Friendship Day 2026: Friendships that shaped Bengal’s cinema, literature, art and politics.

From the publisher

What did Satyajit Ray do when he couldn’t bring himself to say “Action”? Who taught Jyoti Basu to drink Scotch, and why did two artists in Shantiniketan bond over Beethoven instead of Bengal? Revisit the surprising and deeply human friendships that shaped Bengal’s greatest films,

The source's own excerpt, unedited