Aparajito

All you want to know about Aparajito

Aparajito

Aparajito DVD
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Written by Satyajit Ray Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (story)
Starring Kanu Banerjee
Karuna Banerjee
Pinaki Sengupta
Smaran Ghosal
Music by Ravi Shankar
Release date(s) Flag of India 1956
Flag of the United States 25 April 1959 (NYC)
Running time 110 min
Language Bengali
Preceded by Pather Panchali
Followed by Apur Sansar
IMDb profile

Aparajito (Bengali: অপরাজিত, Ôporajito tr. The Unvanquished, ) is an award-winning 1956 Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is the second part of Ray's Apu trilogy, and is adapted from the last one-fifth of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee's novel Pather Panchali and the first one-third of its sequel Aparajita.[1] It focuses on the life of Apu from childhood to college. The film stars Kanu Banerjee and Karuna Banerjee.

Contents

Plot

The film begins with Apu's family getting settled in an apartment close to a ghat in Benares. Here Apu (Pinaki Sengupta) makes new friends in no time. While his mother Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee) stays at home, his father Harihar (Kanu Banerjee) works as a priest. On a Diwali day, Harihar develops a fever and takes rest lying in bed, as Apu comforts him. However, the next day, he leaves for his work as usual towards the ghat, ignoring his wife's advice to take more rest. While coming back to home, he collapses on the stairs of the ghat, and dies soon afterwards.

In Harihar's absence, it becomes Sarbajaya's responsibility to earn money for the family. She starts working as a maidservant. A relative invites them to return to their ancestral village. They come back and settle in a village called Mansapota. Apu asks his mother to send him to a school.

Apu studies dilligently in the school. He receives a scholarship to go to Calcutta. Sarbajaya, though impressed, does not want to let her son leave. She soon gives in, albeit reluctantly, and helps him prepare to leave. From this point, an eternal conflict starts between the young man's ambitions and the mother who loves him.

Apu (Smaran Ghosal) starts working at a printing press after school, in order to make a living. Sarbajaya is desperate for his news and expects visits from him, but Apu manages to visit only a few times and feels out of place in Mansapota. Sarbajaya becomes seriously ill but does not disclose about her illness to Apu. When he finally comes to know about her poor health, he leaves for the village and finds that she has already died. A relative requests him to stay back there and to work as a priest. But, Apu rejects the idea and returns to Calcutta. He performs the last rites for his mother there.

Cast

  • Pinaki Sengupta as young Apu
  • Smaran Ghosal as adolescent Apu
  • Kanu Banerjee as Harihar, Apu's father
  • Karuna Banerjee as Sarbajaya, Apu's mother

Awards and recognition

An alternate DVD cover
An alternate DVD cover

Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the 1957 Venice Film Festival. Ray got Golden Gate Awards for the Best Director in San Francisco International Film Festival in 1958 for this film.[2] The film won "Bodil Award: Best Non-European Film of the Year" from Denmark in 1967.[3] In 2005, The Apu Trilogy was included in Time magazine's All-time 100 greatest movies list.[4] Roger Ebert has included The Apu Trilogy in his book Great Movies.[citation needed]

Critical reception

Prolific web reviewer James Berardinelli wrote in 1996,

"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."[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Robinson 2003, p. 94
  2. ^ "Aparajito". San Francisco Film Society. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
  3. ^ "Bodilprisen (1960-69)". Filmmedarbejderforeningen. Retrieved on 2008-05-29. (Danish)
  4. ^ "All-time 100 Movies". Time. Time Inc (2005). Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
  5. ^ James Berardinelli. Reel Reviews URL accessed on 3 April, 2006

Bibliography

  • Robinson, A (2003), Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker, I. B. Tauris, ISBN 1860649653.

External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Satyajit Ray
Pather Panchali (1955) • Aparajito (1957) • Parash Pathar (1958) • Jalsaghar (1958) • The World of Apu (1959) • Devi (1960) • Teen Kanya (1961) • Rabindranath Tagore (1961) • Kanchenjungha (1962) • Abhijan (1962) • Mahanagar (1963) • Charulata (1964) • Two (1965) • Kapurush (1965) • Mahapurush (1966) • Nayak (1966) • Chiriyakhana (1967) • Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969) • Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) • Pratidwandi (1971) • Seemabaddha (1971) • Sikkim (1971) • The Inner Eye (1972) • Distant Thunder (1973) • Sonar Kella (1974) • Jana Aranya (1976) • Bala (1976) • The Chess Players (1977) • Joi Baba Felunath (1978) • Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980) • Pikoor Diary (1981) • Sadgati (1981) • Ghare Baire (1984) • Sukumar Ray (1987) • Ganashatru (1989) • Shakha Proshakha (1990) • Agantuk (1991)
v • d • e
Cinema of Bengal
History
Directors
Actors
Films
Preceded by
Ordet (1955)
(no award in 1956)		 Golden Lion winner
1957		 Succeeded by
Rickshaw Man
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aparajito"

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