The lockdown can get pretty boring with all of us stuck at home but this can be the time when you can enrich your mind by watching movies by legendary film-makers that made their mark on the world. Satyajit Ray was one of the finest film-makers of the 20th century. 

He was a path-breaking and path-setting film-maker who took up filmmaking after coming into contact with film-maker Jean Renoir and watching Vittorio De Sica's Italian classic fiom Bicycle Thieves, in London. He came back to India and started working on his own films. Some, like Pather Panchali, became classics and some of his scenes in films showed the path to many filmmakers later, as to how a person can tell a story in a visual medium. 

He breathed his last on April 23, 1992, a few months after being honoured by the Oscar academy. On the anniversary of his death, here are some of the movies you need to watch

1. Shatranj Ke Khiladi: 

This satirical movie is based on the the annexation of Awadh, Amjad Ali Khan plays Wajid Ali Shah, while Sanjeev Kumar and Saeed Jaffrey play two noblemen obsessed with Chess. This was Ray's only hindi film, and what a movie it was.  

2. Sonar Kella 

Who doesn't love a good detective story? Sonar Kella was the first of the Feluda movies that would eventually go on to become legendary in Indian pop-culture, before the mass fast-food esque transformation of the media we consume. This is his first outing in the desert of Rajasthan to track a 'Golden Fortress' that a young boy constantly sees in his dreams, is one of the most enjoyable detective mysteries you will ever see. 

3. Hirak Rajar Deshe: 

Art has always been political, filmmaking was no different. During the emergency, when even looking at the government with a frowned eyebrow could get you arrested, Satyajit Ray went ahead and made Hirak Rajar Deshe, a blistering satire on Indira Gandhi and her policies during the Emergency. The audacious and hilarious movie is a gem to watch even to this day.  

4. Aranyer Din Ratri: 

This one is considered to be Ray's best work but of course, opinions differ. Nonetheless, this highly acclaimed and appreciated movie follows the lives of four friends who decide to leave the city behind for a break, choosing to go on a holiday which ends up changing their lives foreverJust watch the movie, it is incredible.  

5. The Apu Trilogy: 

 If Aranyer Din Ratri is Ray's best work, the Apu trilogy is undoubtedly his most famous. Consisting of Panther Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar - Ray talks about three different stages in the protagonist Apu's life. The childhood in rural West Bengal, the student days in Calcutta, and the protagonist's worldly responsibilities once he gets married respectively.