Ray's Women of Substance

Three of the film industry's most sparkling leading ladies of all time came together in New Delhi on Tuesday, March 15, for the book launch of The Vision of Ray, a collection of film posters and other graphics by Satyajit Ray and his son Sandip.

Jayapradha (left) was the actress Ray had famously proclaimed as the most beautiful face in all of Indian cinema. The director was extremely eager to cast her in one of his projects but this tragically never came to be.

More fortunate, Jaya Bachchan (centre) made her film debut in Ray's 1963 film, Mahanagar, long before she went to the FTII and made her adult debut in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Guddi. Mahanagar is often referred to as Ray's La Dolce Vita, and is a marvellously ambitious and complex work. Jaya, then Jaya Bhaduri and the daughter of Ray's friend, the journalist Taroon Coomar Bhaduri, was 15 at the time.

Similarly making her movie debut in a Satyajit Ray film was Sharmila Tagore (right), who appeared on screen at the age of 13, playing Aparna in the 1959 film, Apur Sansar (The World of Apu), part of Ray's classic Apu trilogy. She went on to rank among the director's favourite heroines, starring in 1960's Devi (Goddess), 1966's Nayak (The Hero), 1970's Aranyer Din Ratri (Days And Nights In The Forest), and 1971's Seemabaddha (Company Limited).

Photograph: Dijeshwar Singh/Saab Press