If Akira Kurosawa compared the legendary Satyajit Ray's cinema with the sun and the moon, a new book now likens the late Indian filmmaker to William Shakespeare.

The tribute comes from British writer Andrew Robinson in the form of "Satyajit Ray: A Vision of Cinema", which is to be released by the British Council here later this month.

Japanese film maestro Kurosawa had said: "Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon."

Robinson's book compares Ray with Shakespeare because of the depth and subtlety in probing human relationships in his films.

On the 50th anniversary of "Pather Panchali", Robinson, literary editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement, pays a tribute to its maker through the book illustrated with rare photographs by Nemai Ghosh.

"Satyajit Ray died April 23, 1992 - on the same day of the year as William Shakespeare. When the coincidence struck me suddenly a few days later, I remember thinking: how curious, and then, after a moment's reflection, how fitting," says Robinson in a preview.

"It was not that Ray, either in his life or in his films, was strongly drawn to Shakespeare. In contrast to many Bengalis of his generation there are only infrequent references to Shakespeare in Ray's many interviews, his copious writings - both fiction and non-fiction - and his more than 30 feature films.

"But a comparison is not far-fetched on two aspects. First, there is the subtlety and depth of Ray's probing of human relationships. Second, the exceptional range of milieu, period, genre and mood in Ray's work, from the celebrated 'Apu Trilogy' of the 1950s to his swansong film of 1991 'The Stranger' (Agantuk), recalls that of Shakespeare," Robinson says.

"There are Ray films about almost all strata of society and walks of life: the upper class, the middle class, and the illiterate working class. There are films about the village, about small-town life and about the metropolis Calcutta.

"There are films about the distant past, the past within living memory and the immediate present," observes Robinson, who earlier authored "Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye" and several books on Rabindranath Tagore with co-author Krishna Dutta.

"There are also pure comedies ('The Philosopher's Stone', 'The Holy Man'), fantasies (the musicals, 'The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha' and 'The Kingdom of Diamonds'), a ghost story ('The Lost Jewels') and detective stories ('The Golden Fortress' and 'The Elephant God')."

"Taken together, Ray's films seem to encompass a whole culture - that of the Bengalis: an achievement no other filmmaker can match," the writers says.

According to Robinson, Ray was also the most versatile craftsman in cinema behind the camera.

The photographs in "Satyajit Ray: A Vision of Cinema" by Nemai Ghosh show Ray personally immersed in every stage of filmmaking. He is writing the scripts of his films, designing the effortlessly convincing sets and costumes down to the smallest details.

Ray also acted out the roles for actors and actresses as captured in the camera of Ghosh.

Shakespeare died April 23, 1616.