Aparajito

It is adapted from the first half of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee’s novel Aparajito.

It starts off where the previous film Pather Panchali (1955) ended, with Apu’s family moving to Varanasi, and chronicles Apu’s life from childhood to adolescence in college.

When Ray started making Pather Panchali, he had no plans of following it up with a sequel. The critical and commercial success of the film prompted him to start making Aparajito.

[broken footnote] Unlike his previous venture, where he stayed faithful to the novel, Ray took some bold artistic decisions here, such as portraying the relationship between Apu and his mother in a very different manner from the book.

As a result, in contrast to its predecessor, the film was not received well locally; Ray recalled that “as for the suburban audience, it was shocked by the portrayal of the mother and son relationship, so sharply at variance with the conventional notion of mutual sweetness and devotion”.

[broken footnote] Critical reception outside of India, however, was overwhelmingly positive. It won 11 international awards, including the Golden Lion and Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival, becoming the first ever film to win both.

Veteran film-maker Mrinal Sen said he considers it to be one of the best Indian movies he had ever seen.

Bosley Crowther said that “it is done with such rare feeling and skill at pictorial imagery, and with such sympathetic understanding of Indian character on the part of Mr.

Ray, that it develops a sort of hypnotism for the serene and tolerant viewer”.

The critical acclaim this movie received encouraged Ray to make another sequel, Apur Sansar (1959), which was equally well received, and thus concluded one of the most critically acclaimed movie trilogies of all time, as Roger Ebert later pointed out: “The three films …

swept the top prizes at Cannes, Venice and London, and created a new cinema for India – whose prolific film industry had traditionally stayed within the narrow confines of swashbuckling musical romances.

Never before had one man had such a decisive impact on the films of his culture”.

Harihar is making headway in his new pursuits: praying, singing, and officiating among the ghats on the sacred river Ganges. Harihar catches a fever and soon dies, however, and his wife Sarbajaya is forced to begin work as a maid.

With the assistance of a great-uncle, Apu and his mother return to Bengal and settle in the village Mansapota. There Apu apprentices as a priest, but pines to attend the local school which his mother is persuaded to allow.

He excels at his studies, impressing a visiting dignitary, and the headmaster takes special interest in him. Within a few years, the teenaged Apu has done well enough to receive a scholarship to go to Kolkata for further studies.

Sarbajaya feels abandoned and frightened by this, but gives in and lovingly packs his suitcase. Apu travels by train to the city and starts working at a printing press, after school hours, to subsist.

He becomes more accustomed to the city life and feels out of place in the village. Sarbajaya expects visits from him, but he visits only a few times. Her loneliness and yearning for her son grow.

She becomes seriously ill, but does not disclose her illness to Apu, lest his studies be disturbed. When Apu finally realises her poor health, he returns to the village to find that she has died.

Bhabataran, Apu’s great uncle, requests that he stay there and perform last rites of his mother. Apu replies that he will perform the last rites in Kolkata and begins his journey back to the city.