Pather Panchali (1955)

This has to be by-far Satayjit Ray's most beautiful and greatest achievement in cinema. Looking at all the aspects, will definitely inspire someone to make a film more like this in our generation. I saw this film at a recent 50th anniversary screening in my hometown. I really loved the director's beautiful creation, his attention to detail works very neatly and exactly as the director had planned. I wish i had got to see the Apu Trilogy, the character which followed in the other two sequels, must be watched also.

The story is simple, only focusing on the life of one family. but the true trademarks of the film go to the Actors, the Director and his screenplay. Anyone who wants to learn film-making must not miss this film. A true cinematic achievement's and one of the most beautiful films from one of the most important directors of this era.

Fmovies: I won't go into detail about this film, because the greatest films ask that you really just sit back and enjoy them without questioning. This is in a very very small handful of films that create a kind of 'ecstatic truth' that Werner Herzog is always talking about. There is not a moment of hand-fed emotion, and that's probably what hits you first after the film is finished. This is probably why the film has not hit even the first 250 on the IMDb list, while it is more easily accessible than, say, most 'foreign' pictures, it still refuses at every turn to make a cliché out of itself or to be unfair to the audience or its characters by making its machinations obvious, a ploy that most filmgoers fall for time and time again. A reason for this might be that Ray, a young director at the time who had already worked with Jean Renoir on his landmark film about India called 'the River', really didn't have a lot of money or power to wield around, and made this tight, intimate story on a shoestring with an amateur crew, without real concern for anything else but this story that he wanted to tell. A lot of that comes across - the locations, the actors - were all real, however this is a work of masterful collaboration between director, cinematographer, actors, sound recordist, and particularly the editors, a collaboration that is unparalleled in most modern, big budget films. This is a movie created solely with passion, and I am joining in the crusade to make this one of the top 250 on IMDb, though it should, by default, belong on the top 10 of anybody's list.

This is a tour de force around a family's quest for that better future amidst sheer poverty. The film's success is not limited only to realistic depiction of human condition in early 20th century Bengal, but it brings up the triumph of human spirit, love and affection in spite of utter struggle in the most poignant way that one may think. Anybody remotely connected with movie making should also watch APARAJITO AND APUR SANSAR, to complete the experience, and off course to understand the art and craft of cinematic expression from the Maestro. No doubt it ranks in top 100 movie list from Time magazine, not to speak of almost all Indian publications connected with films rate this one as THE MOVIE.

Pather Panchali fmovies. Ray's "Pather Panchali," the first of his unforgettable "Apu Trilogy," is a remarkable film experience. The acting is strong, the direction and script, sure, and the total work, eloquent and moving. A film which one can return to again and again, and each time one can discover new elements. This is a staple of my video library, along with Ray's other two films which complete the trio, "Aparajito" and "The World of Apu." I have watched the trilogy in a continuous sitting on two occasions, and the experience was emotionally overwhelming.

...it is one of those greatest works of art..so lyrical yet so composed. there is one phrase that Ray has used extensively in his writings; something that his professor use to say when he was studying painting in Shantiniketan: "look at Fujiyama, Fire within and Calm without. There is the symbol of true oriental artist..." i think it best describes Ray's work where he suggests in his cinema enormous reserves of power and feelings which never spill into emotional displays.

the strength and variety of the cinematic craftsmanship in this film can be explored endlessly, but what strikes me the most, is the way his work has confirmed, sustained and nurtured the existence of an art form, western in origin, transplanted and taking root in Indian soil. in a way pather panchali is so 'rooted'. it is so earthy and 'regional' at core and may be thats why its 'international', may be thats why, despite being the product of its time and place it is universal in its appeal. the moods and moments that he creates are simply 'matchless'. so simple, and yet so profound. the Indir Thakuran sequences of the film remain for me the highest, noblest and rare expression of art in Indian films so far (except films by Ghatak and Mrinal Sen) The film induces a kind of contemplation and a sense of wonder, about the truth, individual and privet. almost without you being aware of it it opens windows to the truth that lies within and beyond the boundaries of cinema itself.

The film is certainly a masterpiece. The film is overwhelmingly real and the key element in the movie is the maintenance of this realism. The characters are so true to the ethnic rural-sixties Indian existence that one is compelled to wonder if the film was captured through surveillance cameras.

Pather Panchali, released in 1955, is the first film of director Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. The film is a serene and beautiful depiction of a little boy's childhood in the Indian countryside in the 1950s.The film was made on a shoestring budget by a hitherto unknown director. Apart from a seventy-year-old woman who made her name in the 1930s on the stage, none of the cast had ever acted before and many had been plucked from the Indian rurality. In contrast Satyajit Ray completed the trilogy on the behest of the Indian Prime Minister, pointing to the film's cultural impact.

It's a quiet, simple tale, centering on the life of a small family living in a rural village in Bengal. The father, Harihar (Kanu Bannerjee), is a priest and poet who cares more about his writing and spiritual welfare than obtaining wages he is owed. The mother, Sarbojaya (Karuna Bannerjee), worries that her husband's financial laxity will leave her without enough food for her two children, daughter Durga (Uma Das Gupta) and son Apu (Subir Bannerjee). Harihar's family often lives on the edge of poverty, coping with the unkind taunts of their neighbors, the burden of caring for an aging aunt (Chunibala Devi), and the terrible aftermath of a natural catastrophe.

Most of what transpires is shown through the eyes of either Sarbojaya or Durga, and, as a result, we identify most closely with these two. Harihar is absent for more than half of the movie, and, before the penultimate scene, Apu is a mere witness to events, rather than a participant. Until the closing moments, we don't get a sense of the young boy as a fully formed individual, since he's always in someone else's shadow.

The simple story of the Bengali family will definitely stay in my heart for a long time to come. If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?........