India appeals to Bangladesh to stop demolition of Oscar-winning director’s family home
Bangladesh has begun demolishing the century‑old ancestral home of internationally-acclaimed filmmaker Satyajit Ray north of the capital Dhaka.
The house was once used as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, a government-run centre for children’s development. It is being replaced with a new semi‑concrete structure with officials citing structural safety concerns after a decade of neglect, reported Bangladeshi newspaper
The Daily Star.
Built some 120km north of Dhaka by Ray’s grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, the mansion sat on a sprawling 36‑acre estate. The house links generations of cultural icons: Upendrakishore himself was a pioneering writer, publisher, and technologist of the Bengal Renaissance, best known for founding the children’s magazine
Sandesh and introducing advanced halftone printing techniques in India; His son, Sukumar Ray, was a beloved poet and satirist whose nonsense verse remains deeply influential in Bengali literature, and his grandson, Satyajit Ray, went on to become one of the most celebrated filmmakers in world cinema.
India’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday expressing “profound regret” over the demolition, and urged Dhaka to reconsider, offering both technical and financial cooperation to restore the building instead.
“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,” said the statement.
Demolition of century‑old ancestral home of acclaimed filmmaker Satyajit Ray is already underway
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