POBNEWS24,Dhaka/Delhi, July 16,2025 : As the ancestral home of legendary filmmaker and Academy Award winner Satyajit Ray in Bangladesh is being demolished to make way for a new “semi-concrete structure”, the Indian government stepped in on Tuesday and volunteered to help in repair and reconstruction of the property into a “museum of literature”.
Bangladesh a media reported on Tuesday that the ancestral home of Ray’s grandfather and eminent litterateur Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, formerly used as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy, is being demolished to make way for a new semi-concrete structure.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, “We note with profound regret that the ancestral property of noted filmmaker and litterateur Satyajit Ray in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, belonging to his grandfather and eminent litterateur, Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury, is being demolished. The property, presently owned by the Government of Bangladesh, is in a state of disrepair.”
“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 Government of India would be willing to extend cooperation for this purpose,” the MEA said.
Seeking New delhi and Dhaka’s intervention, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday on X, “I learnt from media reports that the memory-entwined ancestral house of renowned writer-editor Upendrakishore Roychowdhury in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh city is being demolished. The reports say that the demolition process had already begun. This is heartbreaking news.”
The Ray family is one of the most prominent torchbearers of Bengal’s culture. Upendrakishore was among the pillars of the Bengal Renaissance. I feel this house is inextricably linked to Bengal’s cultural history. I appeal to the Bangladeshi government and to all right-thinking people of that country to preserve this edifice of rich tradition. The Indian government should also intervene,” she said.
According to Bangladesh’ Department of Archaeology, the house, located about 120 km north of Dhaka, was built more than a century ago by Upendrakishore. After the Partition of 1947, the property came under government ownership and was repurposed as the Mymensingh Shishu Academy in 1989. A local official in Bangladesh told media that the demolition is being carried out in accordance with “proper procedures” and “necessary approvals”. A semi-concrete building with several rooms will be built to start academy activities, he said.
Asked why such a historically significant building, located on a 36-decimal plot, was being demolished, the official said the building posed a serious risk for children, when they gathered at the compound, the report said.
