It is said about Satyajit Ray that all he did not do was act in his films.

India's first filmmaker of international renown was an artiste, composer, visualiser, calligrapher, caricaturist, book jacket designer, sculptor and ad-man. He created posters and ads for the films he made.

His films drew from every skill, yet displayed only a fraction of his genius.

Glimpses of Ray's untrammelled imagination and creativity are for the first time compiled in the publication by Pratikshan, "The Vision of Ray: Cine Posters and Beyond", co-authored by his son Sandip.

Launched to mark the 50th anniversary of his most celebrated film "Pather Panchali" (the song of the road), the album seeks to do the impossible, that is to trap the sheer versatility of the filmmaker in 328 pages of illustrations, graphics, posters and writings.

"Ray was a multifaceted genius who will be remembered as much for his graphic designing and illustrations as for his story telling prowess," says Paritosh Sen, co-author and Ray's friend for years.

Decorated with an Oscar for lifetime achievement and the French legion d'honour, Ray made 28 feature films, five documentaries and two short films. Before introducing the posters on glossy four-colour pages, Sandip Ray begins his recollections with "Pather Panchali", which faced some trouble finding buyers.

To lure producers, Ray, a former adman with Kolkata's D.J. Keymer agency, arranged a sequence of frames as they would come up in the film. And those sequences in pen and ink or brush and ink were used in the ads he prepared.

Producers remained disinterested. Ray used folk-art motifs, floral designs, and ancient calligraphy in the title.

When Ray made a comedy "Parash Pathar" (philosopher's stone), he used comic looking letters for the title. Always ready to play and experiment, he then literally translated a Bengali proverb for "joy" to show the protagonist breaking up in eight pieces.

He would buy cartridge paper, pin it on the wall and make a design. Charcoals and crayons moved furiously on the paper to create immortal strokes. Some were produced on silk-screen.

Readers will also be interested in Ray's marvellous calligraphy, which once brought him a commission to design printing typefaces later christened "Ray Roman".

The innovativeness came in handy in other ways too. Once while making "Jana Aranya", Ray faced a restriction on poster size. When he learnt that the size he wanted would be allowed only for calendars, he produced a poster with a three-month calendar, the latter only an insignificant detail on the poster.