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The observation Satyajit Ray made still holds true for his era.
Both quotes are misleading. Ray's films often feel crafted for a highly intellectual audience, while Aditya Dhar's movies seem to assume viewers will swallow everything on screen without questioning it.
One group wants to uplift the people; another just exploits the audience's ignorance. A quick way to profit from an unintelligent crowd is to tell them they're smart and know everything.
This is a full quote by Ray:
"I once made a film called *The Goddess Devi*. It dealt with religious dogmatism – not attacking religion itself, but the extreme, dogmatic side. Yet newspapers started writing 'Oh! Mr Ray isn't a Hindu, he's making films against Hinduism.' Those people are clueless; you can't take them seriously. This kind of thing happens all over India. Despite the film‑society movement, the majority audience here is still pretty backward.
The context: Satyajit Ray called the Indian audience backward because they reacted poorly to a challenge to religious dogmatism (not religion itself). But D1/2 isn't challenging that; it does the opposite – it pushes religion, the Bhagavad Gita, right‑wing politics, and a clear good‑vs‑bad divide without nuance. D1/2 is a good movie and Dhar is a phenomenal filmmaker, but his film doesn't refute Ray's point.
I agree a bit with the first point, but the second one: if the audience were truly intelligent, they would have questioned every instance of white‑washing and hateful propaganda in your film.
There's no doubt India remains backward in many places, Tamil Nadu included. The fact that Tharkuri‑in‑Chief has a fan following is a perfect example.
Satyajit Ray is spot on. Dhar is simply pandering to his audience.
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We have a mix – some truly intellectual viewers and a large chunk of 'brain‑rot' audiences. Since the latter are the majority, most producers and directors cater to them.
People say the Indian audience is so dumb they think they're actually intelligent.