Heartiest congratulations to all the officials and other staff members of both Kolkata and West Bengal Police for holding such a nice cultural program, entitled ‘ World of Ray’ to celebrate the 102nd birthday anniversary of internationally acclaimed filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Indeed it was a fabulous cultural program held at the auditorium of the Police Bodyguard Line at Alipore, Kolkata on the evening of May 30, 2023. The program was graced by noted filmmaker and son of Satyajit Ray, Mr. Sandeep Ray, veteran actors like Mr. Manoj Mitra, Siddhartha Chattyopadhyay, and other dignitaries along with different police officials joined the August platform.
Mr. Sandeep Ray gave his formal nod and support in facilitating the building of a Satyajit Ray archive and/or museum in Kolkata with the close cooperation of Kolkata and West Bengal police. This is certainly going to add a new feather to the cap of the City of Joy. The World of Ray Archive/Museum is going to be an important initiative of the police force following their monumental achievements with respect to the Police Museum at Maniktola and the Alipore Jail Museum at Alipore. Both these two unique heritage museums clearly demonstrate how Kolkata and West Bengal Police have executed their monumental task and created a positive impression of the police force among the public.
Mr. Barun Sommadar, the editor of the police welfare magazine UNMESH, deserves special credit for sharing the idea of publishing a new special magazine dedicated to Satyajit Ray with the support of the West Bengal Police Welfare Society. He encourages and requested other members to support this initiative. I think this is an excellent idea and Mr. Sandeep Ray and other members of the dim fraternity also appreciated this. Saikat Kumar Basu (Howrah Suparna), highlighted the inspirational and monumental role of Satyajit Ray in uplifting Bengali children's literature from a global perspective.
Lastly, heartiest congratulations to Mr. Debjit Sadhu for his monumental role in holding this initiative successfully and wish him success with his film, Apu o Ami. There was a request for a special screening of this film for the promotion of this movie under the patronage of the Kolkata and West Bengal police.
One thing I would like to add here, a lot of people worked on this mesmerised cultural event in the memory of Satyajit Ray, people who worked at the background should be recognised, as silently they have contributed a lot to make this event worthwhile and memorable. There were people starting from Tea Boy to Cameraman and many others who had been working on this event tirelessly. Secondly, roles and responsibilities of respective members should be defined to avoid any conflicts within the team. Based on time, availability, skills, and experience people should be assigned with specific tasks.
Last but not the least, It’s a great success and achievement for WB and KOL Police Team and the community. Tremendous work by Mr. Sadhu and his colleagues, and senior officers. Once again, heartiest congratulations to the team for their grand startup, it will add a new dimension and also a feather to the cap. Such activities and collaboration between Police and Civilian is the key element and that need to be strengthened further.
All members of the Police Force including high officials (Mr. Raut, Mr. Sujit Kumar Basu & others), bodyguard line staff members and volunteers, anchors, attendants, security officials, stage managers, and lady staff members deserve special mention including back state workers for their sincerity and dedications for making this event successful. I greatly appreciate these confidence-building measures adopted by our beloved Police forces. I sincerely believe that this would strengthen the Police-Public relationship in the not-so-distant future.