There is probably nothing left to say about Satyajit Ray that has not already been said. Not only an exceptional director and the creator of Private Investigator Feluda, Ray was also a film critic, author, illustrator, music composer, calligrapher, publisher and graphic designer. An Economics graduate, Ray was always enchanted by the Arts. He joined Rabindranath Tagore's Viswa Bharati on his mother's persistence where he learned and contributed to some of the defining factors of his oeuvre. But after Ray met french filmmaker Jean Renoir and watched The Bicycle Thief by Vittorio De Sica he resolved to become a filmmaker. The rest, as they say was history. He went on to make 36 feature films, documentaries and shorts. In what might seem like an unbelievable fact, along with numerous international awards, Ray was awarded 32 National Awards, an honorary Academy Award and a Bharat Ratna in 1992. To celebrate the filmmaker that he was, we bring 15 of his best films, in no particular order. Apur Sansar (1959) What makes Apur Sansar, the third installation of The Apu Trilogy, a masterpiece? Of all the answers one can come up with, the most winning would be the fact that Apu is a highly-flawed character, taken to superstitions and despair. Ray made a much-loved hero without infusing him with heroism, love and just general hero-like qualities. When Aparna is left at the altar without a groom, it does not come naturally to Apu that he should go and marry her. When he is left alone with an infant - his own child - he runs away leaving the child with his grandparents. Ray did in 1959 what our current directors would not have the courage to do.

Pather Panchali (1955)

In what is probably the best directorial debut, Pather Panchali, the first part of The Apu Trilogy, made the world take notice of Indian cinema. Ray adapted Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's eponymous novel and retold it in a delicate fashion, fully charged with emotion. Pather Panchali followed Apu, growing up in a small household in rural India. He also shares a lovely relationship with his elder sister, Durga, both of whom run across fields to catch a glimpse of the train, view pictures in a travelling vendor's bioscope, watch folk theatre and do just about everything enthusiastically with their childlike curiosity. But things seldom remain the same, as you will find out.

Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977)

This movie was made quite late in Ray's career and one can see how his filmmaking had matured and the plot more focused through the years. An adaptation of Munshi Premchand's short story, Shatranj Ke Khiladi was India's entry for the 51st Academy Awards. It featured Amjad Khan, Shabana Azmi and Richard Attenborough, with Amitabh Bachchan as the narrator. This historical drama captures the tumultuous history of how the Nawab of Awadh was overthrown by the East India Company and uses the game of chess as a metaphor.