Pather panchali is the first film by the legendary Satyajit Ray - undoubtedly the most acclaimed of Indian directors. This movie is about the life of a Brahman family in a Bengali village. The film is beautiful, funny, innocent and full of love. The film is an adaptation of the novel with the same name written by Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay .
The story of Pather Panchali is simple but realistic.We get acquainted with the characters in a slow but poetic pace. Its the story of Hari and his family which consists of Durga, hisdaughter, Sarbajaya his wife , apu his son and Indir, his elderly cousin. Through the three characters of Indir, Sarbajaya and Durga Ray portrays the three different generations of Indian woman and their struggle, their dreams and aspirations. Apu’s character becomes important only in the ending of the film where Indir and Durga dies and the family moves on a bullock cart leaving their beloved village.
Pather Panchali is the first installment of the Apu trilogy.Apu’s character plays the central role in Aparajito and The world of Apu being the second and third films of the trilogy.
The movie Pather Panchali is so popular and influential for various reasons.Like citizen kane in hollywood which brought in a completely new way of film making techniques in terms of sound , cinematography and editing , Pather Panchali too has revolutionised the face of indian cinema in many ways.The camera angles and placement of Ray are so influential that one can see the same kind of camera placement and movement even today in many films made in India. Recent example being two continuous shots that appear in a song in ’Veerumandi’ , a Tamil film directed by Kamal Hassan or even in the latest Telugu (art) film ’Grahanam’ directed by Mohankrishna.
When Indian movies were known for high melodrama and the song and dance sequences Satyajit Ray has brought a new vision of India to the screen.Probably it was the first and only Indian movie till today that has been considered as one of the best cinemas of the world. Its the only Indian movie that has featured in the list of 100 great films of the world. Britain has never been able to create an artist of the stature of Satyajit Ray: this statement of Thorold Dickinson will make us understand the greatness of our own Indian director Satyajit Ray. Ray’s movies are ahead of his times. Ray was greatly influenced by the neo realistic films that became popular by ’Bicycle Theif’ by Desica and other Italian directors.
He is one of the greats of Cinema of all times. But he has chosen to remain as a Bengali director.He never made any film other than Bengali or even attempted to make an International film.
I think it is because even though he has made films only in Bengali langauage his movies are universal. Please watch it in the right spirit and enjoy the movie.