India Urges Bangladesh to Preserve Satyajit Ray’s Ancestral Home, Offers Support

India has extended a helping hand to Bangladesh to restore the ancestral home of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray, following growing concern over reports of its demolition in Mymensingh.

The development came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed deep anguish over the reported tearing down of the historic house, once home to Ray’s grandfather, the revered writer and cultural figure Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury.

On Tuesday evening, Bangladesh’s leading daily The Daily Star reported that the structure was being demolished to make way for a new building in Mymensingh city. The house, built more than a century ago, had become government property after the Partition and was turned into the Mymensingh Shishu Academy in 1989. However, the premises have remained largely unused for the last ten years.

Officials quoted in the report said the demolition had been officially cleared, pointing to the building's decaying condition. Plans are reportedly underway to replace it with a semi-concrete structure to continue the Academy’s operations.

The news sparked strong reactions in India, particularly in Bengal. Taking to X, Mamata Banerjee wrote in Bengali: “This news is extremely distressing. The Ray family is one of the foremost bearers and carriers of Bengali culture. Upendrakishore is a pillar of Bengal’s renaissance. Therefore, I believe this house is intricately tied to the cultural history of Bengal.”

The Chief Minister urged the Bangladesh government to preserve the heritage site and also called upon the Indian government to step in and “pay attention to the matter.”

Soon after, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a formal response, expressing “profound regret” over the demolition of the iconic home. It acknowledged the dilapidated condition of the building but urged that its cultural value warranted a second look.

“Given the building’s landmark status, symbolising Bangla cultural renaissance, it would be preferable to reconsider the demolition and examine options for its repair and reconstruction as a museum of literature and a symbol of the shared culture of India and Bangladesh,” the statement read.

India also conveyed that it was “willing to extend cooperation for this purpose.”

Satyajit Ray, a towering figure in world cinema and recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, spent much of his early life in the Kolkata home of his grandfather Upendrakishore, after losing his father at the age of two.

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