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Newsmakers of the Week AUGUST 07, 2026 | The Indian Eye 33

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

Director calls Satyajit Ray “one of

the greatest Indian filmmakers”

Making a refreshingly new point - which may have gone down well with
the accomplished people in the packed auditorium - the saffron-clad swami,
known to his followers as Siddheshwar Gurudev, said that making money and
New York, NY: creating wealth through fair means is a good thing. Only, don’t get attached to
C hristopher Nolan praised late Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apu Tril- upati, India, will have a new headquarters and Ashram in Bengaluru on over
it, and direct it towards charitable giving.
He then disclosed that his organization, currently headquartered in Tir-
ogy’ and described him as one of the “greatest filmmakers” of India.
As Christopher Nolan basks in the success of his recent film ‘The
Odyssey’, the filmmaker recently visited the iconic Criterion Closet, the fa- 600 acres of land. The first project in the Bengaluru Ashram will be a huge
state-of-the-art (AI-equipped) charitable hospital-cum-medical college It is
mous storage room at the Criterion Collection in New York that houses more being funded with a generous donation by Jugal Kishore Taneja, a success-
than 1,000 of the world’s greatest films. ful entrepreneur in Tampa, Florida. The architectural design for the circular,
In a five-minute video shared by the Criterion Collection on Instagram,
Nolan was seen browsing the shelves and picking some of his all-time favour- multi-story building was displayed on the stage, and Taneja and the project’s
architect, Alberto Alfonso, were introduced to the audience.
ite films while sharing brief reviews of the same. Among his selections, one of Dharma, religion not synonymous
the picks was Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apu Trilogy’. Talking about the religious strife in the world, Siddheshwar said dharma
Speaking about Ray’s work, Nolan said, “And then there’s the Apu Tril-
ogy by Satyajit Ray, one of the greatest Indian filmmakers. The trilogy starts and religion are mistaken as synonymous. Dharma as in Sanatana Dharma is
eternal, so are its truths. He pointed out that religion fell behind as science
with Pather Panchali, which is an absolutely incredible film. It just blew my marched because many moribund faiths declared their scriptures to be the
mind. I haven’t yet seen parts two and three of the trilogy, so I’m pretty excit- final word, ruling out further refinement or experimentation.
ed to get this and complete the story.” Siddheshwar guru, who routinely conjures trinkets to give to devotees as
The critically acclaimed ‘Apu Trilogy’ comprises of three Bengali films,
which include Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar. Adapted from powerful keepsakes, revealed that he just summons and aligns the relevant
atoms and molecules to manifest a certain object.
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s novels, the trilogy follows the life and com-
ing-of-age journey of Apu, tracing his path from an impoverished childhood To read more about Indian diaspora and Global Indians, log on to and follow
in rural Bengal to adulthood. our website www.TheIndianEYE.com
Satyajit Ray, the legendary Indian filmmaker, was born in Kolkata on
May 2, 1921. His most prominent works include ‘The Apu Trilogy’, ‘Jalsaghar’,
‘Charulata’, ‘Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne’, ‘Pather Panchali ‘, and ‘Shatranj Ke
Khiladi’. He was also a screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essay-
ist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and composer.

SRI SIDDHESHWAR

Global guru inspires 1,000 people to

follow the spiritual path

Hempstead, NY:
ver one thousand people attended and were blessed by Sri Siddhesh-
war Brahmrishi Guruvar at a well-organized Guru Purnima program
Oon July 18 in the John Cranford Adams Playhouse in Hofstra Univer-
sity here on Long Island.
With his great oratorical skills, the charismatic global guru exhorted the
attentive audience to follow the spiritual path. In turn, amid repeated ap-
plause, he promised to watch over and uplift each one of his sdevotees.

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