Renoir had come to Calcutta to scout locations for The River. Ray
walked into the hotel where Renoir was staying and sought a meeting.
Soon Ray was accompanying Renoir on his trips in search of locations
to outskirts of Calcutta during the weekends.
Seeing his enthusiasm and knowledge about cinema, Renoir asked him
if he was thinking of becoming a filmmaker. To his own surprise, Ray
said yes and gave Renoir a brief outline of Pather Panchali, which
he had recently illustrated.
Ray had now married his cousin Bijoya in a simple ceremony of signing
a register at Bombay. This was followed later with Brahmo ceremony
in Calcutta. Bijoya shared his taste in films and music.
Renoir returned to Calcutta later to shoot the film. Renoir hired
Ray's friend Bansi Chandra Gupta as an art director and Harisadhan
Das Gupta as an assistant. Subrata Mitra, who would later become Ray's
cinematographer, took stills.
Ray too wanted to be part of the unit, but he was now an art director
in an advertising agency, D.J. Keymer and was sent to London to work
at the agency's head office.