How Satyajit Ray filmed the iconic ‘Sonar Kella’ scene of the actors chasing a train on camelback

Everyone knows there is no dearth of camels in Rajasthan. While making Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, we had to get hold of one thousand camels in just two or three days. For Sonar Kella, our need was much less. But the problem was that the place we had selected was far removed from any kind of habitation. As far as the eye could see, there was only an expanse of sand, dotted with thorny bushes and dried grass. A meter gauge line cut across the desert, seemingly without a beginning or an end. A motorway to Jaisalmer ran parallel to the railway track. Had it been further away, we could not have shot a single scene here.

We were based in Jaisalmer and our crew had to bring all our luggage to this chosen spot. The cameraman had to get into an open-topped jeep with the camera in order to catch the camels running towards the train. It was essential therefore to have a paved road nearby.

We had to travel the hundred miles from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer and search every inch of the way before we found this place which seemed most suitable. It was about seventy miles to the east of Jaisalmer, in the direction...

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