Director: Satyajit Ray; Writer: Satyajit Ray, Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee’s novel Aparajito; Producer: Satyajit Ray; Cinematographer: Subrata Mitra; Editor: Dulal Dutta; Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Alok Chakraborty, Swapan Mukherjee, Dhiresh Majumdar, Shefalika Devi, Dhiren Ghoshal
Duration: 01:40:49; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Lightness: 0.332; Volume: 0.199; Cuts per Minute: 5.138; Words per Minute: 26.265
Summary: Rather belatedly, Ray decided to add a third film to his Pather Panchali (1955) and the initially unsuccessful Aparajito (1956). A grown-up Apu (Chatterjee’s debut), now living poorly in Calcutta and dreaming of becoming a great novelist, is persuaded to marry a young village woman, Aparna (the 14- year-old Tagore), to protect her honour when her scheduled marriage is abruptly cancelled. The two live together in Calcutta and fall in love, but when Aparna goes to her maternal home for her first pregnancy, she dies although her son lives. Apu rejects the child and tries to overcome his desperation by working in a remote colliery. He eventually accepts his son. The scenes of the young married couple living in poverty are Ray’s first major location shots in contemporary Calcutta, soon to become a leitmotif in his work. Here he also elaborated his way of weaving a complex and suggestive usage of (urban) geography into the cinematic narrative, as in the classic sequences where Apu brings his bride to their new home, a squalid room above a railway line, or the couple’s visit to a movie followed by the cab-ride home. Of the remarkable scene in which Apu reclaims his young son Kajal (Alok Chakraborty), standing in front of the river, Geeta Kapur (1993) notes: ‘He stands at the crossroads extra tall with his child on his shoulder. [B]ut there is in the very courage of this verticality a disjuncture between the future and the past, and a regret at the alienated space of the present’. It also recalls the young Apu at the beginning of the trilogy.
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Interview - Satyajit Ray (Apu Triology Extras)
A Long Time on the Little Road (Apu Triology Extras)
The Creative Person - Satyajit Ray (Apu Triology Extras)
The Apu Trilogy - A Closer Look (Apu Triology Extras)
Honorary Oscar (Apu Triology Extras)
Interview - Shampa Srivastava (Apu Triology Extras)
Interview - Soumendu Roy (Apu Triology Extras)
Interview - Soumitra Chatterjee (Apu Triology Extras)
Interview - Ujjal Chakraborty (Apu Triology Extras)
Interviews - Sharmila Tagore and Soumitra Chatterjee (Apu Triology Extras)
Making The Apu Trilogy - Satyajit Ray"/s Epic Debut (Apu Triology Extras)
Restoring The Apu Trilogy - Long Version (Apu Triology Extras)
Restoring The Apu Trilogy - Short Version (Apu Triology Extras)
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