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India Today
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Unforgivable: Rupali Ganguly slams Bangladesh for demolishing Satyajit Ray's home
Television actor Rupali Ganguly has strongly condemned the demolition of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. The act has triggered widespread outrage across India and among the global Bengali community. The 'Anupamaa' actor expressed her anger over the incident, calling it nothing short of a cultural betrayal."Disgusting and unforgivable!" Rupali wrote in her X post. "Under the so-called 'moral leadership' of Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh has demolished the ancestral home of Bharat Ratna Satyajit Ray. This wasn't just a demolition - it was a message. They fear art. They erase legacy."advertisementShe went on to call the actions glorifying violence, adding, 'They glorify violence, not culture. This act exposes their true colours.' The demolished house, situated on Harikishore Ray Road, originally belonged to Satyajit Ray's grandfather, Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury, a renowned figure in Bengali literature. After the Partition of India in 1947, the property was taken over by the Bangladeshi government and served as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy until 1989. Over time, the house fell into neglect and disrepair, and was recently cleared to make way for a new semi-permanent government many believe that, despite its condition, the home should have been preserved as a monument to Ray's legacy. The creator of cinematic masterpieces like 'Pather Panchali', 'Charulata', and 'The Apu Trilogy', Satyajit Ray is not only revered in India but also globally for his contribution to world Indian government has also weighed in on the matter. In an official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs urged Bangladesh to reconsider its decision and proposed turning the property into a museum. India has even offered assistance in restoring the house as a tribute to Ray's life and work.- EndsMust Watch
Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Demolition of Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Bangladesh halted
The demolition of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Bangladesh's Mymensingh city, about 120 km north of Dhaka, has been halted following a public outcry. 'The demolition was stopped on instructions from the DC, Mymensingh District Children's Affairs Officer Mehedi Zaman told journalists,' Bangladesh's leading daily, The Daily Star, reported on Thursday. The daily had reported on Tuesday that the ancestral home of eminent litterateur Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury, formerly used as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, was being demolished to make way for a new 'semi-concrete structure'. Chowdhury was the father of the celebrated poet, Sukumar Ray, and the grandfather of Satyajit Ray. This had led the Indian government to suggest that Bangladesh 'reconsider the demolition' and to volunteer to help in the repair and reconstruction of the property into a 'museum of literature'. 'We note with profound regret that the ancestral property of noted filmmaker and litterateur Satyajit Ray in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, belonging to his grandfather and eminent litterateur, Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury, is being demolished. The property, presently owned by the Government of Bangladesh, is in a state of disrepair,' the Ministry of External Affairs had said. '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,' the MEA had said in a statement. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also urged the Indian government to intervene in the issue and appealed to the Bangladeshi government and 'to all right-thinking people of that country to preserve this edifice of rich tradition'. The century-old house in Mymensingh is linked to the legacy of the illustrious Ray family, whose contributions to Bangla literature and arts are considered foundational. The house had reportedly fallen into disrepair after years of neglect.
India Today
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Exclusive: Demolished house not Satyajit Ray's, says Bangladesh official
The house being demolished in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district does not belong to the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's family, a senior district official told India Today on Wednesday, clearing the air over widespread reports linking the property to the iconic director's Alam, Deputy Commissioner of Mymensingh, confirmed that local authorities conducted a detailed verification before concluding that the demolished building holds no connection to Ray's held a meeting on Wednesday to verify the government records of the said property. We also spoke to local elders and checked historical documents. The house that was being demolished used to be the office of the Mymensingh Children's Academy. There are no records to prove it has any links to Satyajit Ray's ancestors," Alam said. The district administration further clarified that Ray's ancestral home, known locally as Durlov House, stood untouched."We have ascertained that Ray's ancestral property is still intact. We have spoken to its current owner, who confirmed that he purchased the property directly from Ray's family and has the documents to prove it. The adjacent building that is being demolished is being mistakenly identified as Ray's ancestral home," Alam controversy began after several news reports claimed the demolition of the century-old structure built by Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury, Satyajit Ray's grandfather and a noted writer and publisher. The building, once home to the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, had been abandoned for a decade."The house has been left abandoned for 10 years. Shishu Academy activities have been operating from a rented space," Md Mehedi Zaman, the district Children Affairs Officer, told The Daily attributed the confusion to a 'misunderstanding' and assured that Ray's ancestral property remained Ray, a towering figure in world cinema, was honoured with the Bharat Ratna — India's highest civilian award — and an Honorary Academy Award for his contribution to filmmaking. His family's legacy, spanning literature and art, continues to be celebrated across Bengal and beyond.- EndsMust Watch
News18
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Demolition Of Satyajit Ray's Ancestral Home In Bangladesh Stopped
Last Updated: The demolition of Satyajit Ray's ancestral home in Mymensingh, Bangladesh has been halted a day after Indian government offered to help convert it into a museum of literature. In a significant breakthrough, the ongoing demolition at the ancestral home of renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray in Bangladesh's Mymensingh has been stopped, news agency IANS reported. Mymensingh, Bangladesh: The demolition which was ongoing at the ancestral home of director Satyajit Ray has been stopped — IANS (@ians_india) July 16, 2025 The development came a day after the Indian government stepped in and volunteered to help in repair and reconstruction of the property into a 'museum of literature". 'We note with profound regret that the ancestral property of noted filmmaker and litterateur Satyajit Ray in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, belonging to his grandfather and eminent litterateur, Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury, is being demolished," the ministry said in a statement. '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," the ministry further added. The historic landmark and the century-old property in Dhaka's Horikishore Ray Chowdhury Road belonged to Ray's grandfather, the renowned litterateur Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury, whose poems and short stories are taught to children in schools in India's West Bengal, Assam and Tripura and also in Bangladesh, making it an intrinsic part of Bengali culture. The dilapidated building has remained unused since 2007. After the 1947 Partition, the property passed into government ownership and was converted into the Mymensingh Shishu Academy in 1989. Bangladesh news outlet Daily Star reported on Tuesday that the ancestral home of Ray's grandfather, formerly used as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, is being demolished to make way for a new semi-concrete structure. 'The house has been left abandoned for 10 years. Shishu Academy activities have been operating from a rented space," it reported, quoting Md Mehedi Zaman, the district Children Affairs Officer. The officer went on to say that a semi-concrete building with numerous rooms will be built to replace the old house and restart the academy's activities there. (With inputs from agencies) view comments First Published: July 16, 2025, 19:04 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
India Today
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Why Bangladesh razing Satyajit Ray's ancestral home is a shared cultural loss
In the heart of Mymensingh in Bangladesh, a city steeped in undivided Bengal's rich cultural past, bulldozers have begun dismantling a monument symbolic of the subcontinent's artistic renaissance. The ancestral home of Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury—zamindar, pioneering publisher, writer, painter and grandfather of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray—is being razed by the interim administration to make way for a new semi-concrete decision has triggered diplomatic overtures, emotional appeals and widespread outrage, laying bare a deeper crisis: the erasure of a shared cultural on Harikishore Ray Chowdhury Road, the house stood on a 36-acre estate once alive with literary and artistic ferment. It was here that Upendrakishore—father of Sukumar Ray and grandfather to Satyajit Ray—envisioned and nurtured a creative legacy that would eventually transcend national boundaries. Often considered the father of children's literature in Bengal, his legacy is inextricably linked with the cultural imagination of the estate wasn't just a residence. It was a complex that included a prayer hall, a workspace (the famed Kachari Bari), multiple ponds, gardens and a playground. It was also the spiritual and artistic hearth for a family that would go on to become synonymous with the Bengali cultural renaissance. Upendrakishore's contributions to children's literature, particularly Tuntunir Boi, and his innovations in halftone printing were revolutionary. Sukumar Ray added to this inheritance with his absurdist verse and sharp satire in works such as Abol Tabol. Though Satyajit Ray never visited this ancestral home, it continued to shape his imagination, rooted as it was in the intellectual traditions his forefathers had a reflective account, filmmaker Sandip Ray revealed that neither he nor his father, Satyajit Ray, had ever visited the ancestral home in Mymensingh. 'Neither Baba (Satyajit Ray) nor I ever saw the building in person,' Sandip said, noting that their knowledge of the house came only from the making of his documentary on Sukumar Ray, Satyajit had initially hoped to include images of the ancestral home. To this end, he sent a close associate involved in his productions to Bangladesh to photograph the building. However, upon receiving the pictures, Satyajit was deeply disheartened by the structure's dilapidated condition. The sight of its decay led him to abandon the idea altogether.'Baba had wanted to use those pictures,' Sandip recalled, 'but after seeing the building in such a ruined state, he decided not to include them in the documentary.'Despite its significance, the property—abandoned for over a decade—had fallen into disrepair. The Mymensingh Shishu Academy, which operated from the building beginning 1989, vacated it in 2007 and shifted to a rented space. Local authorities now cite the building's unsafe condition as justification for Mehedi Zaman, the district's children affairs officer, confirmed that the decision to demolish the house was made by a committee led by the deputy commissioner of Mymensingh, Mofidul Alam. 'The house had been abandoned for 10 years, and Shishu Academy activities have been running from a rented space,' he said, adding that a new semi-concrete structure with multiple rooms will be constructed to resume activities on-site. The project, he insisted, had received necessary approvals and was being undertaken in accordance with official historians, poets and cultural activists across Bangladesh and India have condemned the move as short-sighted and culturally damaging. Sabina Yeasmin, field officer at Bangladesh's department of archaeology for the Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions, acknowledged that while the structure was not officially listed as protected, surveys had identified it as holding archaeological heritage value. Her calls for preservation, too, were responded swiftly and emotionally. In a strongly-worded statement, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) expressed 'profound regret' over the demolition and extended technical and financial support to restore the property. '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 MEA said in a statement. 'The Government of India would be willing to extend cooperation for this purpose.'advertisementWest Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also voiced concern, calling the news 'extremely distressing.' In a message on X, she wrote: 'The Ray family is one of the foremost bearers and carriers of Bengali culture. 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.' Mamata urged the Bangladesh government's chief advisor Mohammad Yunus to take steps to conserve the is not the first such episode involving a Bengali cultural landmark in Bangladesh. Just weeks earlier, Mamata had urged New Delhi's intervention after a mob vandalised Rabindranath Tagore's ancestral home in Sirajganj, following a dispute over a parking fee. That house, like the Ray mansion, had once served as an intellectual haven—visited often by Tagore and eventually converted into a demolish the Ray house is to overlook its intangible inheritance. This was no ordinary building; it was a crucible of ideas. It was where Bengal's modernity took root—an incubator for values of reason, art, and social reform, fostered through Brahmo Samaj ideals and disseminated through the pages of Sandesh, the children's magazine founded by Upendrakishore and later revived by Ray family was not a passive chronicler of the Bengali experience but one of its architects. Their works are foundational in West Bengal's education system and, despite not being formally prescribed in school syllabi, remain widely read and cherished in Bangladesh. This is a shared inheritance, not merely Indian or that very inheritance now stands in peril. Just as the Rabindra Kachharibari was nearly lost to administrative apathy and public violence, the Ray mansion, too, risks being flattened into oblivion. Once gone, no amount of reconstruction will restore its authenticity or emotional of now, sections of the building have already been demolished. Without urgent intervention, the remainder is likely to follow. India's offer stands, but no formal agreement has yet been reached. Bangladesh's interim government has so far remained unmoved by appeals—diplomatic or is at stake is not simply the fate of a building but the preservation of a transnational cultural identity. In tearing down this house, a generation risks severing its link to the imaginative, reformist spirit that animated the Bengali demolition of Satyajit Ray's ancestral home—whether partial or complete—is not just about heritage lost. It is about memory forsaken. And in a subcontinent where identity so often hinges on remembrance, such losses are not just regrettable; they are to India Today Magazine- Ends
