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The
Apu Trilogy:
Pather Panchali (1955): 115 minutes,
Black and White: The story revolves around a poor Brahmin
family in early years of the century in Bengal. The father,
Harihara, is a priest who is unable to make ends meet to keep
his family together. The mother, Sarbajaya, has the chief
responsibility for raising her mischievous daughter Durga
and caring for her elderly aunt Indira, who is a distant relative
and whose independent spirit sometimes irritates her. With
the arrival of Apu in the family, scenes of happiness and
play enrich their daily life.
Aparajito (1956): 113 minutes,
Black and White: This film dramatizes the death of Apu's father
and mother and Apu's own growth into manhood and independence.
Set in 1920, the family is living in Benares(Varanasi), where
the father reads the scriptures to an audience of widows. They
live in a small house in the city. Afflicted with old age and
illness, he dies while on the ghats of Benares. Sabajaya is
left alone to fend for herself and Apu. She decides to return
to live in the country and becomes a cook in a zamindar's house.
She wants Apu to become a priest, but he wants to go to school.
She makes sacrifices so that he might pursue his studies. Apu,
having won a scholarship, departs for Calcutta, leaving her
alone. When he returns to the country to see her, he is bored
and can't wait to leave again. Sabajaya falls ill and Apu, delayed
by his exams, arrives too late. He departs again for Calcutta,
sad but free.
Apur Sansar (1959):
106 minutes, Black and White: The World of Apu has often been
called the most tender love story ever produced. The film
describes Apu's marriage, the loss of his beloved wife, his
descent into deep depression and his eventual regeneration
through the love of his son and Pulu.
Other
Films:
Charulatha (1964): 117 minutes, Black and White: The location
is Calcutta, around 1880. Bhupati, who edits and publishes in
his home a political newspaper called The Sentinel, is persuaded
that his wife Charulata has special gifts as a writer. When
his young cousin (the relationship is considered to be equivalent
to Charu's brother-in-law) Amal, comes to live with them, Bhupati
asks him to encourage her cultural interests, but in such a
way that she remains unaware of her husband's intervention in
setting up their encounter. An increasingly intimate relationship
develops between Charulata and Amal: one based on complicity,
friendship, writing, and eventually love. Meanwhile, the bookkeeper
of The Sentinel, another family member, embezzles the funds
supporting the paper and destroys Bhupati's hopes for his enterprise.
All he has left is the trust he has placed in Charulata and
Amal, which has been compromised by their feelings for each
other.
Abhijan (1962): 150 minutes, Black and White: Abhijan
was one of the most popular films (in Bengal) Ray has produced:
a "conscious" effort to communicate with a wider audience.
The project was originally one that his friends had conceived.
Ray stepped in when his friends panicked at the prospect of
directing. It was Ray's mastery that turned this "conventional"
plot from a stark to a subtly nuanced story. The theme of the
film is the attempt to "buy" over an honest but impoverished
young man by a financially sucessful middle-aged businessman.
Kanchanjhunga (1962): 102 minutes, Color: A wealthy family of
Calcutta's industrial bourgeoisie is vacationing in Darjeeling,
at the foot of Mt. Kanchenjunga, the second highest peak of
the Himalayas. The family members are dominated by the figure
of the father, Indranath, who expects all of them to obey his
will. Several long walks, embellished by long conversations,
sow various seeds of crisis into the family's midst: for example,
a couple breaks up when the younger daughter rejects the staid,
respectable engineer her father wants her to marry. Instead,
she seems attracted to Asok, a young student of modest means
who has the nerve to refuse the job that the elderly Indranath
offers him. |
