Pikoo
Pikoo is a 1980 Indian Bengali-language short film directed by Satyajit Ray for French television channel France 3. The film is based on a short story named Pikoor Diary (Pikoo's Diary), written by Ray for one of his books, Pikoor Diary O Onyanyo (Pikoo's Diary and Other Stories). The film showcases a day in the life of a six-year-old child, Pikoo, in the backdrop of his mother's extramarital affair.
| Pikoo | |
|---|---|
Title card of the film | |
| Directed by | Satyajit Ray |
| Written by | Satyajit Ray |
| Screenplay by | Satyajit Ray |
| Story by | Satyajit Ray |
| Based on | "Pikur Diary" by Satyajit Ray |
| Produced by | Henri Fraise for France 3 |
| Starring | Arjun Guha Thakurta, Aparna Sen, Soven Lahiri, Promod Ganguli, Victor Banerjee |
| Cinematography | Soumendu Roy |
| Edited by | Dulal Dutta |
| Music by | Satyajit Ray |
Release date |
|
Running time | 26 Minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Bengali |
Satyajit Ray was approached by the freelance producer Henri Fraise to make a film. Ray said in his biography that, when Henri Fraise approached him to make a film, he briefed Ray by saying "[...] you can place your camera at your window and shoot the house next-door—we will accept that." In an interview in Cineaste, Ray stated that Pikoo is "a very complex film".
The film's script was included in the book, Original English Film Scripts Satyajit Ray, put together by Ray's son Sandip Ray and Aditinath Sarkar, an ex-CEO of Ray Society. The book also includes original scripts from Ray's other films. Elements of the film was loosely adapted into the 2015 Hindi-language film Piku by Shoojit Sircar.