ABSTRACT
The vivid narration by Andrew Robinson in his book The Inner Eye – The Biography of a Master Film-Maker (a biography of Satyajit Ray) contains an interesting story that spans several years and connects two master storytellers of the subcontinent, Arthur C. Clarke from Colombo in Sri Lanka and Bharat Ratna Satyajit Ray from Kolkata in India. Arthur C. Clarke was well known for his work on Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. The two entered into a discussion about the possibility of a Hollywood venture using Ray’s short story about an alien and a human. This story was published in 1966 and was titled “Bankubabur Bandhu” (“Banku Babu’s Friend”). This discussion between the two was the stepping stone to an important journey, which, however, ultimately met with an unsatisfactory ending as Ray’s project never took off in Hollywood. Nevertheless, Clarke remained a true supporter of Ray’s project to the end.
