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Aparajito (1956)

Aparajito (1956)

Aparajito (The Unvanquished): From SatyajitRay.org

SatyajitRay.org

1956, India. 113 min, B/W, In Bengali with subtitles.

Credits

Producer: Epic Films (Satyajit Ray)

Screenplay & Direction: Satyajit Ray; based on the novel "Aparajita" by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee.

Cinematography: Subrata Mitra

Editing: Dulal Dutta

Art Direction: Bansi Chandragupta

Sound: Durgadas Mitra

Music: Pandit Ravi Shankar

U.S. Distributor: Merchant-Ivory/Sony Pictures Classics

Cast

Character: Performer

Harihar, the Father: Kanu Banerjee

Sarbajaya, the Mother: Karuna Banerjee

Boy Apu: Pinaki Sen Gupta

Adolescent Apu: Smaran Ghosal

Bhabataran, old uncle: Ramani Sen Gupta

Nanda Babu: Charaprakash Ghosh

Headmaster: Subodh Ganguly

Summary

1920. Harihar, Sarbajaya and their ten-year-old son Apu, live in the Temple City of Banaras (Varanasi) on the banks of the holy river Ganga (Ganges). Harihar earns a meager living by reciting religious scriptures. The film opens with Apu wandering and exploring the city. He also encounters their neighbor Nanda Babu, who would soon make a pass at Sarbajaya.

Harihar falls ill with fever and collapses at the riverbank. In the early hours of the next morning, Sarbajaya wakes Apu to fetch holy water from the river to put in his father's mouth as he is dying. Harihar's death leaves mother and son to fend for themselves.

The mother decides to return with Apu to live in a village where an old uncle works as a priest. Apu's mother works to support the family. Apu is initiated into priesthood and takes over the old man's work. He is unhappy because he wants to go to school. Apu persuades his mother to send him to school. She makes sacrifices so that he might pursue his studies.

Apu, now sixteen, wins a scholarship and departs for Calcutta, leaving her alone. It breaks Sarbajaya's heart, but she relents. Her health is failing, and the loneliness in the village takes its toll.

Engulfed in city life - studying during the day and working in a printing press at night to pay for his expenses - Apu grows away from his mother. His visits get shorter as the time passes. This emotional distance unnoticed by the growing Apu, hurts Sarbajaya deeply. She waits silently for her son's visit as her illness accelerates and falls into a depression.

On a night sparkling with dancing fireflies, Sarbajaya dies. Apu comes back to an empty house. He grieves for his mother, but soon finds strength to leaves the village for the last time, to carry on with his new life in the city ...

Comments

Aparajito is the second film in "The Apu Trilogy", preceded by Pather Panchali and followed by Apur Sansar. The film is basically about Apu growing up and growing away from his mother. The highlight of the film is the mother-son relationship and conflict. The characterization of Apu and mother are a treat. Karuna Banerjee gives a brilliant performance as Sarbajaya.

As usual, the film is devoid of excesses both in form and content. The two deaths, of Harihar and Sarbajaya, are handled with great elegance.

At dawn Harihar lies ill with Sarbajaya sitting beside him though the night. He mumbles, "Ganga". He is asking for a sip of holy water from the river 'Ganga'. Sarbajaya wakes Apu to fetch water from the holy river. Apu brings the water. Sarbajaya lifts Harihar's head and pours the water in his mouth. Harihar's head drops back on the pillow. Cut to a shot of a flock of pigeons taking off and whirling in the sky. Harihar has been freed of his misery.

In the sequence of Sarbajaya's death - Evening, Sarbajaya is sitting leaning against a tree outside her house, awaiting Apu's return. A train passes but she does not react, as she knows Apu is not on this train. Next, we see her sitting in the verandah of the house, expressionless. Suddenly, she hears Apu calling her. She is hallucinating. Hoping that Apu has returned, she drags herself out. As she stands looking for Apu, she sees a group of fireflies swirling by the pond.

Filming of this scene posed a technical challenge, as even the fastest available film stock could not capture the light emitted by the fireflies. Ray and his crew overcame the problem with an indigenous solution. Ray recounts in his 'My Years with Apu', "... 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 ..."

Awards

Golden Lion of St. Mark, Venice, 1957

Cinema Nuovo Award, Venice, 1957

Critics Award, Venice, 1957

FIPRESCI Award, London, 1957

Best Film and Best Direction, San Francisco, 1958

International Critic' Award, San Francisco, 1958

Golden Laurel for Best Foreign Film of 1958-59, USA

Selznik Golden Laurel, Berlin, 1960

Bodil Award: Best Non-European Film of the Year, Denmark, 1967

Aparajito (1956): From GetheMoviez

GetheMoviez Genre: Drama

Release Date: 1956 (India)

Runtime: 110 min

Filming Location: Calcutta, West Bengal, India

Gross: $170,215 (USA)

Director: Satyajit Ray

Stars: Kamala Adhikari, Lalchand Banerjee, Kali Bannerjee | See full cast and crew

Original Music By: Ravi Shankar

Sound Mix: Mono

Plot Keyword: Benares | School | Family Relationships | 1920s | India

Writing Credits By:

(in alphabetical order)

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay novel "Aparajito"

Kanailal Basu assistant screenplay writer

Satyajit Ray screenplay

Known Trivia

Rated as one of the best 100 films of all time by the Time Magazine in 2005.

Much of Apu’s story here is actually autobiographical regarding Satyajit Ray’s own personal experiences. When Apu goes to Calcutta where he finds work and lodging with a printer, this is Ray directly reliving his youth, when he lived above his grandfather’s printing press.

Although the Apu films exist as a cohesive trilogy, Satyajit Ray never set out to make a series of three films. In fact, even after completing “Aparajito”, he was unsure whether there was sufficient material to warrant a third film.

This adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee’s work uses the last section from his novel “Pather Panchali” and the first section of its sequel, “Aparajito”.

The first Indian film to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Ray, who was attending the festival, was utterly flabbergasted as he felt that the film contained some serious flaws.

Plot

A boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.

Story

After living awhile in Benares, 10 year old Apu and his mother move in with her uncle in a small Bengali village. Apu enters a local school, where he does well. By the time he graduates, he has a scholarship to study at a college in Calcutta. So off he goes. His mother is torn by his leaving, and by his growing independence. She loves her son very much and wants him to succeed, but she does not want to be left alone. Written by John Oswalt <jao@jao.com>

Full Cast & Crew

Produced By:

Satyajit Ray known as producer

Cast:

Kamala Adhikari known as Mokshada

Lalchand Banerjee known as Lahiri (as Lalchand Bandyopadhyay)

Kali Bannerjee known as Kathak (as Kalipada Bandyopadhyay)

Kanu Bannerjee known as Harihar Ray (as Kanu Bandyopadhyay)

Karuna Bannerjee known as Sarbojaya Ray (as Karuna Bandyopadhyay)

Panchanan Bhattacharya

Debabrata Chakraborty

Harendrakumar Chakravarti known as Doctor

Hemanta Chatterjee known as Professor (as Hemanta Chattopadhyay)

Meenakshi Devi known as Pandey's wife

Subodh Ganguli known as Headmaster

Smaran Ghosal known as Apu – adolescent (as Smarankumar Ghoshal)

Charuprakash Ghosh known as Nanda

Santi Gupta known as Ginnima

Ajay Mitra known as Anil

Anil Mukherjee known as Abinash (as Anil Mukhopadhyay)

Shibnarayan Nag

Bhaganu Palwan known as Palwan

K.S. Pandey known as Pandey

Saraswati Pandey

Ranibala known as Teliginni

Kalicharan Roy known as Akhil, press owner (as Kali Roy)

Sudipta Roy known as Nirupama

Keya Sengupta

Pinaki Sengupta known as Apu (young)

Ramani Sengupta known as Bhabataran (as Ramaniranjan Sengupta)

Mani Srimani known as Inspector

Udayshankar Tiwari

Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database

Steven Wren comments

Steven Wren is from Los Angeles, CA/ 03 May 2013 Each of the three films of the Apu Trilogy exhibit the extraordinary quality of a documentary film on the conditions of life in India at the time they are set. I think this is what I like best in them through numerous viewings.The films are shot in locations that appear untouched by any art department- remote countryside in Bengal, the great cities – Benares and Calcutta.

The characters eke out an adequate life in their sufficient poverty – a life sustained by their faith and simple devotion to one another. At the same time there are moments that are pure cinema. There is an exquisite swish pan cut from Kurana (the mother) leaning against a tree, full of emptiness asApu has just left for Calcutta, to the swift dynamo of the train crossing a bridge with the trestles a blur. At the moment Kanu (the father) gives uphis soul a flock of birds alights over the Ganges. Later as Kurana isgradually sinking into the depths of loneliness – a sickness unto death -she has a vision of fireflies swirling around in the falling darkness.

These films traverse the drama of life and death touching gently on all of the salient points along the path. They put us face to face with the challenge of living in a world, which constantly gives us disappointment. At the same time there is a celebration of that ineffable quality which gives life meaning.