Chandak Sengoopta, in The American Scholar (Spring 1993), 1811 Q St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009.
When baker Satyajit Ray (1921-92) died last year, not long after being awarded a special Os- car, it was said that his films were more appre- ciated in the United States than in his native In- dia. That is empty self-congratulation, says Sengoopta, a Calcutta psychiatrist and journal- ist studying at Johns Hopkins. Ray's limited appeal in the West dramatizes the plight of the Third World artist who...