancestral house once stood in the heart of Mymensingh, a city located on the bank of the Brahmaputra, about 120 km to the north of Dhaka. But neither Satyajit nor his son, emminent Bengali film director Sandip Ray, ever seemed to have visited the house themselves.
'I have never been to Bangladesh to see this building. Neither did baba [Satyajit Ray] ever go. I have only heard that it was in Kishoreganj of Mymensingh,' Sandip told The Indian Express.
The demolition in question did indeed occur in Mymensingh's Kishoreganj, as per The Daily Star and Prothom Alo. And the road on which the house in question stood — Harikishore Ray Chowdhury Road — is named after Satyajit Ray's great-grandfather. (Not having a son of his own, zamindar Harikishore had adopted Upendrakishore, Satyajit's grandfather, when the latter was only five; Upendrakishore was born to a relative, possibly cousin, of Harikishore).
The Ray family's presence in Mymensingh can be traced back to the 17th century, when Ramsundar Deb, the earliest-known member of the family, settled in Jashodal. The family later moved to Kishoreganj. Some members of the Ray family remained there till the Partition, although Upendrakishore himself had moved to Calcutta where he graduated from Calcutta Metropolitan Institution (now Vidyasagar College) in 1884.
Both Satyajit and his father, Sukumar Ray, were born in Calcutta, and spent their lives in the city. While making a documentary on his father, Satyajit in the 1980s had sent someone to Mymensingh to click pictures of their ancestral home.
'But baba saw those pictures and was disheartened because the buildings were in a dilapidated state. He decided not to use those pictures,' Sandip Ray said. The 70-year-old film-maker could not confirm whether the house being demolished was the Rays' ancestral home.
Even if the house being demolished in Mymensingh did not belong to the Rays, the controversy nonetheless points to a larger issue. The new dispensation in Dhaka, which came to power last August on the back of violent protests against then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been wilfully negligible when it comes to protecting important historical and cultural landmarks in the country.
Under this dispensation, the house of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh, was torched by vandals, and a mob inflicted significant damage to Tagore's house last month. The alleged demolition of Ray's ancestral home is only the latest such development.
'These incidents are very disturbing, unfortunate but not surprising. The recent socio-political condition of Bangladesh is gradually growing distant from our [Bengali] cultural practice… The relation between the two Bengals is deteriorating,' eminent Bengali writer Tilottama Majumder told The Indian Express.
While Satyajit was undoubtedly the most famous of all Rays, he was a part of a lineage that changed Bengali literature forever.
Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury (1863–1915) was a pioneer in children's literature, illustration, and printing. His books such as Tuntunir Boi (1911) and Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1915, later adapted to the screen by Satyajit in 1969) are cherished till date for their fantastical stories and artistry.
Upendrakishore also founded Sandesh, a children's magazine that entertained and educated in equal measure. And his breakthroughs in half-tone printing brought stories to life in a new visual language, making books accessible for everyone, especially the young.
Sukumar Ray (1887–1923), Upendrakishore's son and Satyajit's father, inherited this creative spirit. With works such as Abol Tabol (1923) he introduced a new kind of playful, poetic nonsensical poetry which continues to be read to children even today. Characters such as Kumro Potash and Kath Buro are a part and parcel of the lexicon of many a Bengali household. Sukumar was also active in the Brahmo Samaj, a reformist group that promoted rational thinking and social progress.
Sukumar's sister, Lila Majumder (1908-2007), is another eminent figure in Bengali children's literature.She remained a contributor to Sandesh till her last breath, and an incomplete bibliography credits her with a total of 125 books.
Satyajit Ray (1921–1992) was born in Calcutta. He continued his family's literary tradition, although he is more known for his film-making outside Bengal. His critically acclaimed filmography won him an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1992, days before his passing.