Trisha comes from a family of scholars, physicians and surgeons who followed art and music as a hobby. After retiring as an ObGyn, her grandfather Dr. Bimal Ray wrote three volumes of encyclopedia in Eastern Classical Music which are used by researchers all around the globe.[2] Her parents practiced theatre after coming back from their work. She is the first in her family to actually drop out of college to intern on film sets to learn production. She is fluent in English, Spanish and Bengali languages.
She and her partner San Banarje have worked in films and plays as kids and founded their production company Lake Camp Productions during their teenage years to support their passion for films. However, while making their first feature film in Houston, when they could not find actors fluent in the film language to realize their complex scripts as there was no proper cinema school in Houston, they decided to train the actors on their own for their films and founded the first Actors Studio in Houston called 'Next Actor Studio' in 2003, that, designed after the Moscow Arts Theatre, started training actors by different instructors from New York and Austin, and holding film production and commercial spots under one roof. This allowed them to find actors who worked as a unit and together could create many films.
In 2017, Trisha started production of 6 Rounds of Chloe, about 11 year old Chloe's fight to keep her father Dev win his battle against cancer. The film went to floor in February 2018 with actors Eric Roberts, Kamala Lopez, and San Banarje in important roles.
From the age of 6, Trisha was a regular at her father's theatre rehearsals and enjoyed reading the lines of missing actors. She was cast by her father in many of his productions. He was her first acting coach who taught her Stanislavsky and Brecht, made her read Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and other literature that he was fond of. Although she was expected to follow the footsteps of her family members and become a doctor, she knew she would be happy only if she was writing or pursuing theatre.
During her freshman year, while in California working at a printing press, Trisha used her free time to complete her first feature-length screenplay 'Hola Armando' and decided to quit school to pursue film production. She started interning for different production companies and learned every aspect of film production from being on set as a runner or production assistant, editor's help, demonstrator of new software and technologies at mall showrooms, until she was hired by a television network as an in-house producer.
It was her experimental feature 'Flipped' that taught her a great deal about filmmaking. She was the only crew while her friends and family were cast in different roles. Due to lack of budget, she couldn't afford a sound recordist, so she dubbed the entire film and designed the sound alone. Although she refused to show it to anyone except lead actor San Banarje, the film became equivalent to several years of school for her.
In 2003, when Trisha and San tried to make a feature film called "Death, Diary and a Motel" but failed due to not having access to the kind of actors they were looking for. That's when they started their actor's studio called 'Next Actor Studio' to form a team of professional actors who, like them, would passionately pursue art for the sake of fulfillment and not just commercial benefit. They started making several shorts with the new actors and were soon able to start a program called "First Cut" where different filmmakers of the studio will present the first cut of their works to the audience and receive feedback to get it ready for festivals.
In 2007, Trisha directed her first Christian film 'Federal Case' under the banner of Boat Angels Family Film. The film written by screenwriter and evangelist Brian Stewart, was shot in Mexico and Texas and produced by San Banarje. The three of them still work together and currently making their series 'Orphan Train' with Indian actress Mahie Gill and Spanish actress Andrea Guasch.[4]
In winter 2009, Trisha and San wrote a psychological thriller titled Bodhisattva, with Dadasaheb Phalke winner Soumitra Chatterjee in the title role.[5] Trisha wanted to play the role of Maya, the disturbed daughter of the thespian. However director San Banarje was not convinced by Trisha's performance at the rehearsals and gave her the first day of shoot to prove herself, while looking for other actors to replace her on the second day. Her first day of shoot was opposite Soumitra Chatterjee who was playing her father Bodhisattva. To prepare for the role, she followed the Stanislavski System, with minimal contact with only her colleagues, and cutting communications with everyone else until the picture wrapped. After her first scene was shot, director San Banarje was excited by her performance and applauded her for her dedication. The entire film was shot in the home of Trisha's mother who stayed in one room with their dog until the day's shoot was over.[6]
In 2013, she wrote the thriller "The Shadow Behind You", which was directed by her writing partner San Banarje. This was followed by the 2013 Fall film 'Artisse' written by Brian Stewart, that she directed. In winter 2013, she co-produced, edited and did the casting for the film 'Sex, Marriage and Infidelity' for debuting director-writer Richard Finger, a columnist for Forbes with actors Charlie O'Connell, Shannon Tweed, and her daughter with Gene Simmons, Sophie Simmons. All three films were released in 2014.
In 2015, Trisha cast and produced the feature A Curry on an American Plate under the banner of Next Actor Films that she had co-written with the film's director and co-producer San Banarje. The film starred Rick Fox, Charlie O'Connell and Andrea Guasch along with several students of Next Actor Film School, an Actor's Studio that they run in Houston.
In 2015, Trisha wrote the screenplay of a feature '6 Rounds of Chloe' about a teenage daughter struggling to save her father from cancer. The script was written with director Cynthia Mort and actress Melanie Mayron's daughter Olivia Mayron-Mort in mind.[7] However, she could not find anyone to invest in the film, and shelved it.
In 2015 December, Trisha started filming Orphan Train for Boat Angel Family Films with Actress Mahie Gill. The film later turned into a series and released its pilot in 2016 at Niff Houston International Film Festival. In 2017, Spanish Disney actress Andrea Guasch joined the team as a leading lady.
In 2016, Boat Angel came in as a co-producer for '6 Rounds of Chloe' and Trisha restarted her production of the film in 2017 with a brand new revision of the script, with actress and activist Kamala Lopez and San Banarje in lead roles and cast a talented child actress Alexandra Goel as an 11 year old Chloe. Actor Eric Roberts was cast in the role of oncologist Dr. Bing and production started in 2018. Trisha and San took turns to shoot the film, that spanned over an entire year.
In 2020, Trisha and San started their TV series RECAST, based on their comedy feature film 'Bleep Love,' shot in 2006. The show, that was to shoot in Los Angeles, had to be delayed due to coronavirus, and filming started in November 2020 in Houston.
Apur Sansar, also known as The World of Apu, is a 1959 Indian Bengali-language drama film produced, written and directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based on the second half of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's novel Aparajito. Following Pather Panchali (1955) and Aparajito (1956), The World of Apu is the final part of Ray's The Apu Trilogy, about the childhood and early adulthood of a young Bengali named Apu in early twentieth century India. The World of Apu stars Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore ; the duo would go on to appear in many subsequent Ray films.
SoumitraChatterjee was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. He is best known for his collaborations with director Satyajit Ray, with whom he worked in fourteen films.
Uttam Kumar, popularly known as the Mahanayak, was an Indian actor, producer, director, script writer, composer, and singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema. Kumar was one of the most successful actors in Bengali cinema history.
Madhabi Chakraborty is an Indian actress. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Bengali film Dibratrir Kabya. She has acted in some of the most critically acclaimed films in Bengali cinema and is considered one of the great actresses of Bengali cinema.
Ghare Baire is a 1984 Indian Bengali-language romantic drama film directed and written by Satyajit Ray. Based on Rabindranath Tagore's novel of the same name, starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Victor Banerjee, Jennifer Kendal and Swatilekha Chatterjee. The film has a complex portrayal of several themes including nationalism, women emancipation, spiritual and materialistic take on life, tradition versus modernism, and others.
Tapan Sinha was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both in Hindi cinema and Bengali cinema, directing films like Kabuliwala (1957), Louha-Kapat, Sagina Mahato (1970), Apanjan (1968), Kshudhita Pashan and children's film Safed Haathi (1978) and Aaj Ka Robinhood. Sinha started his career in 1946, as a sound engineer with New Theatres film production house in Kolkata, then in 1950 left for England where he worked at Pinewood Studios for next two years, before returning home to start his six decade long career in Indian cinema, making films in Bengali, Hindi and Oriya languages, straddling genres from social realism, family drama, labor rights, to children's fantasy films. He was one of the acclaimed filmmakers of Parallel Cinema movement of India.
Shubho Mahurat (2003) is an Indian Bengali mystery thriller film directed by Rituparno Ghosh. The film is based on Agatha Christie's 1962 Miss Marple detective novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side. It won two National Film award including Best Feature film in Bengali.
Nishijapon (2005) is a Bengali film directed by Sandip Ray, based on a novel of the same name by Narayan Gangopadhyay.
Krantikaal (2005) is an Indian Bengali feature film directed by Sekhar Das of Mahulbanir Sereng fame. It won award for best direction in 9th Dhaka International Film Festival.
Angshumaner Chhobi (2009) is the debut feature film of Atanu Ghosh and had its premiere at the 40th International Film Festival of India, Goa. It was selected in the Competitive Section of the festival, one of the two Indian entries.
Jhinder Bondi is a 1961 Indian Bengali-language historical drama film produced by Bholanath Roy under his banner B.N Productions and directed by the legendary Tapan Sinha, starring Uttam Kumar, Soumitra Chatterjee, Arundhati Devi and Tarun Kumar in lead role. Uttam Kumar played duel role in this film. Film music composed by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. The film is regarded as one of the greatest and most iconic Bengali film ever. The film become successful at the box office.
San Banarje is an American independent filmmaker, entrepreneur, producer, screenwriter, editor, photographer and actor. He was born in Kolkata, India to an orthodox Hindu Brahmin family but as he grew older, he stopped practicing religion. A resident of Houston, Texas, San makes Christian films with Trisha Ray]] and co-producer Brian Stewart.
Swatilekha Sengupta was a Bengali actress. She had received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her contribution to Indian theatre as an actor.
Bodhisattva or "Interrogation of a Husband" is a 2010 independent film directed by San Banarje and written by Trisha Ray and San Banarje. The film stars Soumitra Chatterjee in the title role and Trisha Ray as his daughter. The film was shot in seven days and edited in one month. The world premiere of film was on 19 April 2010 at the Worldfest Houston International Film Festival where it won the Platinum Remi Award. The English title is 'Interrogation of a Husband.'
The Nowhere Son is an Indian/American independent film written, shot and directed by San Banarje starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Trisha Ray, San Banarje and Biswajit Chakraborty. The film, produced by Next Actor Studio, Houston, was shot in India and United States in cities such as Calcutta, Kashi, Houston, Galveston and New Orleans.
Bachchan is a 2014 Bengali comedy thriller directed by Raja Chanda and produced and distributed under the banners of Reliance Entertainment and Grassroot Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. The film feature actors Jeet, Aindrita Ray and Payel Sarkar in the lead roles. It is the official remake of the 2011 Kannada film Vishnuvardhana.
Bela Seshe is an Indian Bengali-language family drama film directed by Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee and presented by Atanu Raychaudhuri. It is produced by Windows and distributed by Eros International. Veteran actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Swatilekha Sengupta played the lead roles in this film. This pair was last seen in Satyajit Ray’s iconic film "Ghare Baire", three decades earlier. The film also features Rituparna Sengupta, Aparajita Adhya, Monami Ghosh, Indrani Dutta, Sohini Sengupta, Kharaj Mukherjee, Shankar Chakraborty, Anindya Chatterjee, Sujoy Prasad Chatterjee, Barun Chanda and Sohag Sen in pivotal roles.
Wedding Anniversary is an Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film, directed by Shekhar S Jha, produced by Kumar V Mahant and Achut Naik, and presented by Bharat Shah. The film stars Nana Patekar and Mahie Gill in leading roles and was released on 24 February 2017.
Malyadan is a 1971 Bengali film directed by Ajoy Kar, based on a short story by Rabindranath Tagore, and starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Sabitri Chatterjee and Nandini Maliya in the lead roles. Tagore's story tells a tragic tale of innocent love. At the 18th National Film Awards, the film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali.
Abhijaan is a 2022 Indian Bengali biographical film directed by Parambrata Chatterjee. The film is based on the life and works of legendary actor and Bengali icon Soumitra Chatterjee. The central character of Soumitra Chatterjee is played by Jisshu Sengupta along with a supporting cast of Prosenjit Chatterjee, Basabdatta Chatterjee, Q, Paoli Dam, Debshankar Haldar, Sohini Sengupta, Rudranil Ghosh, Tridha Choudhury and Parambrata Chatterjee.
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