The four stories included as part of the anthology are:
Forget Me Not by Srijit Mukherji: Based on Ray's short story Bipin Chowdhury'r Smritibhrom (transl.Bipin Chowdhury’s Memory Loss)[5] It is about a successful entrepreneur, Ipsit Rama Nair (Ali Fazal) and an event, which changes the way his life was previously.
Bahrupiya by Srijit Mukherji: Based on Ray's short story Bahurupi (transl.Chameleon)[5][6] It is about Indrashish (Kay Kay Menon), an office employee who gets hold of a valuable book on the art of prosthetics passed down to him by his grandmother.
Hungama Hai Kyon Barpa by Abhishek Chaubey: Based on Ray's short story Barin Bhowmick-er Byaram (transl.Barin Bhowmick's Ailment)[5] It is about two people - one being Musafir Ali (Manoj Bajpayee), a popular musician and singer and the other being Aslam Baig (Gajraj Rao), a wrestler turned sports journalist who meet on a train journey and a much earlier link between them reopens.
Spotlight by Vasan Bala: Based on Ray's eponymous short story[5] It revolves around a celebrated actor, Vikram "Vik" Arora (Harshvardhan Kapoor), who is known for a particular trademark look and a kind of existential crisis that he goes through when he meets a godlike figure known as Didi. It may be considered as a simulatenous adaptation of two most renowned films directed by Satyajit Ray viz., Mahapurush o Kapurush (Didi's character) and Nayak (Vik's character). Mahapurush was actually an adaptation of the Rajshekhar Basu's short story Birinchibaba.
Cast
The cast of the anthology includes the following:[4]
The trailer of the series was released on 8 June 2021. The series released on 25 June 2021 on Netflix.[7][8]
Reception
The Daily Star wrote that "if not associated with Satyajit Ray's name, the series would most likely have garnered a better score for its entertainment value alone."[9] Shreya Paul of Firstpost stated, "In an attempt to intellectualise Satyajit Ray through a contemporary lens, Netflix India's Ray completely alienates his humanism and effortlessness in portraying people’s vulnerabilities."[10] Taisa Bhowal from India Today wrote, "There couldn't have been a better way to celebrate Satyajit Ray's birth anniversary than to introduce the prolific filmmaker-writer to an entire generation that is perhaps unversed with his legacy."[11]
Koimoi's Umesh Punwani reviewed the series positively saying "Ray is probably the best thing to come out of India’s OTT space. A must watch for those who haven’t followed Satyajit Ray as well. This serves as bait to invite people to the ethereal world of Ray!"[12]
Avinash Singh of Live Hindustan praised the performance of the cast, stating "The length of 'Ray' is a bit jarring, but the endings of the stories are good and the actors are also able to hook you till the end of the story."[13]
Hindustan Times's Rohan Naahar wrote "Manoj Bajpayee, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor, Ali Fazal and Radhika Madan lead a handful of excellent performers in Netflix's irreverent but inconsistent anthology, based on Satyajit Ray's short stories."[14]
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