‘Ray’ of Realism: Studying the Influence of Italian Neorealism on Satyajit Ray’s Cinema

By:-

Anurag MeshramRoll No 080PNR No 08050121016AV Batch 2011SIMC UG

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DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK 

This is to certify that the work that forms the basis of the research, ‘Ray’ of Realism:

Studying the Influence of Italian Neorealism on Satyajit Ray’s Cinema, is original

work and carried out and analyzed by me and has not been submitted anywhere else

I certify that all the sources of information and data used by me are fully acknowledged

in the research.

Anurag MeshramRoll No 080PNR No 08050121016AV Batch 2011SIMC UG

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INDEX

Content……………………………………………………………………………Page No.

Preface 6

Aims & Objectives, Research Design 8

1. INTRODUCTION 9-22 Realism v/s Idealism 9 Genesis of Italian Neorealism 10 Understanding Italian Neorealism 13 Italian Neorealism and Satyajit Ray 15

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 23

3. METHODOLOGY 36

4. ANALYSIS 40-91

Pather Panchali 40 Aparajito 59Apur Sansar 74

5. NEOREALISM IN INDIA POST RAY 92-106 Neorealism and Ray’s contemporaries 92 Neorealism and New-Age Bollywood 99

6. CONCLUSION 107

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY 111

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PREFACE

"Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun

or the moon."- Akira Kurosawa.

A great compliment indeed from one great auteur to another. Satyajit Ray is one of

India’s most admired and respected directors of all times. His close association with

Rabindranath Tagore and involvement in the Bengali Renaissance combined with his

exposure to a variety of foreign films and his interactions with cinematic geniuses such as

Jean Renoir, brought about an unique blend of eastern and western sensibilities that his

cinematic style came to be recognized for.

Through his films, Ray chronicled the process of social change and the emerging

‘modern India’. In Ray’s own words, “the modern is not conceived in terms of past,

instead it emerges through a dynamic relationship with the post.” That is the reason why

Satyajit Ray is often credited with introducing modern themes to the otherwise tradition-

bound Indian cinema Right from his debut film, Ray had started the process of brining

about a paradigm shift in the formlaic Indian cinema.

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His films belong to a meta-genre that includes the works of Akira Kurosawa, Alfred

Hitchcock, Charles Chaplin, David Lean, Federico Fellini, Fritz Lang, John Ford, Ingmar

Bergman, Jean Renoir, Luis Bunuel, Yasujiro Ozu, Ritwik Ghatak and Robert Bresson.

Amongst all of the Western influences on his cinema, I chose to study the influence of

Italian Neorealism. A brief encounter with Italian Neorealist films during his stay in

London culminated into his first film, Pather Panchali, and ultimately into the Apu

Trilogy, which can be regarded as the best example of the use of neorealistic aesthetics in

Indian cinema. Therefore, as the title of the dissertation suggests, Ray truly brought in a

‘ray of realism’ to Indian cinema.

The introduction of neorealistic aesthetics and themes by Satyajit Ray’s cinema and its

further progress and popularity in the Indian context, thus, seemed to be an interesting

area to explore for my graduate dissertation.

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AIMS & OBJECTIVES

1) To study the stylistic and thematic influences of Italian Neorealism on Satyajit Ray’s

cinema

2) To study how Neorealism has grown and developed in India, post its introduction by

Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy

RESEARCH DESIGN

Primary Sources:

Content Analysis

Interview

Secondary Sources:

Books

Articles

Documentary

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INTRODUCTION

Realism v/s Idealism: the debate is never-ending. Idealism, according to the American

Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, means "The act or practice of envisioning

things in an ideal form." A practice which takes into account the subject’s thinking and

intellect and thereby gives meaning to the object. In other words, idealism is about

achieving perfection, and hence it depends entirely on the definition of ‘perfection’ that

the subject has in his/ her mind. The perception, the interpretation of the ‘object’ that the

‘subject’ has, gives it a meaning.

In stark contrast to this ideology, realism is "the inclination towards literal truth and

pragmatism" (ibid). Realism is all about accepting life as it is; things as they are. Realists

believe every ‘object’ has a reality of its own irrespective of the subject’s interpretation

of it. Realism, in essence, is thus about naked facts, passion and materialism

Between these two extremes, comes in Neorealism. Neorealism is a step forward in

realism and questions the ‘excessive objectivity’ that realism talks about. Neorealism

does not accept the total obliteration of subject that is espoused in realism. It is a

philosophy which acknowledges the presence of both the ‘subject’ and the ‘object’ and

talks about the layers of interpretations and coding and decoding of meaning that takes

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place because of this interpretation.

Neorealists take into account the social truths and contextualties that affect the observer’s

objective reality. Therefore, the observer combines the subjectivity and objective reality

and partakes in the endless process of interpretations. The neorealist aspiration is towards

an objective disinterested analysis of the social order.

Neorealism in cinema, developed in Europe post the World War II, primarily deals with

films that bring forth elements of reality and depict themes and characters close to real

life as compared to conventional, formulaic films.

Genesis of Neorealism:-

Fascism, a political thought, categorized by the exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial

control, ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. The government, headed by the dictator, Benito

Musollini, believed in suppressing people’s public behavior and was averse to the idea of

plurality of voices. Italian cinema under Musollini were primarily concerned with pro-

Fascism propaganda, although the level of propaganda in Italian cinema did not reach the

level of German or Russian films that were under the rule of totalitarian leaders.

The main problem with the films produced in that era was that they were divorced from

reality and were only interested in promoting a positive image of Italy elsewhere in the

world. Crime and immorality, particularly, were subjects that the government did not

want to depict on screen.

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There were, thus, mainly three kinds of films that were produced under the rule of

Mussolini. They were:-

Black Films:- which championed the Fascist ideology. They were mostly short-length

news reels, often played before the main films. This was the most important form of

Fascist propaganda cinema.

White- telephone films:- were films that belonged to the ‘other end of the spectrum’.

Usually stories set in middle-class Italian families, these films were melodramatic and

usually in the lighter vein.

Apart from ‘black’ and ‘white-telephone’ films, there was another kind of cinema that

was produced in Italy which was somewhere in between the spectrum. These films were

mostly war-films, with fictional story-lines and huge doses of propaganda.

Several attempts were made by the government to control and organize the film industry

by forming several bodies, groups and corporations. In 1933, for instance, the

government passed laws to ‘preserve the integrity’ of Italian films abroad. According to

these regulations, Italian films could not be dubbed in foreign languages and it was

obligatory for all foreign films to be dubbed into Italian.

In addition, the Fascist government promoted pro-Fascism films by the means of

providing grants to the extent of 100% funding, to films which portrayed a positive image

of Fascist Italy.

Mussolini, infact, named himself the principal orchestrator in Italian Cinema, by placing

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a picture of himself behind a film-camera, with a spin-off Lenin’s quote:- “Film is the

most powerful weapon” at the Cinecitta’s studios.

With the end of the World War II, Fascism also came to an end and by 1944, Italy was

occupied by the Allies. The fall of Fascism meant that the voice of the working class and

proletarians could now be heard. There was a strong urge, an angst amongst people to tell

the world about the true conditions that existed in post-War Italy, and this is precisely

what a group of filmmakers did. They showed an absolute disregard for old cinema and

its codes and conventions. This group of filmmakers went instead, for gritty reality. The

basic tenets of this movement were that cinema should focus on its own nature and role in

society and that it should confront audiences with their own reality. This movement

came to be known as Italian Neorealism. A movement that merged cinematic realism ( a

tendency already present in the Fascist period) with social, political and economical

themes that were always suppressed under the Fascist regime.

Although most critics credit Roberto Rosellini’s Roma citta` aperta (Rome Open City) as

being the first neo-realist film, Luchino Visconti’s Ossesione (Obsessions, 1942), which

was about a labourer, who becomes a murderer because of his lust and passion for a

woman, was actually the landmark of the neo-realist film movement. Infact, it was

Antonio Pietrangali, the script-writer of Visconti’s film, who coined the term Italian

Neorealism.

Poetic Realism can be considered as a precursor to Italian Neorealism. It was more of a

tendency than a movement that lead up to the World War II. Championed by directors

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such as Jean Renoir and Pierre Chenal, these films were about marginalized characters,

love and disappointment. A tone of nostalgia and bitterness was echoed in films

belonging to this movement.

Visconti’s apprenticeship with Jean Renoir proved to be very fruitful for him. His

interactions with Renoir and close association with his work gave him a good

understanding of Renoir’s cinematic style. Visconti’s first film, Ossessione, as a result,

draws hugely from Renoir’s film, Toni, in which Visconti assisted the legendary French

auteur.

Understanding Italian Neorealism:-

As proclaimed by one of the greatest neorealist filmmakers, Roberto Rosellini, Neo-

realism was both a moral and aesthetic cinema. As a movement that arrived as a result of

the displeasure of filmmakers at the restrictions put on their freedom of expression,

neorealism, sought to make realism more than an artistic stance. It aimed at bringing forth

“life as it is” in post-War Italy.

The stylistic and thematic characteristics of Italian Neorealism, which reflect this

ideology, are as follows:-

1. The Resistance (against the Fascist)

2. Devastation caused by World War II

3. The Working Class Poverty

4. Humanism

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5. Urban space and its periphery

6. Inspired by actual events

7. Ambiguous endings

8. Shooting on location

9. Use of natural lights

10. Post synchronization of sound (dubbing)

11. Use of lower-grade film stocks (such as 16mm)

12. Grainy “documentary like” mise-en-scene

13. Use of non-professional actors

14. Use of long takes

15. Little use of editing/ montage

16. Use of wide depth of field.

Although not all neo-realist films met the above mentioned criteria. It was infact, only

one film, De Sica’s Ladri di bicicletti (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), that met all of these

tenets. Visconti’s La Terra Trema (The Earth Trembles) also includes most of these

stylistic and thematic devices except for the fact that it was a literary adaptation.

Visconti’s earliest films, Ossessione, which can be considered as a landmark in Italian

Neorealism movement, found itself amidst a lot of controversy when it was released,

inspite of it being heavily censored. Visconti, through his tale of passion and sensuality

that lead a man to commit a heinous crime like murder, defied the government’s decrees

of showing cleanliness and propriety on screen.

One of the most celebrated and revered films of this era is Roberto Rosellini’s Roma

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citta` aperta, based on real events that happened in Rome during the period between

1943-1944, while the city was still under the German control. The film is about the

happenings of Italian-Resistance during a three day period. The difficulties that Rosellini

faced during the production of this film, in the form of shortage of money and stocks, is

what gives his film its authenticity. Rosellini had to use newsreels, which eventually gave

the film a grainy and documentary film, for which it is best remembered.

The neorealism movement lasted for about ten years, infact fourteen years, if we take into

consideration the last Neorealist film, De Sica’s Il tetto (The Roof, 1956), that was made.

With the appointment of Giulio Andereotti as Director of Performing Arts, Italian

Neorealism, as a movement, saw its demise in the early 1950s. Andereotti was given

extensive powers because of which he could control the bank loans given to films which

he thought were “too neorealistic” and he was also in a position to deny screening rights

to any film that projected Italy in a negative light. The Cold War mood of the early 1950s

also contributed to the governmental dislike of the social realism inherent in these films.

All these factors eventually lead to the death of the Italian Neorealist movement.

However, despite its demise, it impacted cinema world-wide. The French New Wave

Movement, particularly, acknowledges the influence of Italian Neorealism. In the Indian

context, one of the greatest auteurs of all time, Satyajit Ray introduced Italian Neorealism

to the Indian audiences.

Italian Neorealism and Satyajit Ray:

Satyajit Ray: one of Indian cinema’s most revered and admired auters ever. A

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revolutionary director, who is credited with amalgamating modernism into tradition-

bound Indian cinema. Some call him a classist while some a humanist. But as author

Suranjan Ganguly in his book, “Satyajit Ray: in search of the modern” writes, it is indeed

impossible to label the genius of Ray. “While almost all of his (Ray’s) films are rooted in

the Bengali milieu and made primarily for the Bengalis, they are trans-cultural in their

larger impact.”

Talking of influences in Ray’s cinema, they are as varied and as diverse as Italian

Neorealism to Jean Renoir to Mozart to Bresson. “While Ray’s films have been

shaped by his cosmopolitan, modernist, twentieth century perspective, they reveal a value

system that has more to do with the nineteenth century. Such paradoxes are common in a

cinema generated within a postcolonial society, especially one that is characterized by

bewildering diversity.” writes Ganguly.

Nineteenth century Bengal did influence Ray’s cinematic vision to a major extent and it

is mainly due to his upbringing. Ray grew up in nineteenth century Calcutta. Born in a

family of artists, he was naturally drawn to fine-arts, music and culture. Ray showed

extraordinary skills at painting and drawing and a great understanding of music. As he

reached his mid teens, he had developed a taste for European classical music, particularly

Mozart and Beethoven. Around the same time, Ray came in touch with his ‘cinephile

self’ and rarely missed the screening of any Western film that was screened in the city.

He has infact, confessed in many of his interviews that he learnt film-making simply

through watching films. Going to an English-medium school ensured that Ray studied

Western literature and culture, which shaped his vision in the long run.

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The turning point in Ray’s life however, acme when he went joined Shantiniketan, the

art-school founded by the great Rabindra Nath Tagore. “I was not conscious of any roots

in Bengal at all. That happened in Shantiniketan”, is how Ray sums up his experience of

the school. Perhaps it was his experience at Shantiniketan that brought him closer to the

Bengali Renaissance movement as well.

The Bengali Renaissance Movement is a movement questioning the orthodoxy and

superstitions of people, with special reference to the emancipation of women,

abolishment of sati, popularizing education, uplifting the status of people belonging to the

lower castes. The movement which started with Raja Ram Mohun Roy, saw many

journalists, poets, writers, social reformers, painters and artists joining in, who aided the

transition of ‘medieval’ India to ‘modern’ India. While there was an outburst of Bengali

literature and art, cinema as a medium was still waiting for its ‘Renaissance Man’.

Cinema, which was considered as the movement of nouveau riche had not percolated not

yet made a mark. In status, it was still following literature and the great potential that

cinema had as a tool to bring in social change and aid the process of Bengali Renaissance

had not happened. RabindraNath Tagore, realizing the potential of cinema and the need

for cinema to partake in this revolution wrote a letter to Sisir Kumar Bhaduri (famous

actor of Bengali theatre)’s brother Murari. Rabindranath Tagore made certain very

significant statements on the cinema a free translation of which is provided by author

Chidanand Dasgupta in his book, The Cinema of Satyajit Ray::

Form in art changes according to the means it uses. I believe that the new art that could

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be expected to develop out of the motion picture has not yet made its appearance. In

politics, we are looking for independence, in art, we must do the same. Every art seeks to

find its own independent manner of expression within the world it creates; otherwise its

self-expression is undermined for the lack o confidence in itself. The cinema is so far

acting as a slave to literature- because no creative genius has arrived to deliver it from its

bondage. This act of rescue will not be easy, because in poetry, painting or music the

means are not expensive, whereas in cinema, one needs not only creativity, but financial

capital as well.

This gap, this position was filled by none other than Satyajit Ray, who is often for this

reason, considered to be the last Renaissance Man. As Chidanand DasGupta further

expounds on Ray’s contribution to cinema and social change at large, by saying, “In

cinema, the aftermath of Phalke moved towards social films and away from mythology

which Phalke himself continued to hug. Shantaram and Vinayak made films with a

notable modernist swing in tune with the country’s urge towards the contemporisation of

its culture. Nonetheless their apprehension of the particular genius of cinema as a

medium was inadequate; the realistic fragment of life as the basic building block of

cinema of many different kinds had not come into its own. Myth still dominated,

overwhelmed fact. A fusion of cinema’s realistic vocabulary with the Indianness of style

and statement had to await the arrival of Satyajit Ray. “

After his stint at Shantiniketan, Ray found employment at a British advertising agency

based in Calcutta and worked as an illustrator. Soon after, his passion for cinema drove

him and he founded the Calcutta Film Society along with other prominent members of

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the Calcutta film and literary circuit. The Calcutta Film Society took out journals wherein

the members would write about the problems they thought Indian cinema had. The

society, however, did not just concentrate on Indian cinema, but on world cinema, at

large. Some of the cinephiles who found a platform in the form of this film club also

became well-known film-critics in the future. Ray met many a filmmakers through his

association with the Calcutta Film Society. Prominent amongst them are: Jean Renoir,

Nikolai Cherkassov, John Huston amongst others.

Jean Renoir, the famous proponent of French Poetic Realism, a movement, which is

touted as the precursor to Italian Neorealism, played a major role in shaping Ray’s views

and style as a filmmaker. Ray met Renoir while he was in Calcutta to shoot his film The

River on the banks of Ganga, during the period between 1948-1949. Ray wrote a lot

about Renoir in the journal Sequence and had close interactions with the director. He

even closely observed the way Renoir worked and his cinematic style. Renoir was also

impressed with Ray’s understanding of Indian culture and values and his creative genius.

“Two remarks of Renoir are perhaps the most significant pointers to the characteristics of

Ray’s work in the future. The first was a humanist statement about characterization in

Renoir’s films, that he loved all his characters and could not condemn any.: ‘The trouble

is that everybody has his reasons (for doing as he does)’.. of no filmmakers other than

Renoir himself has this been more true than of the early Ray. The second statement that

worked as a catalyst on most of the Indian filmmakers was: ‘When Indian cinema gives

up the imitation of Hollywood and tries to express the reality around itself, it will come

across a new national style’” (The Cinema of Satyajit Ray, Chidananda Dasguprta)

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Ray’s rendezvous with Italian Neorealism primarily happened when his employers at the

ad-agency sent him to London. The city gave Ray an opportunity to watch more films,

and in the process hone his skills as a filmmaker. At one of such film screenings, Ray

watched Vittorio De Sica’s legendary film, Bicycle Thieves. Ray had been toying

with the idea of making Pather Panchali, his first film, which he wanted to shoot in actual

locations and with non-professional actors. Folks back home had been quite apprehensive

of his decision to move away from conventions. He carried a notebook with him to

London and as he watched films, he would make sure that he takes down notes which

would help him while directing his directorial debut.

Ray was moved by De Sica’s film and Italian Neorealism made a great impact on him.

Reminiscing about the days spent at London, Ray writes in the introduction of his book,

Our films, their films, “All through my stay in London, the lessons of Bicycle Thieves

and neo-realist cinema stayed with me".

The lessons he learnt from the film definitely went a long way in terms of strengthening

his belief in films that dare to defy conventions. As author Suranjan Ganguly writes,

“Italian neorealism had offered him a model that would be set in the heart of rural

Bengal. On his way back to India, he began to draft the screenplay of Pather Panchali/

Song of the little Road (1955), which would revolutionalize Indian film and place it on

the map of international cinema.”

Pather Panchali was just the beginning. Ray heralded an era of neorealism in India.

Bengali cinema, according to Chidanand Dasgupta, was always contemptuous of the

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“documentary” realism of Pather Panchali during the long period of its fund and indeed,

underneath a show of respect for his world stature, it continues to be so.

Ray however, never looked back and continued with his conviction. He always opposed

Indian cinema’s following the Hollywood model. The superficiality and the over-

powering ‘studio-stamp’ is what Ray was dissatisfied with. At a speech at Asia Society,

New York, in 1981, he said that he had not only learnt what to do from Hollywood films,

but also what not to do.

As Ray writes in his book, Our films, their films, “It should be realized that the average

American film is a bad model, if only, because it depicts a way of life so utterly at

variance with our own. Moreover, the high technology polish, which is the hall-mark of

the standard Hollywood product, would be impossible to achieve under existing Indian

conditions. What Indian cinema needs today is not more gloss, but, more imagination,

more integrity and more intelligent appreciation of the limitations of the medium.”

Through all of Ray’s films, be it the Apu Trilogy or the Charulata phase or even his later

and more experimental films, Ray continued to make films that reflected Indian society

and its woes just as Italian Neorealist films did. Ray showed the path less trodden, the

style of film-making where gritty reality overtook gloss, where actors and characters

‘lived lives’ on screen rather than ‘enacting scenes’ at studios. Moving ahead with times,

Ray as a director, never shied away from the ‘unconventional’. As Chidanand Dasgupta

writes, “Seldom has a film director’s work chronicled the process of social change over a

long span of time as Satyajit Ray’s. the subjects of his film range over the shifting social

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scene in India for over one hundred and fifty years. Devi (The Goddess, 1960), is placed

in the 1980s, Shatranj Ke Khiladi (The Chess Players, 1977) in the 1850s, Charulata

(1964)’s story is laid in 1879, Jalsaghar (The Music Room, 1958) is at the turn of the

century, the Apu trilogy in the early years of the century. Sadgati (The Deliverance,

1981) was written by Prem Chand in the 1930s about an unspecified, as it were, timeless

period; Ashani Sanket (Distant Thunder, 1973) deals with the British-made wartime

famine of 1943; besides he of course made contemporary films. Even within the

contemporary subjects, it is possible to identify minute divisions of periods marked by

particular tendencies. There was, needless to say, no planned exercise going over the year

grid by grids; Ray picked the subjects at will and at different times according to what he

felt concerned with, what he happened to read and met the exigencies of filmmaking at a

given time. “

The dissertation is a tribute to the great auteur Satyajit Ray and aims to study the

influence of Italian Neorealism on his cinema. The dissertation also attempts to study and

question the presence of neorealist aesthetics and themes in contemporary Bollywood

popular films, in order to understand how Italian Neorealism spread in the country after

Ray introduced it to the Indian audiences.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Book:- Satyajit Ray: In Search of the ModernAuthor:- Suranjan Ganguly

“As the man credited with ushering modernity into tradition bound Indian cinema, Ray

remains an enigmatic figure”, is how author Suranjan Ganguly begins his book on Ray,

titled “Satyajit Ray: In search of the modern”. The statement pretty much sums up the

author’s reason behind writing the book. Satyajit Ray, who revolutionalized filmmaking

in India through his understanding of Indian issues and ethos while amalgamating them

with a Westen radical viewpoint, is considered to be the last Renaissance Man. Due to

this near perfect fusion of Eastern and Western influences in his work, Ray is often

termed as the modernist who heralded in an era of change in film-making. Suranjan

Ganguly, through his book attempts to question and interpret the validity of this belief.

Suranjan Ganguly hails from Ray’s city, Calcutta. He studied at St. Xavier’s

College and Jadavpur University. After this, he shifted base to the United States, where

he obtained his doctorate degree from Purdue University. He is chair of Film Studies at

the University of Colrado, Boulder and teaches subjects ranging from European to Asian

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Cinema. He has written for prestigious film journals such as Sight and Sound, Film

Criticism, East-West film journal, Asian Cinema , amongst others. He was always

amazed by the genius of Ray and had been writing several pieces on him in journals, such

as Film Criticism, The Journal of South Asian Literature and the Journal of

Commonwealth Literature. Ganguly’s enthusiasm for Ray finally translated into a book

in the year 1997 where he wrote the book over a period of seven months in Ray’s and his

own city, Calcutta.

The book, essentially is a study of modernity is Ray’s work through six of his films,

namely: Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apur Sansar, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri and

Pratidwandi. It studies Satayajit Ray’s work with special emphasis on the Bengali

Renaissance period and how it influenced his thought process and personality, at large.

Ganguly gives an account of Satyajit Ray’s childhood and his growing up years in

Shantiniketan, where he got an opportunity to understand, and connect to his Indian roots.

At the same time, Ganguly affirms that Western influences, particularly, the influence of

Jean Renoir and De Sica’s shaped up his cinematic style to a great extent. Ganguly

asserts that it is Ray’s East-West cosmopolitanism becomes the undercurrent in all his

films.

The author draws interesting parallels between conflicts and Ray’s cinema. According to

him, Ray’s films primarily were about documenting India, the constant process of change

that India is going through as a pluralist nation, filtered through the experiences of men

and women who seek to define themselves vis-à-vis conflicting forces. Conflicting forces

such as the feudal and the modern, tradition and progress, the village and the city, the old

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and the new, which he showcased through his films, are shaping composite modern

identity, that according to Ganguly, defines Indianness for Ray.

He substantiates this by giving an account of Ray’s works and how it has been a constant

process of documenting and depicting a nation that is in perpetual growth, right from

Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) in which the conflicting forces of feudalism and colonialism

come forth to Devi (1960), where Ray crafts a gritty tale of a woman in Rural Bengal

caught in midst of superstition, fanaticism and hysteria, amongst his other films.

Gangualy chooses to study six films, in particular, which define and are representative of

the changes that came about in his work. While the Apu Trilogy introduced neorealistic

aesthetics to Indian cinema, where Ray told Apu’s tragic story, devoid of the

melodramatic framework that Indian cinema had come to be associated with, Charulata

saw Ray’s shifted interest in telling “tales through the woman’s eyes”. The author also

discusses two of Ray’s later films, Aranyer Din Ratri and Pratidwandi, where certain

changes evolved in Ray’s cinematic style. As he writes in the conclusion of his book,

“From Apu learning to write in Pather Panchali to Siddharth’s crisis of choice in

Pratidwandi, it is possible to trace the trajectory of Ray’s modernity as it evolves from an

enlightened humanist’s faith in progress to the gradual erosion of that faith.”

It is this entire process of change in Ray’s cinema that Suranjan Ganguly’s book critically

chronicles that I chose to study it for my dissertation. Without going much into the nitty-

gritties of Ray’s aesthetics, Suranjan Ganguly talks about the broader philosophical,

cultural and intellectual framework within which Ray worked. The correlation of India’s

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growth and development as a society and Ray’s cinematic work provided for an

interesting read to understand the societal themes and issues that he showcased through

his work. Since ‘neorealism’ as a movement is about social contextualities and the

observer’s objective reality, I found the book very useful in terms of acquainting me with

Ray’s value-system, his beliefs and the societal truths of that era.

Ganguly particularly gives an interesting account of the changes that came about in Ray’s

work in the Nehruvian and post-Nehruvian era. He talks about how Ray’s career as a

filmmakers began in the nation-building years and how he shared Nehru’s vision of

modern India: the liberalist-humanist, cosmopolitan agenda. Ray’s admiration for the

Nehruvian modern India and the resultant influence it had in terms of the socio-historical

space within which Ray worked as an artist have been explained well in the book.

Towards the conclusion of the book, Ganguly has brought into notice how this vision,

this belief in Tagorean ethos changed over time in society and was reflected poignantly in

Ray’s later films, such as Jana Aranya.

Satyahit Ray: In Search of the Modern, thus, takes an analytical look at Ray as a

filmmaker, as a modernist, vis-à-vis, focusing on issues such as human subjectivity,

importance of education, women’s emancipation, the rise of the middle class and the

post-Independence search for identity, that formed the core of his cinema.

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Book:- Our Films, Their filmsAuthor:- Satyajit Ray

The book is a collection of essays written by Ray himself on the craft of filmmaking and

the problems involved in it. The collection of opinions, views, anecdotes and

interpretations shared by Ray through this book goes to show the keen eye and passion he

had for cinema. The apt dose of humour and the breezy style in which the book is written

make it an absolutely amazing book to read for all Ray enthusiasts.

Ray talks in depth about his Calcutta Film Society days in the Introduction chapter. The

struggle to sustain the film club and go on in times of adversity and problems cropping up

from the film industry, which branded the film club members as people who’s sole aim in

life was to bicker and find faults in films, and from the families of some members who

felt “cinema would hamper the sanctity” of their homes. The personal details and tone

with which Ray narrates this incident connects the reader almost instantaneously to this

young cinephile and his ambition to be a filmmaker.

The first thirteen essays essentially talk about Indian cinema, its problems and its growth.

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Talking about the making of his films, Pather Panchali and Jalsaghar, Ray tells us about

the different economic adversities that he had to face. From Bengali cinema’s obsession

with the Hollywood-based model to stories that were alienated from reality, the

production, distribution and economic hindrances that directors had to face, Ray

discusses all these and several other things that, according to him, proved detrimental to

cinema’s development and expansion as a medium. Throughout the book, Ray campaigns

for cinema to be treated as an art form and for it to be given its due as all other art-forms

are. Ray affirms his belief in the power of the medium that started off as the medium for

the ‘nouveau riche’, but has the potential to bring in change, almost as much, if not more,

than other art forms.

Ray goes deeper into explaining the reader about the processes, the details and theories

involved in film-making. Expressing an overall dismay at the culture of gloss and

glamour that had taken over the Indian film industry, Ray says that the need of the hour is

to explore and discover a film idiom that inherently is more Indian and reflects our

intelligence and integrity. Leaving almost no aspect of film-making untouched, Ray talks

in detail, about songs and their importance in films. He discusses the need, the trends, the

picturization and the Western point of view of Indian cinema and music and sums up the

chapter by saying, “I feel less anger and more admiration for the composer who can lift

the main theme of finest movements of Mozart’s finest symphonies and turn it into a

filmi geet and make it sound convincing”.

In the later half of the book, Ray talks about some of the greats of world-cinema ranging

from Truffaut to Renoir to Kurosawa. Ray reminisces about his meeting with French

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director, Jean Renoir, who he met while Renoir was in Calcutta to shoot his film The

River, and talks about the articles he had written his work. Renoir shaped Ray’s

cinematic style to a major extent and Ray cherishes his interactions with the great French

auteur.

Ray speaks positively of the Italian Neorealism Movement and the resulting New Wave

that came about in cinema. Arising out of financial constraints and economic problems,

the cinema, according to Ray, has created new cinematic idioms which defy ‘polish’. He

discusses about his first rendezvous with Italian Neorealist cinema while he was in

London. The style inspired him so much that he finally found the courage and motivation

to go ahead and shoot his debute film, Pather Panchali, the way he wished to: in actual

locations, with amateurs. Italian Neorealism, De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, therefore,

gave him the courage to defy the conventions of the stereotypical Bengali cinema that

was being made at that time.

He discusses the works of several Italian filmmakers and gives the readers a firm

grounding of how the Italian film industry works. He compares and contrasts the

cinematic styles of Antinioni and Fellini, for instance, and talks about their cinematic

representation of ‘reality’ with a strong undercurrent of human emotions that carry their

films forward.

This book also displays the immense grasp that Ray had over the history and the

development of film as a medium, in Hollywood and film industries of other countries.

Right from the problems, to styles to influences, reading the book is almost like

interacting with Ray, the filmmaker and the person. Certain qualities of Ray’s persona,

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like his objectivity also shines through his book. A case in point is the chapter he has

written on his contemporaries, Shyam Benegal, M.S. Sathyu, Mani Kaul, Kumar Shahani.

Ray provides a brilliant analysis of their work, avoiding any kind of bias. Although he

does include some severe criticism of their work, but at the same time, there is not even a

tinge of professional jealousy or one-upmanship in his analysis.

Reading Our Films, Their Films, proved to be a great learning experience, not only from

the point of view of my dissertation topic, but in terms of understanding the genius of

Satyajit Ray, his works, his views and his love for the craft.

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Book:- The Cinema of Satyajit RayAuthor:- Chidanand Dasgupta Author Chidanand Dasgupta’s association with Satyajit Ray dates back to their Calcutta

Film Society days. Ray, Dasgupta, Bansi Chandragupta and a few others founded the

society, which gave a platform to cinephiles all across the city to watch and get exposed

to the best of world cinema.

The book, The Cinema Of Satyajit Ray portrays this close association that the author

Dasgupta shared with Ray. The book is considered to be one of the most comprehensive

accounts of Ray’s work and his extraordinarily creative career as a filmmaker spanning

over four decades.

The most important thing that sets the book apart is the fact that it studies Ray’s evolution

as a director, keeping his socio-cultural context in mind. The author gives in a detailed

account of Ray’s upbringing in an artistic family, their closeness to Tagore, Ray’s

involvement in the Bengali Renaissance and his stature as the ‘last Bengali Renaissance

Man’. Dividing Ray’s cinematic styles into different era, Chidanand Dasgupta writes

about how the first ten years of Ray’s cinematic journey saw him make films that

primarily emphasized on individuality and humanism, and later moved on to tread new

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paths, new directions, through films, such as Agantuk.

An exclusive chapter on the Apu trilogy studies nature of Ray’s humanism, particularly

with respect to his admiration for Tagorean beliefs and rejection of the Marxist

methodology. Dasgupta’s attempt to study the societal framework that existed at that

point of time in relation to Ray’s cinema helps the readers understand Ray’s thought

process and the representation of ‘reality’ in his films. Dasgupta talks about how Ray

succeeded in making his trilogy more believable and less romanticized than the novels on

which it is based on. It is in this process that Ray introduced “a modicum of present day

realism”. Dasgupta talks in detail about Ray’s departures from the literary originals and

substantiates this with examples such as the scene where Apu and Durga chase the train.

The emphasis on literary sources in the film is not limited to this chapter alone, but the

author talks about the literary sources used by Ray and the departures from the original

sources throughout the book.

The book also studies the various influences on Ray’s cinematic style, particularly

highlighting his interaction with Jean Renoir. Jean Renoir’s familiarity with the Calcutta

Film Society and Chidanand Dasgupta ensures that the comments and quotes made by

Renoir about Indian cinema and Satyajit Ray, are recounted with a very personal touch

and tone. Dasgupta also tells us about Ray’s amazement at watching Italian Neorealist

films and how they impacted his style of film-making. Dasgupta draws parallels between

the characterizations in Umberto D, Bicycle Thieves and other neorealist films with the

films of Ray.

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The chapter on contemporary realities showcased in Ray’s films talk about how he dealt

with emerging issues and shifted his attention to the urban landscape. Dasgupta studies

films like Mahanagar, Ganashatru, Pratidwandi amongst other films of Ray and gives an

in-depth analysis of how these films marked a sort of a paradigm shift in Ray’s brand of

realism.

Dasgupta also discusses the creative approaches adopted by the great auteur. His

understanding of cinema as a medium and his familiarity with Ray gives his writing a

sort of a credibility and authority which is quite rare. He talks about how Ray held his

scripts close to his heart. How his scripts were characteristically vague and open-ended

and made use of devices such as sketches, notes, concepts, etc. The way Dasupta narrates

incidents about Ray on the set of his films, on how excited and involved he would get

about all aspects of film-making sort of creates an instant connect with the readers and

helps one relate to the cinema of Satyajit Ray at a closer and more personal level.

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DOCUMENTARY:-

LINK: -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQAQSX2aDAI&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=29E94BE2D2636AD2&playnext=1&index=20

Website: www.youtube.com

Title: Satyajit Ray on Cinema

The documentary opens with a scene where Satyajit Ray directing a scene on location.

The VO introduces Ray and a few shots into the film, a conversation with the great

auteur, Ray begins. Ray talks about working with amateurs and how important

improvisation begins in such a scenario. He talks about the early period of his film-

making, where he would make one film every year. He says that this was partly due to

the fact that it gave him an opportunity to keep the unit together and bond with his actors

and technicians.

The documentary then takes us back to Ray’s childhood and his growing up years in

Shantiniketan, where he realized that he was not talented enough to be a painter and thus,

joined a joined British ad-agency based in Calcutta. It is here that Ray talks about the

‘autobiographical element’ of the Apu Trilogy. As a child, who lost his father at the age

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of two, Ray says that he could identify with Apu’s character. The discussion about Ray’s

childhood years also sees him answer questions about his identity, with respect to his

East-West fusion upbringing. When the interviewee poses the question of “Do you think

your are Indian enough?” Ray answers by saying, “Yes, I think I can be Indian enough if

the need arises”, bringing forth the ‘Renaissance-inspired modernist’ aspect of his

persona.

As the documentary moves forward, Ray talks more in detail about his aesthetics as a

film-makers, with special reference to death and the use of symbolism. He describes two

scenes, one from Pather Panchali where Durga, Apu’s elder sister witnesses the death of

her paternal aunt in a forest and the other where Apu’s father dies in front of him in

Aparajito. In both the scenes, the director beautifully avoids falling into the realm of

cliché’ and melodrama and chooses to depict the devastation, the horror of death through

creatively envisioned metaphors.

Expounding more on the use of metaphorism in his cinema, Ray talks about one of the

symbolical common link that binds the three stories of the Apu Trilogy together, which is

the train. He explains how he used the train, starting with Pather Panchali to Apur

Sansar, to stand for a lyrical metaphor to a devastating one.

The brief documentary provides an interesting study of Ray’s childhood, his career, his

cinematic vision, particularly, his aesthetics as a director. His preference for shooting on

location, use of symbols, spontaneity and improvisation are some aspects that are

highlighted through this documentary. It is well-made and manages to give the viewer an

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experience of engaging in a conversation with the great director himself. Photographs of

Ray, his mother and father gives increases the connect and the footage from his films

have been edited well to create a montage that beautifully supplements the experiences

that Ray recounts over the duration of the documentary.

METHODOLOGY

Reading film as text has been the main research methodology incorporated in

this research project. While studying each film, care was taken to interpret and analyze

the isolated scenes, layers, shots and other aesthetic and thematic devices

used by the director. Satyajit Ray’s debut film, Pather Panchali, along with, Aparajito

and Apur Sansar, which form the Apu trilogy, is studied and discussed at length in this

dissertation. The trilogy has thus, been taken as the primary case study in order to explore

and understand how neorealism was introduced in India by Satyajit Ray.

The Apu Trilogy:- As discussed in the introduction, Ray on his return from London,

decided to put to use all the lessons that had stayed with him while watching Italian

Neorealist films. While he had already thought of using non-professional actors and

shooting on locations, the exposure to De Sica’s film provided an impetus to Ray’s

resolve to go ahead with his debut project, Pather Panchali, as he had planned.

Based on semi-autobiographical novels by Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay, namely, Pather

Panchali and Aparajito, the trilogy is based on the journey of a young boy called Apu,

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from boyhood to manhood and the hardships and hurdles that he has to face in his

journey.

The first film, Pather Panchali, marks the birth of the protagonist Apu and thereby,

introduces the boy who’s life we are going to witness through the span of the trilogy. The

film is about the trials and tribulations that Apu’s family has to go through because of

extreme poverty that they have grown used to. Satyajit Ray, through the simple narrative

and strong emphasis on emotions and human dignity in this film, brought in a breath of

fresh air to the otherwise formulaic Indian cinema. The newness and the uniqueness of

the film was not limited to the aesthetic devices, such as on-location shoots, the use of

natural lights and longer takes, but the way this grim tale of a poverty-stricken family was

narrated by Ray, without going overtly melodramatic at any point, is what set the film

apart. Ray’s emphasis on finer details, right from the nuances of the characters to the

background score to the carefully designed costumes, all added up to form a lyrical and

realistic portrait of rural Bengal of those times.

Pather Panchali is succeeded by its equally brilliant and powerful sequel, Aparajito.

Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandhapadyay’s novel, Aparajito and the later half of Pather

Panchali, the film tells the tale of Apu, the adolescent, who after losing his father decides

to shift to Kolkata to pursue higher education. The tale about Apu’s estrangement from

his mother, his dilemmas, his search for an identity, his quest for knowledge, acts like a

perfect bridge between Pather Panchali, the first film and Apur Sansar, the concluding

part of the Apu trilogy. Ray roots for the importance of education and progress

throughout the film, representative of the emerging ‘modern India’ of that era. The

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second half of the film focuses on the ever-expanding distance between Aparajito and his

mother, which ultimately results in her death. The film’s appeal lies in the very believable

characterizations, simple narrative and the way the director has realistically captured the

transformation that education and thereby, modernity had brought in society.

Moving over to the last installment of the Apu trilogy, Apur Sansar,

portrays the young Apu as an educated man, harbouring literary ambitions. The story

revolves around Apu’s marriage to Aparna, her subsequent death at childbirth, Apu’s

giving up all hopes and eventually finding a ray of hope in the form of his young son,

who he had estranged blaming for his mother’s death. The story is again

based on Bibhutibhsushan Bandhapadyay’s novel, Aparajito and beautifully sums up the

touching trilogy. The film ends with Apu carrying his son on his shoulders standing at the

same village road, which we had witnessed in the first and the second film. As author

Chidanand Dasgupta says about the film, “it progresses with natural logic which makes

its poetry completely authentic, arising entirely from the events themselves and never

appears to be imposed on them by the filmmaker”. The way Ray builds up Apu and

Aparna’s relationship, the way he slowly brings about events, makes Apur Sansar “Ray’s

most personal film in the nature of the emotional charge it carries within,” in the words of

Dasgupta.

Ray, through the Apu trilogy succeeded in brining a fresh new dimension to Indian

cinema. He made cinema more believable, more ‘real’. The trilogy, particularly, Pather

Panchali, by virtue of its being a film about poverty and hardships, could easily fall into

the realm of clichéd representation of a poor family, replete with melodramatic incidents

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and elements. However, Chadanand Dasgupta talks about precisely the reason that makes

the trilogy different. “Poverty in the trilogy, especially, Pather Panchali, is grim,

unadorned, real; and we know that it is not only something that this family suffers from,

but that it also symbolizes a vast mass of humanity in India. The poor are no statistic

here; indeed, as a mass lumped together they are inconceivable to the trilogy, where they

are, before all else, individual human beings.” It is this connect, this true to life

characterization and flow of events, this spontaneity, this abstractness, this strong sense

of humanism that runs through all of Ray’s films, particularly, the Apu trilogy that

makes him one of the greatest neorealists ever. Therefore, this dissertation studies the

influence of Italian Neorealism on Satyajit Ray’s cinema through interpreting and

analyzing the Apu trilogy.

INTERVIEW

An interview with author, Suranjan Ganguly, was conducted over the internet, in order to

ensure a better understanding of his writings on Ray. Excerpts of the interview have been

used in the concluding chapter of this research project.

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ANALYSIS 1 : Pather Panchali, (Song of the Little Road) Year of Release: 1955

Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), marks Ray’s the beginning of Ray’s

cinematic journey. The film is based on a novel by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay.

Satyajit Ray had thought of making this film on real locations and with non-professional

actors. However, this was quite shocking to his friends and contemporaries who were

primarily fed on a diet of conventional and formulaic cinema. The process of breaking

free and going ahead with what he believed in took Ray a while and his experience at

London, where he had a chance to see some great Italian Neorealist films indeed boosted

his morale. Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, particularly, played a very important role

in terms of inspiring and motivating Ray to make his debut film, Pather Panchali, the

way he wished to make it.

Pather Panchali is the first part of the Apu Trilogy, the journey of a young boy born in a

poor household in rural Bengal and the different phases in his life, from being a child to

an adolescent to a man and eventually a father. Aparajito and Apur Sansar are the other

two films of the trilogy.

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Ray, through this film, introduced Indian audience’s to his brand of lyrical realism.

Although the film essentially is a grim tale of poverty, death and harsh realities that a

family in rural Bengal has to grapple with, at no point does the director choose to go

melodramatic. The ‘slice of life’ appeal of the film and the way it unfolds on screen has a

certain rhythm about it which effortlessly transports the viewer to that day and that era.

The film shines because of its universal humanist appeal. The characterization is well

rounded and real, which helps the viewers to strike an instant chord. In spite of all their

problems, the woes, there is a certain dignity about the characters of the film. The tone of

the film does not force people to take pity on the characters and their lives, rather it

presents a matter of fact account of the family’s trials and tribulations.

PLOT SUMMARY:

The film, as stated above is about the life of a miserably poor family in rural Bengal.

Harihar, the patriarch, is a priest and earns a meager living. He hopes to make it big one

day by writing scholarly plays and poetry. Harhihar is married to Sarbajaya, a strong lady

who looks after the household and constantly hopes and dreams for a better future.

Harihar and Sarbajaya have a daughter named, Durga, naught, vivacious and

effervescent, she shares a strong bond with Indir Thakrun, her paternal-aunt, who shares

the roof with them. Indir Thakrun, is an elderly woman, on the threshold of ‘second

childishness’, who loves being pampered and looked after.

The fact that Indir Thakrun lives with the family does not go down too well with

Sarbajaya, as it adds extra burden to the family. The family already grappling with

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poverty finds it difficult to sustain the childish demands of the elderly Indir Thakrun.

Durga shares a special bond with her Pishi (paternal aunt) and because of this she goes

out of her way and steals fruits from the neighborhood orchard (which once belonged to

them). She gets caught several times for her petty crimes and white-lies, which angers her

self-respecting mother, Sarbajaya. Indir Thakrun, therefore, is asked to leave the

households many a times by Sarbajaya. She leaves at times, only to come back after a

few days.

The birth of Apu, the male child is an occasion of immense joy and happiness for the

entire family. Sarbajaya, is aided by Indir Thakrun and Durga take up maternal roles for

Apu. From singing lullabies for Apu, the child, to dressing him up for school, as he grows

up, he is the apple of everyone’s eyes.

Apu and Durga share a very special and intimate relationship. Not only is she is an elder

sister to Apu, but more than that, she is his friend, his accomplice. They chase the village

candy-seller together, experience the invitation of urban life in the form of witnessing a

train for the first time and even share the melancholic moment of discovering Indir

Thakrun’s dead body. Apu is dependent on his elder sister and stands by her, especially

on an occasion where she is alleged to have stolen a neckpiece belonging to a estranged

relative.

Harihar who is the sole bread earner of the family is exploited by his employers and does

not even manage to get regular wages. His employment opportunities are few and far in

between. He often goes out of the village to try and earn some money or on the look out

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for some employment opportunity.

While on a visit out of the city, Durga, the daughter succumbs to death, after falling ill.

As Harihar returns home, with gifts for his family and a saaree for his daughter, he

discovers that she is no more. Finding it tough to deal with the death, devastation and

deprivation that village life has to offer, the family decides to move to the city, in search

of a better tomorrow.

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CHARACTERIZATION:

Satyajit Ray crafts each character beautifully and realistically on screen. He takes his

share of creative liberties and deviates to an extent from the characterizations etched out

by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay in his novel by the same name.

A very important point about the characterization of the film is that none of the characters

are uni-dimensional. There is no black or white. There are no heroes or villains. Every

character is shaped by the social milieu which is what makes the characterization more

believable and real.

The character of Apu:

Unlike the novel by Bibhutibhshan Bandapadhyay, where the character of Apu was the

be all and end all, Ray’s characterization of Apu does not shower him with all the

importance. Apu in Pather Panchali, the film, although is pampered and looked after by

all, is just another member of the family. The relationships that Apu experiences within

his familial set-up, forms his character, his identity.

It is this relationship of Apu with his community that author Suranjan Ganguly explains

through recounting the scene where Apu ‘opens his eyes to the world and the cinematic

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audiences’. He writes, “When Apu opens his eye, it is a supremely epiphanic moment

celebrated with a burst of music. In a two-shot, Durga steals upon him sleeping and

stretches a tear in the sheet covering his face to reveal a closed eye. She pries it open with

her fingers and pushes aside the sheet. From the close up of the eyes, Ray cuts to a one

shot of Apu sitting up in bed, revealing himself to us. Thus, one-shot isolates and frames

Apu in a way that proclaims his independence and self-consciousness while affirming the

connectedness to the community his mother and sister offer him.”

As the author further expounds upon this by saying that “the shot defines him as an

active and conscious agent whose sense of self- “I”- will be an inseparable from the sense

of being an “eye”. Although, we will not witness the trilogy exclusively from Apu’s eyes,

how he reacts to what he sees will shape our awareness of his world”.

This beautifully defines the functionality of Apu’s character in Pather Panchali. The film

is not so much about him, but more about him in relation to his world, that we discover

through his experiences and his reactions. A case in point in the scene, where Apu’s

daunting, innocent eyes witness the physical abuse that is meted out to his elder sister

Durga by the mother when she hears complaints about the necklace theft. The impression

the event leaves on Apu and the way he reacts when he finds the necklace towards the

end of the film establishes the connection Apu had with his deceased sister, his want, his

need to bury the past (as he throws the necklace in a pond) and his view of the social-

construct that surrounds him.

Apu’s character, in the novel, shares a special quest for knowledge and a unique bond

with nature. Ray does not really explore these aspects in Pather Panchali. Satyajit Ray,

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however, does draw parallels between the education at the schoolhouse with its emphasis

on dogma and discipline and Apu’s sensibilities. As author Suranjan Ganguly writes,

“Apu’s first experience of education is in Pather Panchali in the village school run by the

local grocer who combines business with teaching. Finding Apu grinning, he admonishes

the boy. Does he think this is a playhouse? Apu’s answer would probably be in the

affirmative given the raised dais on which the grocer-teacher “performs” and the resulting

comedy that accompanies his histrionics. The medium close-ups of Apu’s face show him

watching, absorbing, but clearly not relishing his first contact with this playhouse

academis where students learn by rote. When a boy is hauled up for playing knots and

crosses and brutally caned, Ray cuts to a shot of a petrified Apu watching the beating—

perhaps his first dislocating experience of the adult world. We never see him at school

again, although we know he continues to attend it. Clearly, a boy of his sensitivity needs

less than the schoolhouse can offer, with its emphasis on dogma and discipline.”

It is this sensitivity of its male characters that Pather Panchali stands for. As a reviewer

writes about the main male characters of the film, Harihar and Apu, in his blog, the male

characters in Pather Panchali, “are more soft-featured and sensitive than the women;

these guys are more likely to spontaneously break into song than to grunt or give

someone a sock in the jaw.”

Durga:- Durga plays a central character in the film. Her characterization, more or less

conforms with the characterization of Durga in Bandhapadhyay’s novel. Durga is guided

by her wants and desires; her desire for tasty, fancy food, her desire for jewellery and

ornaments, her desire to make people around her, especially Indir Thankrun happy, her

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desire to protect and guide her younger sibling Apu.

The character is as real as real can get and sums up beautifully the desires and aspirations

of an adolescent girl. Being close to Indir Thankrun, she goes to the extent of stealing

fruits from her neighbour’s orchard, proving how genuine her love is. In the scene where

Apu and Durga follow the candy-seller to their neighbour’s home, Durga is guided by the

need of hunger, of relishing and savoring sweets that their modest living conditions don’t

allow them. While she asks her neighbour for the necklace and appreciates its beauty, we

see her desire for vanity. It is the expression of these desires openly and wanting to do

something in order to fulfill them that makes Durga a very strong character indeed.

The character of Durga is the first child of the family, yet, her desires, her wants remain

subservient to her younger brother’s because of the societal preference for the male child.

She helps out her mother with household chores, cooks and takes care of Apu almost like

his mother. In spite of these restrictions that are put on her by virtue of being a girl child,

there is a certain brashness, a rebellious streak in her. Although she never explicitly flouts

any orders given by her parents, but implicitly, her the child-woman yearns to be able to

do things her way. The scene where Durga makes Apu taste the pickle, while swearing

him to secrecy that he won’t tell their mother, the scene where in spite of her mother’s

ignorant attitude towards Indir Thakrun’s demands, she hands him over the fruits that she

had stolen for her and of course the scene where Durga takes along her brother to

‘discover’ the secret about the train bring forth the inherent childishness and carefree

nature of Durga.

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The financial and social status of her family plays a great role in shaping up her

personality. In the forest picnic scene, where all the girls talk about their marriage and

finding a perfect match, Durga disapprovingly says that she knows that she won’t get

married. This is followed by a somber expression on her face. Again at her friend’s

marriage, while witnessing the rituals, Ray zooms on to Durga’s face, who is seen

shedding tears in the background. Her tears represent the internal conflict between her

wants and her family’s conditions which force her to suppress her wants.

The scene where Durga gets drenched in the rain also brings to notice several aspects of

her persona. It marks perhaps the very first time when Durga literally lets her hair down

and enjoys herself to her heart’s content. Following her carefree rendezvous with the rain,

Durga sits besides her brother and covers him with her saaree’s pallu, trying to protect

and comfort him. The scene beautifully sums up the relationship between Durga and her

younger brother Apu. However, nature’s blessing, in the form of rain, soon turns out to

be nature’s fury as Durga falls ill and eventually dies in the next scene. The entire

sequence of events, at some level, also highlight the relationship between the girl child

born in that era, her dreams, hopes and ambitions and the societal curbs and hurdles that

she had to go through.

Harihar:

Harihar epitomizes the romantic, emotional, artistic dreamer. As a man who has

been exploited by his employers and his own folks, he has no ambition or want of taking

a revenge or moving ahead in life. He is far away from the societal changes that are

taking place.

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The poverty of the family, the ill-fortune, the grief does not hit him hard as he lives in his

own paradise where things will work out one day. Through out the film, the character of

Harihar is shown dreaming about the day that will change their lives, when they would be

able to make two ends meet. However, at no point does he consciously try or question the

reasons behind the way things stand. He is a priest and has employment opportunities few

and far in between, but harbours aspiration of writing poetry and scholarly articles. There

is a direct disconnect between Harihar’s dream world and his real world.

As the main patriarch of the family, Harihar is not a very successful father or husband.

He is not able to fulfill the desires of his wife or his kids, even though he wants to see

them happy, primarily because of his passive attitude and lack of ambition. Although he

is very fond of his children, but, in terms of shaping their world-view, he does not really

contribute much, partly because of the fact that he is mostly out looking for employment

opportunities.

In the scene where Harihar and Sarbajaya talk about Apu’s Annaprashan (a Bengali ritual

where the child tastes ‘real food’ for the first time), Harihar assures Sarbajaya that they

would celebrate the occasion with much aplomb even though they are going through a

financial crisis. When Sarbajaya tries to reason it out with him, he portrays his typical

escapist attitude by saying that everything will be fine one day. The portrayal of

Harihar’s character in Ray’s film is quite feeble as compared to the character written by

Bandopadhyay.

Sarbajaya: The character of the mother is very important in the film. Essentially a

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backward, uneducated rural Bengali house-wife, Sarbajaya can be termed as narrow-

minded. The way she behaves with Indir Thakrun, her attitude towards the elderly sister-

in-law may be read as negative, but the fact remains that the extreme poverty and the

sacrifice that Sarbajaya has had to go through in life has made her react to situations the

way she does. Her life revolves around her children and their happiness it is here that

Indir Thankrun appears to be more of a hindrance. She believes that Thakrun’s presence

has had a negative impact particularly on Durga as she had started stealing things for

Indir Thankrun. As a result of this and due to the extreme hardships that she has to

go through to make the two ends meet, Sarbajaya comes across as bitter at times, but

certainly not negative.

She is a dedicated wife and mother, who always puts her husband’s and children’s wants

before hers. She constantly hopes for a better future and has faith in her husband’s

dreams of a brighter future for the family. Although, compared to Harihar, Sarbajaya is

more realistic and practical. It is Sarbajaya who gives Harihar the much needed ‘reality-

check’ from time to time, which motivates him to keep going.

The most important factor that comes across through the character of Sarbajaya is her

self-respect. All through the touch times that the family has to go through, at no point

does Sarbajaya give up or ask for help. She puts her dignity and the family’s pride at the

forefront. Even as Harihar leaves home in search of a job and does not return for a very

long time, leaving the family in shambles with no food and no money, Sarbajaya refuses

to take the help of her neighbors and family members. She arranges some money by

selling off some crockery but still does not accept favors from anyone.

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Sarbajaya is also very moralistic. She cannot stand people pointing a finger at her

daughter for stealing things. The violent scene where Sarbajaya brutally beats up Durga

and throws her out of the house shows her absolutely hatred for dishonesty and the

importance of self-respect.

In a touching scene where Sarbajaya talks to her husband about the wants and desires she

had while stepping foot into his world, his household, the viewers get a glimpse of the

simplicity and aspirations of the woman. The extreme poverty and grief has made her

suppress her feelings and live a life which just revolves around ensuring a better future

for her kids. She gives a balance to the dreamer Harihar’s life and being. She is

practically the head of the family.

Indir Thakrun: Perhaps the most lovable character of the film, Indir Thakrun establishes

the link between the old and the new, the era gone by and the times that are to come. She

is the most neglected member of the family. On the threshold of second childishness,

Indir Thankrun wants everyone to shower their attention on her and to show love, respect

and care for her. However, due to the financial crunch and the deprivation that has

become a common part of the family, she is often ignored infact, disrespected by

Sarbajaya.

She keeps shifting places. At times when Sarbajaya forces her to leave their household,

she goes and lives with some other family of the village only to come back later. Over the

years of her stay with Apu’s family, she has grown to share a special bond with them

Indir Thankrun is very fond of Durga as she is the one who fulfills and listens to all his

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whims and fancies. She treats Durga like her own daughter.

Ray brilliantly shows the interrelationship between money and love through Indir

Thakrun’s character. Due to the pressing problems that the family goes through they

show a disregard for Indir Thankrun, who eventually dies at a bamboo grove. Her death

also marks the end of an era, a sort of a new beginning for the family in the film.

Like this, Satyajit Ray succeeded in painting a true to life picture of rural Bengal with

near perfection, where inspite of differences and hard-feelings, the neighbours double up

as extended family, especially in times of crisis.

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AESTHETICS:

Although shot in a shoe-string budget, the film presents the grim, true to life account of a

poor, rural Bengali family with such power that it leaves a great impact on the viewer.

Establishing the film as a real ‘panchali’- which means a folk-song or ballad in Bengali

starts right fom the credit roll which is hand-written on white paper.

Closely following the Italian Neorealist school of aesthetics, Ray chose to go ahead with

casting newcomers and non-professionals in key-roles. Kanu Bannerjee, who played the

role of Harihar, the father, was the only established actor in the film. The rest of the

starcast comprised amateurs and non-professionals. The role of Sarbajaya was played by

Ray’s friend’s wife, Karuna Bannerjee, who was a stage actress of the IPTA. Similarly,

the role of Durga was also played by stage-actress, Uma Dasgupta. Ray had to hunt for

the right actor to essay the role of Apu on screen. He did not want to cast an experienced

child-actor. He published ads in newspapers and eventually Subir Bannerjee, was spotted

by Ray’s wife in their neighbourhood to play Apu. The most challenging thing in terms

of casting ahead of Satyajit Ray was finding a suitable actress to play Indir Thakrun on

screen. He chose Chunibala Devi, a former stage actress living in a brothel to finally

portray the role.

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The quaint, little village road has been used as a metaphor of life in the film. The way it

has been filmed, through long, lingering shots give it a life of its own and establishes its

being. The road stands testimony to the family’s trials and tribulations. It represents the

family’s hope when Harihar treads the village path to look for new opportunities, it

represents happiness in the form of young Apu who goes around running all over the road

every time his father writes back home, it represents the sweet bond that the brother-sister

duo share when they follow the candy-seller together on the same village road, it

represents the family’s sorrow when the dead-body of Indir Thankrun is taken away

through that road, and of course it represents the family’s detachment and disillusionment

with village life in the final scene when they decide to leave for Benaras. The road

therefore, truly, portrays all the colors and hues of the life that family leads.

The avoidance of melodrama in a movie that in essence talks about death, deprivation

and poverty is very tough job indeed, which Ray has mastered in the film. Going out of

the realm of clichéd representation, Ray has depicted events and happenings as they are,

without even a hint of melodrama. A case in point is the two death scenes that Ray has

dealt with in the film. First is the death of Indir Thakrun in the bamboo grove. Shot in a

manner that builds mystery, Durga and Apu ‘discover’ the dead-body of their aunt amidst

the forest. As Durga spots Indir Thakrun sitting all by herself in the forest, she leans

forward towards her and calls out ‘pishi’. When that does not garner a reply, she makes

repeated efforts to draw the attention of her beloved aunt. After several such attempts,

Indir Thakrun’s crippled body falls flat on the ground and the water container that she

usually carries with herself falls in a puddle of water with a thud. Ray zooms on to the

vessel floating in the water, which represents the loss, the spirit set free of the body. The

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next scene is of a procession where the villagers take Thakrun’s body for cremation. The

entire sequence is devoid of emotional outbursts and melodrama, which, infact makes it

more hard-hitting.

In the second death scene of the film, which happens to be Durga’s, Ray draws a straight

metaphor between nature’s fury and death. As Durga lies on her bed, with her mother by

her side, the weather suddenly goes from bad to worse, strong, destructive, harsh wind

starts blowing and knocking at their doorstep, almost representing death. As the nature’s

fury grows darker and more destructive, Ray shows the idols of Lord Ganesha, shaking

and the light of the diya flickering because of the strong winds, symbolizing the conflict

between the good and the evil, God’s wish and fate, belief and destiny. Durga’s mother

tries hard to save her daughter, but can’t. As Apu calls out to her neighbour saying that

his mother is worried about her sister and needs help, we see Durga dead as the

neigbourhood woman reaches their house. Apu innocently asks her, “Didi ghoomoche?”,

(Is my sister sleeping?) as the mother, Sarbajaya sits shattered besides Durga’s dead-

body.

Strong and innovatively written scenes and breaking the mould of stereotypical reaction

to death is what makes these two scenes so moving and powerful. Ray succeeds in

presenting the starkness, harshness and brutal reality of death as morbidly as ever.

This style of avoiding melodrama and presenting situations as they are was new to

Bengali cinema at that point in time. Recounting a defining scene of the film, critic Vijay

Mishra compares Ray’s sensitivity towards filmmaking to Vittorio De Sica’s.

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“I do believe it was the offer of a guava by Durga to old Indir Thakrun, the aunt who had

come to Harihar Ray and his wife Sarbajaya's house to die. Subsequent viewing of the

film now reinforces that memory. It is a touching image, but not done with the kind of

sentimentality or excessive purging of emotion I had come to associate with popular

Indian cinema. Here the camera was simply observing an offer and a response, like a

ritualistic act. The image, momentarily frozen, redeemed for me the film. It was a point

of contact with the possibilities entertained in some of the Indian films I had seen, and

here for once a new kind of realism, the neo-realism of the Italian masters, was being

used for Indian effects. I had seen this in De Sica's Bicycle Thieves, but the impact,

because of my own cultural upbringing, was much more immediate”

Moving over to the background music, which plays a great role in carrying this film

forward. Pather Panchali is one of Pandit Ravi Shankar’s earliest films and the renditions

of sitar give its music a very haunting quality. The tune of “Probhu din je gelo shondha

holo” plays mostly during the scenes featuring Indir Thakrun and finally when she

dies,we get to hear a few verses of the song that establishes a connect between the senile

age woman and God. The background score of the film is an eclectic mix of different

ragas of Indian classical music. Ravi Shankar builds up beautiful tempo in most of the

scenes of the film, particularly the candy-seller chase sequence, where the playful music

perfectly supports the awe-inspiring visual imagery. The strong music piece used at

Durga’s death scene signifying the harshness of nature makes the scene heightens the

impact of the film. Sitar and flute are the main instruments used in the background score

of the film.

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The background music beautifully supports the story of the film. In the scene when

Sarbajaya, unable to control her anger, starts slapping Durga for her petty cries, the loud,

background score and muted dialogue is symbolic of the anger that Sarbajaya is

experiencing. Even towards the end of the film, when Sarbajaya breaks the news of

Durga’s death to Harihar, Ray decides to mute the dialogue again the strong music of

Ravi Shankar takes over and hits the viewers hard making them feel the pain and

anguish that the protagonists are feeling. The music, therefore, has not at any point, been

used as a gimmick. The background score supports and supplements the story well.

In terms of pace of the film, it has a very languid, easy-going feel about it. The first half

of the film, especially, takes its time in getting the viewers acquainted with the nitty-

gritties of the life of the family that the viewers are going to witness for the rest of the

movie. Ray has been quoted as saying that he chose to shoot the film in a ramblings as he

wanted to depict the true essence of rural Bengal, which exists in rambles.

Long takes and minimal editing gives the viewers a chance to live the film, to experience

the film. Ray has also worked up an interesting interplay of lights and shadows in the

film. Natural lighting has been used and Ray has used lighting as an important visual

signifier. In a scene where Sarbajaya, distraught with the conditions of her household,

starts reading the letter written by Harihar, Ray uses light and shadow cleverly. As

Sarbajaya reads the words that Harihar has managed to find a good employment

opportunity and plans to come back home in a few days, we see Sarbajaya move from

darkness to light, representing how the news filled her heart and their lives with joy. The

light here is a metaphor for joy and hope. Similarly, in the scene where Indir Thakrun

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recites a Bengali folk-story to Durga and Apu, Ray has brilliantly drawn parallels with

the story that is being told and the character of Indir Thakrun through an interesting game

of light, shadow and voice-overs.

The cinematography by debutant cinematographer Subrata Mitra is brilliant and the fact

that the camera is inconspicuous at the same time so much in notice was a first in Indian

cinema. The sequence where the kids spot a candy-seller and follow him to the other side

of the village boasts of some great visual appeal. The pied-piper’ effect that the candy-

seller has on Durga and Apu, the long walk down the village road, crossing the river

while we get to see their reflections on the river water makes the sequence come alive

and gives the viewers a feeling of being a part of the procession along with Apu and

Durga. It is truly representative of the ‘poetic realism’ that Satyajit Ray is revered for

introducing in cinema.

The cinematography also shines through in the ‘train scene’. Right from capturing

Durga’s expressions of astonishment and surprise when she hears a distant noise of the

train engine to the shots where the train passes through their village, leaving behind a trail

of dark smoke and signifying the change that is to come, the invitation of the cities,

Subrata Mistra does a brilliant job indeed as a debutante technician.

The emphasis on details, such as the tattered blanket of Indir Thankrun, the ornaments

and vessels, Sarbajaya’s saarees, everything adds up to the overall feel of the film and

makes it more of an experience of seeing the reflection of one’s own life on screen that a

constructed film. Pather Panchali, truly is a landmark film in the ‘Indian Neorealism

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Movement’.

ANALYSIS 2: Aparajito, The Unvanquished Year of Release: 1956

The second part of Satyajit Ray’s neorealist Apu Trilogy, Aparajito draws from the last

part of Bibhutibhushan Bandhapadhyay’s Pather Panchali and the first half of his second

novel, Aparajito. The film acts like a bridge connecting the child Apu of Pather Panchali

fame to Apu, the man, the father of Apur Sansar. It traces the Apu’s journey from

childhood to adolescence, vis-à-vis his quest for knowledge, his moving away from home

and his growing estrangement from his mother, Sarbajaya.

While Pather Panchali saw Ray exploring the intricacies of life in rural Bengal, Aparajito

sees Ray capture the process of departure, shifting between village and city life. Through

adolescent Apu’s disenchantment and disillusionment with traditional village life and his

complete lack of interest in following his father’s occupation of being a priest, Ray

focuses his attention on depicting the emerging ‘modern India’. Apu’s hunger for

education and knowledge comes through in the second part of the trilogy, establishing his

character as a progressive young boy of the Nehruvian modern India.

The themes of moving away from home in the quest for education and a better life is

timeless and perhaps that is the reason why Aparajito is a film that one would be able to

relate to even in today’s fast-paced life. The charm of Aparajito lies in its depiction of the

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beautiful city of Benaras, in its realistic portrayal of life of the family after the death of

the primary bread-earner, because of the sensitivity with which the director has shown the

growing distance between Apu and his mother, which finally results in her death.

Aparajito stands out because of its perfect blend of eastern and western sensibilities and

most importantly for its sheer simplicity.

As famous critic, James Berardinelli writes, “Aparajito was filmed forty years ago, half

way around the world, yet the themes and emotions embedded in the narrative are

strikingly relevant to modern Western society (thus explaining why it is called a "timeless

classic")…Aparajito is an amazing motion picture. Its rich, poetic composition is

perfectly wed to the sublime emotional resonance of the narrative. For those who have

seen Pather Panchali, Aparajito provides a nearly-flawless continuation of the journey

begun there. Yet, for those who missed Ray's earlier effort, this film loses none of its

impact. On its own or as part of the Apu Trilogy, Aparajito should not be missed."

More than just bridging the first and last films of the Apu Trilogy, Aparajito is a

complete film in itself. A film that perfectly and captures the era of transformation that

India was going through, with the coming in of Western education, science and literature.

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PLOT SUMMARY:

The film opens with Apu exploring the bylanes of the holy-city of Benaras. His family,

following the incidents that the audience witnessed in Pather Panchali, has now moved

to Benaras (Varanasi) in search of a better life and better opportunities. Harihar works as

a priest and earns a meager income, while Sarbajaya looks after the household.

Ray brilliantly captures the ghats, temples, and architecture of the holy city, in the first

half of the film. One day Harihar collapses at the ghat and is brought home. He falls sick

and the family goes through a rough patch. Harihar soon breathes his last breaths as

Sarbajaya sends Apu to fetch a glass of holy Ganges water for his dying father.

Sarbajaya takes over the family’s responsibilities after the death of her husband.

Financial and monetary concerns force her to take up the job of a maid. Apu also helps

her out with daily chores at the house-hold where she works. The family where the

mother and son work decides to move to a new place and persuade Sabajaya and Apu to

join them. Sarbajaya agrees but later changes her mind as she visualizes Apu’s future as a

servant.

The mother, therefore, takes her son along to their ancestral village, where their relative

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initiates Apu to priesthood. Apu shows a complete disregard for the profession and one

day while chasing a group of happy children to their school decides that he wants to go to

school.

On Apu’s insistence, Sarbajaya decides to send him off to school. Apu proves to be a

very hardworking and diligent student and wins a scholarship to pursuer higher education

in Calcutta. On hearing the ‘good-news’, Sarbajaya grows wary of sending her son to an

unknown place. She is scared of being lonely and the well-being of Apu. Apu however,

manages to convince Sarbajaya and soon leaves for Calcutta.

The city opens up several opportunities for Apu. He lives alone in an unknown city,

while studying in the days and working at a printing place at night. Apu moulds into an

independent and modern young adult. The change, however, is not all positive. On one

side where the village boy Apu learns to live independently and on his own, on the other

side, this ensures his constant estrangement with his mother who awaits his visits back

home in their village, only to be disappointed. As Apu’s visits to his village decreases

and the distance between him and his mother increases, Sarbajaya dies in a mysteriously

crafted death scene.

Apu returns to an empty home on hearing about his mother’s ill health and is immersed in

the pain of losing his mother. The loss, however, does not deter him or change the course

of his life. We see Apu treading the familiar quaint, little village road, in the climax of the

film, symbolizing the process of his ‘moving on with life’.

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CHARACTERIZATION:

Apu: While Apu was just one of the main characters in Pather Panchali, he gains more

prominence in Aparajito. The film can be seen as the starting point from where Apu takes

over the responsibility of carrying the story forward. The first half of the film gives the

viewers an opportunity to see and explore the holy city of Benaras through the character

of Apu. As he wanders around the ghat, observing priests and other people, loiters

around in the temples feeding monkeys, and roams around in the bylanes of the city, the

audience travels with Apu and gets acquainted with the town that is now home for Apu

and his family.

Apu is shown as a sensitive, nature-loving and observant child. He is the apple of his

parents eyes and their lives revolve around him. Strangers, like the priest who

accompanies Harihar to the family’s home also develop a liking for him because of his

sweet and adorable nature. In the absence of Durga, his elder sister, who played a major

role in Pather Panchali, Apu is now on his own and loves exploring the town that is

unknown to him.

Apu’s quest for knowledge and pursuing formal education is more overt in Aparajito than

it was in Pather Panchali. The adolescent Apu represents the generation of emerging

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‘modern Indians’, for whom Western education, the sciences and literature held utmost

importance. Apu comes across as a progressive individual who shows disregard for his

priesthood, which he is forcibly initiated into. The fact that he talks to his mother about

his desire to join a school and later argues with her to go to Calcutta for pursuing higher

education shows how ambitious Apu is and how he strives hard to achieve his goals.

The process of estrangement that Apu and his mother go through is also a metaphor for

Apu’s breaking free at some level. The adolescent Apu, who is disenchanted with the

poverty and backward life of rural Bengal wants to move forward in life, wants to chart

his own course. At the same time, there does exist a chord that binds him with his mother

and this is evident from the dilemmas he faces on issues like smoking or bunking school.

The dilemmas, the confusions that Apu goes through are typical of almost all youngsters

his age, who are on the threshold of adult life.

Towards the end of the film when Apu realizes that he has been orphaned and he has no

one to go back to, he does not break down or give it all up, instead he decides to move

ahead in life. The journey his character embarks upon in the last shot of the film, on one

hand signifies his step ahead towards city-life to where now belongs, on the other-hand, it

also signifies his step towards manhood.

Sarbajaya:- The other central character of the film Aparajito is Sarbajaya. Sarbajaya

epitomizes the real, the true house-wife of that day and age. She is a doting mother, a

dutiful wife looks after the entire household.

Although the character of Sarbajaya had hints of selfishness in Pather Panchali,

particularly in the way she dealt with Indir Thakrun, Aparajito sees the ‘selfless’ side of

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Sarbajaya. After the death of her husband, she takes up the charge of managing the

household entirely on her own. She works as a maid and tries all that she can just to

ensure that her son, Apu has a good future. She suppresses her feelings and her fear of

being lonely to send her son to study in Calcuta. Even when she falls seriously ill, she

does not allow her neighbours to inform Apu about her illness so that he doesn’t worry.

All through the film, Sarbajaya makes compromises and arrangements to see her son

happy.

Dignity is the most important virtue of Sarbajaya’s character, whichwas introduced early

on in Pather Panchali in the scene where she rejects taking monetary help from her

neighbours. In a scene from Aparajito, where the landlord tries to make a pass at her

while Harihar is unwell, Sarbajaya’s reaction is very strong. She turns and scares him by

picking up a dagger, symbolic of the ‘shakti’ avatar of the Goddess. In yet another scene,

where she sees the owner of the house where she works as the maid ordering Apu around,

she makes a quick decision of quitting the job and settling at the village with her son as

the very thought of her son growing up to be a servant is discomforting for her. Both

these instances show the the self-respecting and dignified side of Sarbajaya’s personality.

Aparajito, in essence is a film about journey, about moving on and Sarbajaya’s character

also represents this perfectly. After the death of the husband, Sarbajaya’s character does

not show any over the top, melodramatic emotions, rather Ray sensitively portrays the

family, and in particularly, Sarbajaya’s decision to look ahead and search for the silver

lining.

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The second half of the film shows the growing distance between Sarbajaya and Apu and

the resultant sorrow and pain that Sarbajaya has to go through. She feels lonely and

religiously awaits her son’s arrival from the city, which unfortunately does not happen as

often as she would like. Yet at no point in the film does she force Apu to leave everything

and come back home. Her character in Aparajito, like in the previous film, has

tremendous strength and dignity.

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THEMES:

Critic Robin Wood talked about how the first film of the Apu Trilogy, Pather Panchali,

has a few cues which indicate that Apu will eventually break away from his mother’s

way fo life and head down the modern road. Some prominent Indian critics did not

appreciate this remark and retorted that as a westerner, Wood “had no understanding of

the dep bonds between mothers and sons in India”. Woods prediction comes true to a

large extent, in the second part of the tilogy, Aparajito. Although the adolescent Apu

loves and respects his mother in own way, but at the same time, the film explores Apu’s

yearning to break free.

Throughout the film, Apu tries to break away and evolves as an individual who wants to

live life on his own terms. Things that once enthralled Apu, like the village life, now bore

him. He does not find anything interesting or inspiring about being a priest either and the

scene where he comes back after doing Puja and rushes off to play like other children his

age reflect the restlessness, the freedom that Apu so desires.

A dialogue in the film spoken by the headmaster of Apu’s school, while encouraging him

to read more books, “We may be rooted in a remote corner of Bengal but that does not

mean our minds should be confined here.” perfectly sets the tone of the movie Aparajito.

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It’s a film about evolvement, progress, moving ahead, changes and the consequences of

those changes. Darker than all the other films of the trilogy, Aparajito stands out because

of its treatment. The story about the growing distance between a mother and a son, the

story that challenges the ‘ideal’ relationship that should exist between a dotting mother

and her child, Aparajito could easily turn pessimistic or even negative. However, the

humanistic philosophy that Ray believed in made him mould the film in such a way that

it seemed more like the story of every young boy’s life. As author Chidanand Dasgupta

writes, “Oedipal tension that all men must, in their growth, overcome. Therefore, Apu’s

release is perhaps more important than the poignancy of his mother’s death.” Ray’s no

frills depiction of Apu’s dilemmas, his worries and the oedipal tension that he must

overcome appeared so real that no one could negate the possibility of the events that took

place in the film.

There is an inherent logic in the build-up of this estrangement that forms the central

theme of Aparajito. Whereas in one scene where Apu’s mother is complaining about her

deteriorating health while Apu ignores her and dozes off, in the very next sequence, Apu

goes to catch the train to the city but eventually does not and goes back home to spend

one more day with his mother. These two scenes, for instance, sort of ‘balance each other

out’. Ray manages to express Apu’s emotions perfectly, as the young-adult who is torn

between his love for his mother and his dedication to his education and ambition.

Again, in the case of Aparajito, here are no clear demarcations between the hero and the

villain, the negative and the positive. Circumstances and situations make the characters of

the film react in a certain way. So, as author Dasgupts writes, Sarbajaya’s sorrow is as

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inevitable as her son’s indifference. She must obey life’s inexorable laws and go, like a

leaf dropping from the tree in autumn. The loss of his parents and the agony of Apu’s

survival in body and in spirit, is all that Aparajito holds, by way of action. Yet the sheer

palpability of Apu’s emotional growth overwhelms us.”

The second part of the film, which focuses particularly, on the growing-distance between

the mother and son, therefore, stands out as the most heart-rending part of the film.

Satyajit Ray also manages to infuse his own brand of humor in the form of characters

such as the school inspector and Apu’s carefree best friend, Pulu.

The journey that Apu takes upon from adolescence to manhood and the dilemmas and

resistance he has to face is what the central theme of Aparajito is.

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AESTHETICS:-

Ray chooses to start the film with the shot of a train on a bridge, establishing the

‘journey’ metaphor of Pather Panchali early on in Aparajito. The shot also establishes the

connect, the link that Aparajito forms between the first and the last parts of the Apu

Trilogy. The visual metaphor of the train that Ray uses as an important aesthetic tool in

the Apu Trilogy continues throughout Aparajito as well. When Sarbajaya sees Apu

lighting up the hukkah of the owner of the house where she works, Ray zoomes on to her

face and we see the juxtaposition of the train shot again symbolizing her decision to

move to the village with her son Apu in order to ensure a better future for him. The to and

fro journey that Apu takes upon through the train in order to shuttle between Calcutta and

the village where his mother lives draws a parallel between the train and the ‘distance’

that Apu travels away from his mother and the warmth of his home. In the scene where

Apu goes to board the train, but later decides to stay back and spend one more day with

his mother yet again establishes a correlation between the train and Apu’s emotional

upheavals.

The pace of the film has a repetitive and rambling charm of its own. In the words of

author Chidanand Dasgupta, “It is the only film in which Ray repeats both elements

within the film itself and elements from the previous film, Pather Panchali. It is the

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repetition which builds the rhythm of life in Benaras and register Harihar’s death as a part

of its flux, like thousands of deaths before it, important to those who lose, but

insignificant in the cosmic cycle. “

The depiction of the holy-city of Benaras is what the film deserves special mention for.

From showcasing the life of the priests at the ghats to the beautiful temples, Ray

fantastically captures the essence and verve of Benaras, by making great use of natural

lights and locations. The ghat scenes, in particular stand out for literally transporting the

viewers to the holy city of Benaras. The architecture of the temples, the rituals, the

locales, the purity of Ganges, the white sarees of the widows symbolizing morbidity and

melancholy, paint a near-perfect picture of life in the holy city.

A fine economy of expression makes an epic out of a two-hour long film. Symbolism,

therefore, plays an important part in this subtle and sensitively told story of ambition,

growing up and estrangement. The non-melodramatic death scenes of the movie,

primarily stand out for the creative use of symbolism.

As Harihar, Apu’s father lies on the death bed, Sarbajaya sends Apu to fetch Ganges

water for him. As Apu helps his father drink the holy water, Harihar breathes his last

breath. The very next shot is that of pigeons flying all across the Benaras skyline, filled

with dark-clouds. The flock of pigeons is also shown at the beginning of the film in order

to establish a link between them and Harihar and his family, who inhabit the holy city. By

using the same visual imagery of pigeons, this time flying away and with harsh music in

the background, Ray forms a link between the birds and human soul. The scene is

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absolutely devoid of melodrama and is one of the most creatively and realistically

handled death-scenes in Indian cinema.

Sarbajaya’s ‘mysterious’ death scene, in essence, is more poetic. She dies at her

doorsteps, waiting for Apu, hallucinating that he has returned to live with his mother,

gazing at fire-flies that fly all over. Karuna Bannerjee, the actress who played Sarbajaya

has emoted beautifully in this sequence. Her eyes, her gaze express the longing, the

lonliness that she has had to go through perfectly. Ray talks about the difficulties he had

to face while shooting this particular scene in "We chose the toughest members of our

crew, had them dressed up in black shirt and trousers and let each of them carry a

flashlight bulb and a length of wire and a battery. The bulbs were held aloft in their right

hands while they illustrated the swirling movements of fireflies in a dance, alternately

connecting and disconnecting the wire to the bulbs"

Similarly, in other scenes and at other points in the film, Ray uses metaphors and

symbols intelligently. The globe that Apu’s teacher gives him before he leaves for

Calcutta is representative of the ‘new world’ that he is going to enter. The way Apu

obsesses over the globe and keeps admiring it all through his train journey symbolizes the

excitement he has for exploring his own little world.

Even through the character of Pulu, Apu’s best-friend in the film, Ray tries to establish a

sort of a mediator between him and the ‘Western world’. Through the scenes where Pulu

plans foreign trips with Apu, to the scene where he offers Apu a cigarette, Pulu’s role as a

‘change agent’ in Apu’s life, as an influencer, who at some level, is responsible for Apu’s

breaking away from his home and his mother, is more than obvious.

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The background music of the film is very apt and completely flows as the events unfold.

Ravi Shankar has used mesmerizing vedic chants as background scores in the first half of

the film set in Benaras. The vibrations produced by the chants further add up to the

realistic appeal of showcasing the holy city. Overall, Ravi Shankar experiments and

mixes in a very traditional Indian score which compliments Ray’s masterpiece.

In terms of performances, Karuna Banerjee shines through yet again in this film in the

role of the self-sacrificing mother, Sarbajaya. The fresh face of Smaran Ghoshal as

adolescent Apu gives Aparajito the real spark. Ghoshal gives a powerful performance and

effortlessly emotes the angst, pain, confusion and love that Aparajito goes through as he

steps on the threshold of adulthood.

The philosophical depth and emotional directness of Aparajito is what makes this simple

story of events unfolding in the life of an ambitious and modern young-adult, unique and

awe-inspiring.

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Analysis 3:- Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) Year of Release: 1959

Apur Sansar marks the end of Ray’s Apu Trilogy. While Pather Panchali saw the birth

of the bright, young child Apu in a poor family of rural Bengal and Aparajito saw Apu

move to the city of Kolkata in his quest for knowledge, Apur Sansar sees Apu complete

the cycle of this journey from boyhood to manhood.

Ray took a two-years break after the release of Aparajito to make the concluding part of

the Apu Trilogy, Apur Sansar. The film is complete in itself and will not appear and will

make sense to a viewer even if he/she has not seen the earlier films of the trilogy. It is the

structure of the film that mainly binds the film perfectly and gives it an identity beyond

being the last installment of the Apu trilogy.

As the name suggests, Apur Sansar, is a film that truly revolves around Apu and his

family. Tracing the life of bachelor Apurbo to the time he marries Aparna and starts a

family with her to his renunciation of family-life post Aparna’s death and his eventual

acceptance of his son, Kajol, who he blamed for the death of Aparna, Apur Sansar is

about Apu’s emotional and philosophical growth and the transitions he goes through.

Based firmly on neorealist foundations, Apur Sansar is one of Ray’s most personal and

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emotional works till date. Rooted in the reality of 1930s Calcutta, the film shines because

of the very natural and logical progression and unfolding of events. Ray, through his

mastery over symbolic representation expresses Apu’s disillusionment with urban life

and his proverbial ‘going back to his roots’.

PLOT SUMMARY:

The film opens with a sequence where we see Apu receiving a recommendation letter

from his professor. He is unable to complete his education, which was his primary goal in

the film, Aparajito. The recommendation letter is now Apu’s last resort at getting

employment.

The film, essentially, is divided into three sections. The first section introduces us to the

adult Apu. Apurbo who is on a desperately on the lookout for employment, who partly,

like his father Harihar in the first installment of the trilogy, hopes beyond hope to find

employment and solve all his problems one day capitalizing on his literary talents.

Overdue rent and other expenses force Apu to part with some of his post cherished books

as well. Apu finds himself either under-educated or over-educated for the random jobs

that je applies for. With the scarce opportunities that are available, there is just one

positive thing happening in Apu’s life, which is the auto-biographical novel that he is

passionately writing. One day, Apu’s childhood friend, Pulu, who we have seen in

Aparajito as well, meets Apu and invites him for his cousin Aparna’s marriage. Having

nothing better to do at that point of time, Apu agrees to go for the wedding. He reaches

the village with Pulu. On the day of the wedding, the bride’s family realizes that the

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groom is mentally unsound and therefore, Aparna’s mother calls off the wedding. Due to

the superstitions and stigmas that existed in Indian society at that point of time, the family

considers this event as inauspicious, and force Apu to marry Aparna. Due to Apu’s

closeness with Pulu and in order to save Aparna from the wrath of people, Apu gets

married to her.

The second part of the film focuses on the relationship between Apu and Aparna. Ray

crafts a beautiful tale of love that blossoms between the protagonists after their marriage.

Aparna, who belongs to a rich family of rural Bengal tries to settle down in the big city,

Calcutta, with her unemployed husband, Apu. She does not complain of any discomfort or

problems. Apu contantly feels guilty for marrying Aparna into a life of discomfort. Both

of them, gradually, come closer and he compromises give way to love.

The togetherness however, is not long-lasting and the story soon changes gears to a tragic

tale with Aparna’s death during child-birth. Aparna’s death leaves Apu heart-broken and

completely numb. He cannot bring himself back to reality and gives up everything. He

holds their child, Kajol responsible for Aparna’s death and refuses to assume the

responsibilities of a father. He renounces family life and goes all out to live the life of a

wanderer. Kajol continues to live with his grand=parents. Apu’s only form of contact

with Kajol is in the form of the money-orders that he sends him. Time flies and one day,

Pulu makes Apu come back to reality and makes him realize his duty as a father. Apu

goes back to Aparna’s father and takes Kajol along with him. The last shot of the film

shows Apu, along with Kajol, sitting on top of Apu’s shoulders on the ‘way back home’.

The father and son reunite and venture on a journey that unlike other films, leads to their

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home.

CHARACTERIZATION:

Apu: Apurbo is the central character of the film and the film spans over his growth from

being an unemployed youngster in the chaotic city of Calcutta to being a responsible

father. The most striking thing about Apu in Apur Sansar is the similarity between him

and his father Harihar in Pather Panchali. Apu, like his father Harihar harbours literary

dreams and holds his dream project, which is his semi-autobiographical novel very close

his own little dream world where he sees himself getting his book published one day and

living a respectful life. Literature is his passion. Although, this carefree side to Apu soon

goes through a major transformation as events unfold in the film.

Apu is not able to complete his education and therefore, his only hope is the letter of

recommendation that a professor writes for him. The adjectives used by Apu’s professor

to describe him in the letter, “'sensitive, conscientious and diligent” perfectly define

Apurbo.

Although Apu has not detached himself from the life he led in his village through the

period of transition that he went through in Aparajito, he at some level, continues to

remain in touch with things that enchanted him in his childhood. Apu’s relationship with

nature plays an important role in the trilogy and even in the last installment, this

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relationship is explored. The scene where Apu fills his bucket with rain-water and takes a

bath in the rain or for instance, the scene where Apu is shown to relax under the tree in

the village where everyone else in engaged in the different rituals of Aparna’s marriage,

and the later part of the film where Apu becomes a wanderer and roams around from one

destination to another in search of his soul, in search of his love Aparna, in search of a

peace, all testify the strong bond that Apu continues to share with nature, irrespective of

the chaotic urban life that he leads.

Apu embodies the perfect ‘modern Indian’ in the first part of the film. His interest in

literature, poetry and music, his dreams of making it big one day and his overall

detachment with rural life are representative of this aspect of his personality.

Apu’s character goes through a major change after marriage. The happy-g-lucky Apu, the

dreamer Apu realizes his responsibilities towards Aparna. His marriage with Aparna was

not out of love, but out of sympathy for a girl who would have had to live the life of a

spinster had Apu not accepted the proposal. In the scene where Pulu, accompanied by

other village folks, pursue Apu to marry Aparna, Apu shows his disrespect for their

backwardness and expresses concern for Aparna, symbolic of his liberal, urban self.

Apu’s initial conversations with Aparna are marked by his guilt of not being able to

provide her the life of luxury that she had been living at her parents’ house. Getting

married to a girl like Aparna suddenly jolts him back to reality where he comes to terms

with his unemployment and poverty. The concerns he expresses and the efforts he puts in

to ensure a better future for Aparna shows the growing amount of responsibility on Apu’s

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part. Aparna’s entry in Apu’s life also symbolizes the arrival of romance in his life. Apu,

in his quest for knowledge and while dealing with all the other problems of his life, had

perhaps never even given romantic relationships a thought. His friend Pulu’s amazement

at the mention of a romantic element to Apu’s autobiographical novel brings forth this

fact and so does the scene where Apu quickly draws the curtains of his window when he

notices a girl in his neighbourhood admiring him while he’s playing flute. Aparna

showers her love on Apu and the relationship that started of as a mere compromise grows

into unconditional and eternal love.

The character of Apu goes through the most difficult crisis in coping up with the death of

Aparna. Aparna’s death totally shatters Apu and he renounces family and life altogether.

As author Suranjan Ganguly points out, “Apu thus invokes the Western stereotypes of the

wanderer as well as its Indian counterpart, the God-seeking holy man who renounces

society out of world-weariness and spiritual longing.”

While he lives his life as a wanderer, at a subconscious level, he is somewhere attached to

his son, Kajol as he keeps taking up random jobs wherever he goes to ensure a steady

flow of income. He sends money to Kajol through money-orders, which, somehow,

testifies that he did care for him all through. The main thing that separates Apu from his

son is his love for Aparna. The sudden news of Aparna’s death post childbirth makes him

blame Kajol for the unfortunate event. It is this reason which gives rise to the dilemmas

that Apu, as a father, goes through. He cannot bring himself to assume his paternal

responsibilities because of the pain and the sense of void that Aparna’s death has caused.

Apu even tears up the pages of his most cherished manuscript as nothing seems to matter

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to him more than Aparna. The period of renunciation shows up an entirely different side

to Apu.

The last phase of the movie Apur Sansar, which sees Apu reuniting with his son,

introduces the viewers to a new Apu altogether. Apurbo- the father, the man who does

not want to be an escapist anymore. It also shows us a very protective side of Apu. The

character truly comes a full circle in the final installment of the Apu Trilogy and has been

essayed very sensitively and beautifully by debutant actor, Shoumitra Chatterjee, who

went on to be one of Ray’s favourite actors to work with.

Aparna:

As the girl who comes to know that her groom is mentally unsound on the day of her

marriage and is forced to marry a “substitute suitor”, Aparna’s character is perhaps the

perfect representative of the gender politics and social realities of the era gone by. As the

coy bride who has to suddenly accept an almost stranger as her husband, Aparna

embodies the ‘perfect wife’.

She belongs to a rich family in rural Bengal, who gets married to Apu who is

unemployed and can hardly provide her with the comforts she had been used to in her

father’s house. In spite of all this, Aparna does not show a hint of disrespect or contempt

for her husband. She accepts him as he is and his ‘sansar’ (family and world) as it is.

Aparna’s character, particularly, in today’s times might seem a little difficult to

understand, but as author Chidanand Dasgupts rightly says, “As far as Aparna was

concerned, Hindu girls worshipped Lord Shiva from their childhood and prayed for a

husband like him, monogamous, handsome, noble and strong, even though he was a bit of

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a vagabond bohemian, rode a bull and kept the company of ghosts. Whomsoever she

married, in an event brought about more by fate than free will, would become her Lord

Shiva. The correct behaviour was to follow him to the ends of the earth, no matter what

his circumstances. Aparna’s behaviour in leaving her affluence to go and live with Apu in

his attic was thus, far from unnatural.”

Aparna is Apu’s strength. She fills Apu’s love with her radiance, warmth and affection.

In more ways than one, after his marriage to Aparna, ‘Apur sansar’ (Apu’s world),

revolves around Aparna and after her death shatters completely.

Aparna loves Apu a lot and does not want him to think that she is unhappy or

uncomfortable in his world. She is shown to break-down in one scene while Apu is away

giving us a glimpse of the sadness and pain she hides inside. The same scene also draws

parallels between Aparna and motherhood when she looks at a young child and her

mother through the window. This scene, particularly establishes a connect between

Aparna’s smile and her sadness, her maternal feelings and mortality. All through the span

of Aparna’s role, there is a certain ‘morbid’ element about her beauty, a certain latent

pain beneath her radiant and gorgeous eyes.

Pulu: Like in Aparajito, we saw Pulu play the role of a mediator between Apu and urban

life. Similarly, Pulu in Apur Sansar acts like a catalyst. He is Apu’s best-friend, his

confidante’. He is also Aparna’s cousin. Pulu introduces Apu and Aparna in the film.

Aparna enters Apu’s life through Pulu.

Pulu, like Apu, is a modern, liberal young man, but more successful than him. However,

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Pulu’s success never causes a rift between him and Apu. Ray’s strong belief in humanity

and human-dignity makes Pulu and Apu’s friendship very pure, away from petty fights

and misunderstandings. Pulu wants to help Apu, both personally and professionally and is

always beside him in times of need.

Towards the end of the film, it is Pulu again, who makes the father-son reunion possible.

His role, therefore, is that of a catalyst and a mediator in Apu’s life and his world.

Kajol: Kajol is the name of the character who plays Apu’s son in the film, Apur Sansar.

Naughty, effervescent, full of life are a few words that best describe Kajol. He lives with

his grandfather, who is often irritated by Kajol’s childish pranks and his naughtiness.

Being away from his father has created a lot of confusion in Kajol’s heart about his

father’s identity and whereabouts. This has, at some levels, made him a bit of a rebel,

who necessarily does and says things that he has been asked not to.

Ray also draws comparisons between Kajol and young Apu, especially in Kajol’s

introductory scene, where he is shown running in the forest. Kajol’s relationship with the

nature is highlighted in that particular scene just like Apu’s in Pather Panchali. The

scene where Kajol wears a mask and finally shows his face to the audiences is also

reminiscent of Apu’s ‘eye-opening’ scene. The emphasis on taking shots where Kajol

looks directly into the camera like young Apu in Pather Panchali tells us about the

director’s intent of showing things from Kajol’s perspective and establishing the fact that

Apu’s world now revolves around Kajol.

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Kajol, like his mother Aparna, bottles up his emotion, but burst out in the scene where he

pelts stone at his father and refuses to go anywhere with him. He cannot bring himself to

reality and accept a complete stranger as his father. Eventually, in the last scene of the

film, when Kajol finally agrees to go with Apu it is because Apu says that he is Kajol’s

friend and not father. Ray therefore, sensitively brings out the companionship, the

friendship of the father-son duo in the beautifully crafted last scene of the film.

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THEMES AND AESTHETICS:

The credits roll of Apur Sansar starts is accompanied by fluctuating background music.

Through this device, Ray makes it clear early on in the film that Apur Sansar is about

Apu’s journey, the ups and downs that he has to go through. A simple and clever attempt

by the director, which sets the tone of the film.

A scene precedes the credit roll of the film. The scene where Apu goes to collect his

recommendation letter from his professor. The professor tells him about the importance

of education and as he is about to leave, we get to hear voices shouting slogans as the

background music. Ray, who did not like to make his political stance clear in his films,

avoided showing anything else further. However, the audio track takes us back to those

times in Calcutta where students protests and dharnas were a common affair.

Apur Sansar is not only the most personal film of the trilogy, but its also the most story

oriented film. Starting from a point where the viewers get to see Apu as a young,

unemployed man in Calcutta, moving on to his marriage and finally his journey towards

fatherhood, the film takes a full circle within itself and with respect to the previous films

of the Apu Trilogy. The movie, however, does not drag at any point in time. Because of

the logical flow of events and Ray’s engaging narrative style, Apur Sansar truly comes to

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life. Ray also infuses his trade-mark humour in this story about love and family. Through

characters such as Apu’s colleague who gives him tips on an exciting married life to the

bunch of ignorant, boisterous men who Apu meets for an interview, Ray manages to fit in

a dash of humour in this tale.

A strong sense of humanism, which is a characteristic of Ray and most of the neorealist

film-makers is evident in Apur Sansar as well. The friendship between Apu and Pulu and

especially, the characterization of the mentally unsound groom show this aspect of Ray’s

cinematic style. The groom who is a lunatic is not treated with contempt or as a laughing

stock. Rather, his portrayal is sensitive and in fact, at some point in the film, the viewer

even feels pity for him.

Ray’s understanding of each and every character in the film and the way he builds up

relationships is what Apur Sansar truly stands out for. Apu and Aparna’s love story,

which forms the central theme of the film, has been appreciated by many a critics as one

of Indian cinema’s most ethereal and eternal depiction of love. Ray, existing within the

realm of censorship that existed at that point of time, innovatively shows the journey that

the couple transverse from a phase of compromise to marital bliss. Monish K. Das, an

alumnus of FTII, Pune, who is also a documentary filmmaker perfectly expounds on

exactly how Ray managed to do this in his review of the film. In the words of Das,

“Ray’s depiction of the charms of intimacy in Apur Sansar stands among the one of the

restrained yet cinematically imaginative explorations of the subject. Like all masters Ray

is able to overcome the limits of cultural censorship into a celebration of artistic allusion.

The changes of a curtain on a window in Apu’s room become the signifier of the growth

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of the Apu-Aparna conjugal life. In the beginning of the film, rain pouring from the torn

curtain had disturbed Apu’s sleep. In the scene of Aparna’s arrival in the room, Ray in

one memorable close-up of her eyes framed through the same hole observing a poor

mother playing with her infant, wonderfully captures her anxiety and sadness of leaving a

life of luxury and starting a new life with a stranger. But now the camera pulls back from

a new curtain to reveal the couple lying chastely on the bed. Aparna wakes up and as she

moves away she discovers that her aanchal is tied to Apu’s dhoti. She unties the knot,

gives Apu a playful smack and sets about her daily chores. Apu wakes up, slowly turns

and gazes at her dreamily and contently as she sets about lighting the chullah. There is a

silent exchange between them as Apu picks out his pack of cigarettes for his habitual

morning smoke only to find she has inserted a note to remind him of his promise to

restrict himself to a cigarette after his meal. Next, he picks up a hairclip that had slipped

out of Aparna's hair during the night and wistfully turns it around between his fingers.

The cigarette would later feature as an index of intimacy – Aparna would indulgently

light up Apu’s cigarette in a hackney-carriage which Apu, in a flash of extravagance, had

hired to steal a moment of intimacy before she would leave to give birth to their child in

her parents’ house. The ethereal glow of the matchstick that lights up Aparna’s face for a

fleeting moment becomes the metaphor of the transient nature of their happiness – the

slow fade out of the glow is a subtle omen of the tragic future.”

In terms of casting, Ray introduced Shoumitro Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore, through

Apur Sansar, who went on to become two of India’s most talented actors. Casting fresh

faces in the film, gave this film a certain raw appeal and both the lead actors went on to

work with Ray in many of his later films. The range of emotions that Shoumitro pulled

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off with ease in this film, especially, shows the range of the great actor.

The use of the main visual metaphor that binds the trilogy films together, that is ‘the train

shots’, is more important and disturbing in this film. The train goes on from being used as

a poetic and lyrical to a disturbing metaphor. As Apu’s house is near the railway tracks,

we often see him wake up to the sound of train-hooting. In yet another scene, Ray shows

a shocked and irritated Aparna who covers her ears in order to shut off the irritating train

hoot. The train, later on in the film, metaphorically, also takes Aparna ‘away’ from Apu.

As she goes to stay at her father’s house for her delivery, she boards the train and Apu

sees her off. It is the last time that Apu and Aparna have a face-to-face interaction in the

film.

Talking of which brings us to Ray’s depiction of death in Apur Sansar. As with the rest of

the trilogy films, Ray does not go the ‘melodrama way’ in showing Aparna’s death and

the ensuing set of events. Rather, Ray slowly builds it up and brings us to a point where

we believe that Aparna’s death was actually inevitable. From the mysterious morbid

quality about Aparna’s beauty to her last interaction with Apu where she told him that if

he doesn’t write letters regularly to her then “aadi-aadi-aadi” (a Bengali expression of

breaking bongs). Ray uses the visual track of this dialogue repetitively while leading us

to Aparna’s unfortunate death. The use of post-synchronized sounds all through this film,

in fact, is very clever and creative. Apu comes to know of Aparna’s death all of a sudden

when his brother in law lands up at his doorstep to break the news that Aparna lost her

life during while delivering their child. Apu’s pent up emotions, his angst, his pain, his

disbelief culminates into a slap. Apu’s strong reaction in this scene where he slaps his

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brother in law, sets the tone for the metamorphosis that Apu’s character will go through

in the rest of the film.

Post Aparna’s death, Ray brings to us an entirely unknown aspect of Apu’s personality.

We see him as a wanderer. We see a complete renunciation for urban life an familial ties.

The focus on urban periphery, which is also an important characteristic of Italian

neorealist films, can easily noticed in Apur Sansar. His growing disillusionment with the

city life and urban spaces and his attempts to get away have been explained by author

Suranjan Ganguly in the following words: “We see Apu standing beside the railway

tracks, waiting to throw himself under the wheels of the approaching train. Ray opens

with an extreme long shot of the tracks, with the train appearing in the distance. He then

cuts to the medium close up of Apu’s gaunt face at eye level. The camera next tracks

away from him into empty space and stays there while we hear the shrill whistle of the

train as it nears. The shot offers a simple yet powerful visual-equivalent of Apu’s inner

void and his desire for oblivion. It is not only ironic that Apu should decide to extinguish

his consciousness- once the source of joy and wonder in his life- but that he should

choose the train to do the job for him. But the attempts fail when the train runs over a pig

that has strayed onto the tracks. Distracted by its shriek, he loses his chance and the train

rolls past him. The sequence ends with a shot of an industrial chimney sprouting smoke.

We realize that alone in the city Apu is more prone to suicide than if he had lived within

his community, with its sense of traditional values. Urban solitude only exacerbates his

pain and lures him towards a death under the wheels of technology. Apu’s next move,

then, is to sever all ties with the city.” Like this, we see Apu’s disenchantment with

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everything that once appealed to him about city life.

In the last part of the film, where Apu comes back to his son, Ray has very effectively

and accurately captured the entire gamut of emotions that Apu and his son, Kajol go

through. From Kajol’s firm belief that one day his father will be back to his expressing

hurt, anger and disbelief when Apu does go back and tells him that he is Kajol’s father,

Satyajit Ray, has filmed these scenes with such detail and such sensitivity that one can

actually feel like a part of Apu’s efforts to reconcile his problems with his son’s and the

process of regeneration of his world.

Background music by Ravi Shankar, yet again complements the third installment of the

trilogy completely. As discussed before, the fluctuating music piece in the beginning sets

the tone of the films. Indian folk and classical tunes have primarily been used in Apur

Sansar. The ‘Pather Panchali’ theme has been effectively used in Apur Sansar as well,

especially in the last scene of the film where it substantiates the visual imagery of a

quaint, little village road reminiscent of the Pather Panchali road. The music of Apur

Sansar, apart from complimenting the film is also used as a symbolic tool by Ray.

Manish K. Das explains this with a few examples, such as: “When Apu first sees Kajol

lying on the same bed where he and Aparna had spend the first night of their wedded life,

the soundtrack brings back the same bhatiali folk-song that had drifted in on that

memorable night, as the index of Apu’s a change of heart and his realization that a part of

Aparna lives within little Kajol. The closing shot of Apur Sansar where Kajol accepts

Apu as a friend who carries him on his shoulders and walks towards the camera, is a

celebration of life. Ray freezes the shot to indicate there are journeys still to be made –

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major scars yet to be healed - but there is hope. The final freeze frame with its joyous

music on the background – a variation of the Apu-Aparna theme that was used in the

hackney carriage sequence – thus becomes an ending that points to the beginning of a

new journey.”

Ray has extracted great work from most members of his film. The camerawork of Apur

Sansar particularly stands out in scenes, such as Apu-Aparna’s romantic scene while

returning from the cinema hall where the camera tremendously captures the beauty of

Aparna’s face lit by a match-stick, the scene where Apu tears off pages of his manuscript

and throws them in water and the scene where Pulu, accompanied by other village

people, tries to persuade Apu to marry Aparna. Ray’s cameraman in the marriage

proposal scene manages to create a sense of claustrophobia, a sense of a shrinking frame,

symbolicof the narrow-mindedness of the superstitious village people at one level, and

the process of Apu’s ‘getting caught’ in their words and finally being forced to say, at

another level.

The climax of Apur Sansar is the peak point of the film. It provides a perfect ending to

the tale spanning three films. As Apu tries to take Kajol along with him, he strikes up a

spontaneous friendship with him, instead of reasoning it out and forcing him to believe

that he is Kajol’s father. As Kajol runs towards Apu, we see a deep-focus shot of Apu,

Kajol and Aparna’s father. Kajol runs towards Apu while Aparna’s father looks on,

happy and relieved that now his grandson is united with his father. The presence of the

three generations, at a level, gives the scene a kind of completeness, a sense of

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community, of ‘sansar’. While the father-son due walk away and across the familiar

village road, they take on a journey, that this time, will take them ‘home’.

Like this, Apu’s journey reaches a destination or rather his world gets a new meaning in

the form of his son Kajol and as Apu learns the art of achieving salvation through pain.

Apur Sansar, therefore, concludes the journey that the young child Apu initiated in

Pather Panchali; the journey from childhood to fatherhood.

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Italian Neorealism post Ray

Italian Neorealism and Ray’s contemporaries:

After Ray brought in a ‘ray of realism’ in Indian cinema, several directors, who were his

contemporaries carried the mantle of Indian neorealism forward. Ritwik Ghatak, was one

such contemporary, who was very close to Ray. Ritwik Ghatak made his debut film,

Nagarik, in 1952, three years prior to Ray’s neorealist master-piece, Pather Panchali.

The film tells the story of Ramu, the protagonist and his family grappling with poverty

and post-Partition pain.

Overall, “the film had occasional sparks of talent but generally followed the conventions

of traditional Bengali films, without being able to forge the new cinematic language

which sparkled in Ajantrik, made three years after Pather Panchali and obviously

activated by it, even though it bore no resemblance to the style of Ray’s first film. (It took

over some of the material innovations of Ray such as extensive outdoor shooting, realistic

mise-en-scene, the elimination of excessive use of filters and similar features.)”

according to writer Chidanand Dasgupta.

Talking about Ritwik Ghatak, mention must be made of the film he is best remembered

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for. The film is Meghe Dhaka Tara. Set in refugee camps based in suburban Calcutta, the

film takes a close look at the life of Neeta (played by Supriya Choudhury). The self-

sacrificing Neeta is the primary bread-earner of her poverty-marred family. On one hand,

where this fact is an advantage for her as she is able to support her family and take of

them, on the other hand, Ghatak shows how this turns out to be her greatest disadvantage

as her family constantly exploits her. The film tells a heart-wrenching tale of how

relationships can change vis-à-vis monetary and material needs. Neeta, loses her love to

her own sister, then loses her job and ultimately loses her health when she contracts TB.

She has no one to share her problems with, apart from her elder-brother. The

characterization of the elder-brother has been etched beautifully by Ghatak. As the guy

who is always considered “useless” and never respected by his younger siblings (except

for Neeta) and his parents, the character breaks the stereotype of the conventional ‘elder-

brother’ of traditional Bengali films and also shows the interrelationship of money and

respect.

The film scores primarily on its aesthetics and the performances by its “non-glitzy” star-

cast. The use of sound, particularly, in the scenes where Neeta’s mother notices Neeta

talking to her lover. The use of the sound of rice boiling in a pot symbolizes the

conflict that goes on in the mind of Neeta’s mother over her marriage and the resulting

lack of food, income and livelihood that the family would have to face. Similarly, the

shot where Neeta climbs down staircases after seeing her sister at her lover’s house, uses

non-diegetic sounds of lashes and whips to echo the kind of hurt and pain that she is

going through.

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Like most of Ghatak’s films, Meghe Dhaka Tara highlights the woes and pains that most

Bengali families faced post the Partition. Ghatak has, in all, made eight full-length films

in his career, each representing a social reality. Ray spoke positively of Ghatak’s work

and did all he could to promote his colleague, Ritwik Ghatak never really saw the kind of

popularity that Ray did, especially overseas. All said and done, Ghatak was one of the

earliest masters who, along with Ray brought in a neorealist paradigm shift in Indian

films.

With the coming in of 1960s, younger directors like Mrinal Sen entered the circuit of

neorealist filmmaking. Mrinal Sen made films that dealt with explicitly political subjects

and added a new dimensions to ‘realistic films’. In contrast to Ray, Mrinal Sen, like

Ghatak, was more interested in “exposing the dark underside. of India’s lower middle-

class and unemployed” through his films. Sen is particularly known for his highly

political trilogy made at the heights of Maoist inspired Naxalite movement, popularly

called the Calcutta trilogy, Interiew (1971), Calcutta 71 (1972) and Padatik (1973).

Interview, the first films of the trilogy is a simple story about an incident that takes place

in an unemployed youth’s life. After several attempts to get a job, the protagonist finally

manages to get an interview call through his uncle, who reminds him to wear a suit to the

interview. Inspite of a cleaner’s strike, he somehow manages to get a suit. However,

because of getting trapped in a street demolition, he loses the suit and inadvertently loses

the job as well Sen, through the metaphor of the suit and the job interview, at large,

shows show India was still affected by certain colonial biases and stereotypes that existed

at that point of time in independent India, which according him were detrimental to

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India’s success.

Calcutta 71 is a film about different stories set against the backdrop of poverty and

exploitation. A passive man, who witnesses the agonies of different characters is the

common link between the story. The film traces his and other characters’ journey from

being passive spectators to protestors. Sen has made an attempt at unveiling the true

cause of poverty- which, according to him, is exploitation and people’s overall attitude

of indifference.

Padatik: the final installment of the Calcutta trilogy is a film about a man’s courage to

question the leadership of a movement he believes in and remains loyal to. As Udayan

Gupta writes in Jump Cut journal, “Padatik created quite a stir in political circles.

The right wing groups felt that undue importance and recognition was being

given to an “anti-social” extremist group. Those on the left tried to ignore the film

or criticize it as indicative of right reaction and revisionism. All said and done, the

film stands out as an important effort at making film a forum for discussion and

documentation.”

Through his Calcutta Trilogy and other films, Mrinal Sen, in essence, tried to

move a step further, from depicting problems such as poverty, oppression and

exploitation in a romanticized manner. His films were brutally honest and gritty.

The use of ‘metaphors’ is again an important facet of Sen’s brand of realism.

A revolutionary movement that Indian cinema witnessed was the age of ‘middle cinema’.

The government funded body, FFC, Film Finance Corporation, after being disillusioned

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by backing the same, cliché’ Bollywood mainstream financial films, decided to support

films with ‘different’ plots and ‘off-beat’ scripts. Many filmmakers, such as Mrinal Sen,

Mani Kaul and Govind Nihlani are important proponents of the ‘middle cinema’ in India.

One of the most revered and respected directors belonging to this era happens to be

Shyam Benegal.

Middle cinema, in essence, is also that line area which falls somewhere between the art-

house films. Shyam Benegal’s works are representative of this genre of filmmaking. With

Shyam Benegal’s films, neorealism in India, in a way, dared to venture out of the strict

art-house label, yet not fully entering the territory of ‘mainstream films’.

Benegal made his debut with the much acclaimed, Ankur, a film that explored the

subjects of economic and sexual exploitation, with his home-state Andhra Pradesh as the

backdrop. He is credited with introducing one of Indian cinema’s most talented and

respected actresses of all times, Shabana Azmi. Ankur also marks the beginning of

Benegal’s trilogy on rural oppression, which he carried further with his films, Nishant

and Manthan.

Manthan, a movement, more than a film was Benegal’s joint venture with Verghese

Kurien, the Father of White Revolution in India, who co-wrote this film. Set in a small

village in Kheda district, the film traces the journey of a handful of villagers who lead the

entire village to the path of rural empowerment, through the means of the village’s

fledgling dairy industry. The film is unique in itself as it is the only film to date, where a

collection of over 1 lakh farmers contributed Rs. 2 and became the ‘Producers’ of this

films. This established a special bond that the farmers shared with this film.

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Following this trilogy, Benegal made a couple of more films, such as Bhoomika, Junoon

and Mandi, each telling a gripping tale of the social realities that existed at that time in

history.

The 90s saw Benegal work on his second trilogy. A trilogy on Muslim women in the

Indian society. While the first part of the trilogy Mammo, talked about the story of an old

woman who’s life had been virtually uprooted by India-Pakistan Partition trying to get

back to her roots, while fighting against all sorts of administrative odds. The second

installment, Sardari Begum is about the death and the ensuing events that follow the

death of a courtesan, known as ‘Sardari Begum’ in the community. Politics, religion,

gender are all important ingredients that help Benegal paint a complex portrait of the

patriarchal Indian society. The trilogy ends with Zubeida, the story of an ill-fated actress

and her ‘rebellious streak’. From fighting against her filmmaker father to be an actress to

fighting with her husband (who is already married and continues his relationship with his

first wife) to get a greater share of his love, the film takes a close look at the role of a

woman, who wishes to live life on her own terms vis-à-vis a patriarchal society. The way

the society brands Zubeida as an evil woman, responsible for seducing the king and

ultimately driving him to his death and the society’s constant reference to her being a part

of the film-industry, in a negative light, make the film a true-to-life account of a woman

in a male-dominated Indian society.

Post his second trilogy he made films that enjoyed more critical than popular acclaim,

important amongst which as Suraj Ka Saatwa Ghoda, Samar and Hari Bhari.

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His realistic films and attempts to keep evolving at every stage in life has seen him make

his latest film, Welcome to Sajjanpur. The film set in a fictitious village called Sajjanpur,

where a majority of the village population is illiterate and their dependence on the “letter-

boy” of the village, played by Shreyash Talpade. The film is special as it represents rural

India to the core, which is quite rare in mainstream Bollywood films. An

interesting and gripping and the brilliant performances by the “non-starry” ensemble and

main caste is what makes the film par excellence. The film is loaded with messages and

touches upon a large number of problems that are prevalent in rural India. From

superstition to widow-remarriage, from illiteracy to corruption, Shyam Benegal crafts a

brilliant tale, one that is humorous in part, but documents the social reality of the

neglected and forgotten rural India with perfection.

Shyam benegal, therefore has been a great pillar to the Indian Neorealism movement in

Bollywood. His films, which have in most cases, managed to successfully garner

popularity as well as critical acclaim, have definitely inspired a generation of new

directors who have kept the flag of neorealism in India flying high.

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Neorealism in the ‘new-age’ Bollywood:

Mainstream Bollywood Hindi films in India have undergone a sea-change in the last few

years, particularly the last decade. The industry, once known to produce the ‘formulaic,

masala films’ that capitalized on star-power, glamorous sets and costumes is now full of

directors who have literally brought a breath of fresh-air with them. A major role here has

been played by the over-all ‘democratization’ of filmmaking in the country. The

availability of equipment, research and reference materials and institutions such as the

FTII, SRFTI, amongst others have made sure that people with talent and passion for films

do not feel threatened only because of the lack of a “filmy-background”

Neorealism has entered mainstream filmmaking and how! Contemporary Bollywood

films are experimenting with narrative devices, characterizations and choosing themes

that are not divorced from reality. The entire conception of “escapist cinema” seems to be

fading away as the audience is preferring to and responding better to films that might not

necessarily have a great star-cast, but those that have a ‘believable and identifiable’

storyline.

Mani Ratnam is one such director, whose work, from the early 1990s has aided this

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change. Two of Mani Ratnam’s films, Roja and Bombay (originally made in Tamil) dealt

with the critical and sensitive issue of terrorism and was hugely appreciated for the ‘real’

portrayal of issues. Roja, was the story of a young and innocent girl from a South Indian

family played by newcomer Madhu, who gets married and leaves her village to lead a

city life. Her husband, Rishi, essayed by Arvind Swamy, is sent off to Kashmir by the

government on a classified mission, where he gets kidnapped. Roja’s life is shattered

when her husband is kidnapped by a terrorist outfit who demand the release of one of

their accomplice and an independent Kashmir. Terrorism, statehood and innocent people

trapped in circumstances are some of the issues highlighted in the film. The ‘rawness’ of

Madu’s acting and her portrayal as the de-glam girl next-door is what gave this movie its

USP. Over-powering human emotions and human courage were always at the forefront in

Roja.

Bombay, a film starring Manisha Koirala and Arvind Swamy, was another Mani Ratnam

film that beautifully brought forward the relationship of a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl,

with the backdrop of two events that had completely shaken the city of Bombay at that

point of time, the Babri-Masjid demolition and the resulting Hindu-Muslim riots. The

film was originally made in Tamil and later dubbed in Hindi. It garnered great critical and

popular acclaim. The film made clever use of metaphorism, particularly, in one of its

song sequence, “Tu Hi Re”, where Manisha runs forward to embrace Arvind, leaving

behind her ‘burkha’, drawing parallels between love and religion. The film has also used

nature, particularly, the element water, through seas, rainfall and rivers to depict strong

human emotions.

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Mani Ratnam’s first Hindi film was Dil Se, released in 1998. The story about the

relationship of a journalist played by Shahrukh Khan, and a suicide bomber played by

Manisha Koirala, although was not a great Box-Office success, but managed to impact

and influence critics and cinephiles world wide. Ratnam launched Preity Zinta in the

industry, by casting her as the second lead of the film. The film was inspired by the

disturbing event that rocked the nation in early 90s, which is the assassination of Prime

Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

Amongst Mani Ratnam’s latest films are Yuva and Guru, two films which are distinct in

their outlooks. While Yuva is a multiple-narrative film, about youth, politics and power.

Guru is a film about the world of business and the nexus between business and

journalism on one hand and progress and ethics on the other. Although Mani Ratnam had

worked with popular actors in some of his films, the emphasis has always been on the

characters they are essaying and he has ensured that the actor’s persona never overpowers

the film. He takes great care about the look of his characters for this reason and because

of which he made Abhishke Bacchhan put on kilos to ‘look his part’ in Guru.

Anurag Kashyap, defines new-age Bollywood in more ways than one. Not only are his

films unconventional and show an overall disregard for formulaic filmmaking, but the

way he approaches his films is what makes him the fore-runner of neorealism in

contemporary Bollywood.

Kashyap’s fight to make his voice heard started with his debut film, Paanch. The film

about a rock-band, Parasite, where each member wants to make it big in his/her life and

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chooses to take a short-cut or make a compromise, was complete in 2000 but has not seen

the day of its release till today. The film got into troubles because of ‘glorifying sex,

drugs and crime’. An allegation that Kashyap has been trying to negate for a while. The

film is a look at contemporary India, particularly, young-India and most of its characters

are ‘grey’. Anurag Kashyap, as an auteur has always been against stereotypical white and

black characters and ‘grey shades’ has been his territory, which he finds more in tune

with contemporary social realities.

Kashyap’s first film which saw a formal release was Black Friday, The film about the

1993 Bombay Blasts and the real events that lead to the blasts also ran into a lot of

controversy before its release. The film was not released in Indian theatres for two years

and even days before its release, a petition seeking a stay was filed by the people named

in the film, the alleged perpetrators of the crime. Since the verdict was still pending for

the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, they argued that the film would bias public opinion

against them and affect the courts decision. The court ultimately upheld the argument and

the film was released.

Audiences world-wide applauded the film for its gritty and fearless take on the terrifying

event. The film elevated Kashyap’s status manifold and established him as a director with

promise.

Anurag Kashyap’s latest cinematic outing, Dev D, is an exceptional example of

Kashyap’s brand of neorealism. Devdas is the story of self-destructive love, where the

protagonist finds refuge in alcohol after his ladylove is married off to someone else.

Issues like caste and economic differences were at the core of the novel originally written

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in Bengali by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee. The novel is amongst India’s most popular

novels ever and has seen countless literary and cinematic adaptations. Anurag Kashyap,

through his film, Dev D, explores modern day relationships while referring to the broader

framework of Devdas.

Kashyap’s film rebels against the classical tragic love-story of Devdas and weaves a tale

about the modern age ‘Dev D’. Right from the characterization of the central characters,

to the bringing in of sub-plots that are representative of current social events, such as the

MMS scandal, the BMW case, the film definitely is coming of age! Most of the actors in

the film are amateurs and new-comers, which gives it a certain raw appeal and makes it

more believable than other adaptations of the epic love-story. The huge success of this

film and the critical acclaim that it received further strengthens the belief that Indian

neorealism has now entered mainstream Bollywood and that there had indeed been a

paradigm shift.

Talking about yet another film of Anurag Kashyap, Gulaal, his latest offering, which will

release on the 13th of March, is a hard-hitting story about a student trapped in political

maneuvers and the ugly side of ragging in engineering colleges. The films is patly based

on a real life event of sex ragging that shook the nation a few years back.

Kashyap, through his movies has brought in a unique ‘edgy side’ to neorealism in India.

Be it his portrayal of the dingy, shady bylanes of Paharganj in Dev D or his powerful

representation of the verve of student politics, he has managed to create an all new genre

within neorealism, one that is an amalgamation of desi-kitsch and contemporary

sensibilities.

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Another new director who, although is just two films old, has carved a niche for himself

in the Indian neorealism movement. Dibakar Bannerjee’s first film was the much

appreciated Khosla Ka Ghosla. The film based on a middle-class family’s dream to own a

house takes a humorous yet moving look at the land-sharks involved in the process of

property-dealing and illegal encroachments, which are pertinent issues, particularly, in

Delhi, where the film is based. The film, which was devoid of any big star, glossy

promotions, hi-tech visuals managed to strike a great connect with the audience primarily

because of the fact that it did not underestimate the audience’s intelligence level and its

‘slice-of-life’ appeal. The also brought forward the issue of generation gap through

familial discord over the younger son’s ambitions of shifting abroad and the patriarch’s

insistence of staying in their home-country. The ensemble cast of the film comprised a lot

of ‘Mandi House’ struggling actors who played themselves, which further added to the

film’s appeal.

Characterization and creating an emotional connect inspite of avoiding the melodrama

mode is Banerjee’s forte. He reaffirmed this point through his next film, Oye Lucky,

Lucky Oye! Starring Abhay Deol, (who has come to be known as contemporary realistic

Bollywood cinema’s one of the most preferred actors), Oye Lucky traces the journey of

Lucky Singh, the Indian Robin-Hood, with a twist. Lucky hobnobs with the rich, the

famous and steal. Inspired by the true story of Lucky Singh, a their from Delhi, who

hobnobed with the rich and elite and then robbed them blind, the film is a parable of an

India in flux on the cusp of it's economic revolution when traditional values battled with

nouveau riche desires. The satire takes a dig at various social factors, right from the

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police to the media to the elites and non-elites. As a reviewer writes about the film on

Upperstall.com, “Dibakar Banerjee has set an unlikely story in a decidedly realistic

setting and straightaway – as the film begins wave after wave of real locations, spot-on

casting, perfect lingo and everyday instances transport you to Delhi fifteen years ago, and

Delhi of the present.”

Dibakar Banerjee has added his special touch of dark humour to realism. Although both

his films, Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye might have been projected as

comedies, at the same time, they were rooted in the social realities of contemporary urban

Indian society. Dibakar’s understanding of middle-class sensibilities has people drawing

parallels between his works and the works of one of India’s most loved directors

Hrishikesh Mukherjee. However, the comedic elements in Dibakar’s films do not

dominate his cinematic style. It is the undercurrent of thoughts, social messages that sum

up his style of filmmaking.

Several other directors and artistes have helped in carrying forward this movement of

Indian Neorealism, consciously or subconsciously. Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaaron

Khwahishein Aisi, set in the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, Nishikant Kamath’s

Mumbai Meri Jaan, which documents brilliantly the aftermath of an incident of terror and

how brutally it can affect the lives of people in a city, amongst others. Aamir and A

Wednesday are two films that bring forth different aspects of terrorism; while Aamir is a

film that questions the stereotypes associated with the ‘identity’ of a terrorist, A

Wednesday explores the fear, the agonies of a common-man living under constant threat

of terrorist activities and his decision to take control of situations around him. If not all,

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most of these films, have been received well by the critics as well as the audiences and

this definitely points towards a positive change that has come about in the neorealism CONCLUSION

Satyajit Ray has written in his book, ‘Our films, Their films’, about the influence Italian

Neorealism had on his cinema. He has particularly credited director, Vittorio De Sica’s

film, Bicycle Thieves for motivating him to make his debut film, Pather Panchali.

Amongst the things Ray found most inspiring about Italian Neorealism, he mentions

working with new and non-professional actors, making a film with modest resources,

shooting on locations and in natural lighting conditions and the respect for reality, social

observation, social concern, capturing the “truth” of a situation.

The Apu Trilogy incorporates most of these elements. Considered to be one of Ray’s

most appreciated works, the trilogy stands out for its free-flowing form, spontaneity and

the inherent emphasis on humanism and the individual.

Author Chidanand Dasgupta beautifully expounds on this when he says, “The

cantankerous neighbour in Pather Panchali, the lustful man who eyes the widowed

Sarbajaya in Aparajito, the landlord desperately trying to get his monthly rent from Apu

in Apur Sansar, are all as much a part of a pattern of the inevitability in the cycle of life

as the monkeys tolling the bells of the temple in Benaras in Aparajito. In a deeply Indian

sense of the world, the filmmaker is a “humanist” who believes in certain undying

“eternal” traits of human nature everywhere and in every age.”

This philosophy of humanism which is a defining characteristic of Italian Neorealist

films, has guided the cinematic style of Ray as well, primarily reflected through his Apu

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Trilogy. Sarbajaya’s selfishness and her animosity towards Indir Thakrun in Pather

Panchali, for instance, is in the view of manifestation of a mother’s concern for the well-

being of her children and her household and not her self-interests.

Ray worked on making Bandhopadhyay’s stories more believable and true to life, by

removing the “Shonar Bangla” sheen. The trilogy told a tale that was grimmer, more

contemporary, more real and at the same time retaining the purity of the vision of the

original books.

Made on a budget of just about Rs.2,00,000 which was a low amount even in that day

and age, Pather Panchali, Ray’s first film was indeed revolutionary. It was shot mostly on

actual locations, only the night scenes were shot in the studio, and that too by duplicating

the location setting in exact photographic detail. With non-professional actors, Indian

music as the background (which was not considered suitable in those days due to the lack

of ‘body), minimal make-up, no dance, no song-sequence and no romance, the film was,

“uncompromisingly realistic (condemned as “documentary”)”, in the words of Chidanand

Dasgupta. The other two films of the trilogy followed the same aesthetic and thematic

principles and thereby, mark the genesis of neorealistic aesthetics in Indian cinema.

The neorealist impression on Ray’s cinema did not however, end with the Apu Trilogy.

A paradigm shift came about in his work in the 1970s, particularly with the Calcutta

Trilogy, through which he begins to explore the beliefs of a generation very different

from his own and shifts his focus to the changing political scene in Calcutta. Author

Suranjan Ganguly in an interview focuses attention on this point by talking about Ray’s

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film, Pratidwandi, “Pratidwandi, set in the city, like so many Italian neorealist films, has

nothing remotely in common with neorealist aesthetics. What it shares is a

concern for the underdog--in this case an unemployed man. However, the

emphasis is not merely on social observation. The psychology or inner life

of the protagonist is of profound importance.”

He further adds that neorealist elements are there for us to see in Ray’s later works as

well, however, aesthetically, they don’t stand out as much as they did in the Apu Trilogy.

Italian Neorealist films, in essence are not overtly political, which is also true for Ray’s

cinema. Critics have often found a clear political slant missing in his films. Author

Suranjan Ganguly, when asked to talk about Ray’s political stand and his belief in the

Nehruvian ‘modern India’, says, “As I've written in my book, Ray belongs to the post-

Independence generation of artists who were initially enamoured by the Nehruvian vision

of a progressive, secular India--in short, the India of an emancipating modernity. Ray

never subscribed to any particular political ideology. His films show an enlightened

liberal's view of India  and Indian history. This is part of the Nehruvian legacy. If one

must talk about a "political stance" in his early work, it must be with regard to his

humanism and his concern for the political in the larger sense of the term, i.e., in terms of

human experience. This is always present in his work--even in the most cynical of

his films. The later films--especially those made in the 70s--are often seen as more

"political" because Ray focuses on problems within post-Independence society such as

corruption, unemployment, the crisis in values. Even here, there is no attempt at defining

a specific ideological position, although one could argue his sympathies are more Left-

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leaning in nature.”

All these parameters and observations of Ray’s cinematic style, therefore, make him the

pioneer of the ‘Indian Neorealist Movement’, so to say. The movement, which was

further followed up by his contemporaries and gave Indian cinema a much needed break

from the stereotypical and melodramatic overtones.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:-

1. The Cinema of Satyajit Ray: Chidanand Dasgupta

2. Satyajit Ray: In Search of the Modern; Suranjan Ganguly

3. Our films, Their films: Satyajit Ray

4. Cinema Studies: Susan Hayward

Internet:-

www.satyajitray.org

ejumpcut.org

www.greatbong.net

www.filmreference.com

http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au

www.upperstall.com

www.wikipedia.com

Documentary:-

Link:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQAQSX2aDAI&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=29E94BE2D2636AD2&playnext=1&index=20 

Title:- Satyajit Ray on Cinema

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