Apu Trilogy ( Aparajito / Pather Panchali / Apur Sansar ) ( The Unvanquished / Song of the Road / The World of Apu )

Apu Trilogy (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Aparajito / Pather Panchali / Apur Sansar
Alternate Title: The Unvanquished / Song of the Road / The World of Apu
Screened, competed or awarded at:
BAFTA Awards
Cannes Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Farsi ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
333 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
3-DVD Set
Box Set
Documentary
Featurette
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Posters
Production Notes
Storyboards
Black & White

Movie filmed in 1955-1959 and produced in:
India ( India, Eastern Asia )

Directed By:
Satyajit Ray

Written By:
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Satyajit Ray

Actors:
Kanu Bannerjee ..... Harihar Ray
Karuna Bannerjee ..... Sarbojaya Ray
Pinaki Sengupta ..... Apu (young)
Smaran Ghosal ..... Apu (adolescent)
Santi Gupta ..... Ginnima
Ramani Sengupta ..... Bhabataran
Ranibala ..... Teliginni
Sudipta Roy ..... Nirupama
Ajay Mitra ..... Anil
Charuprakash Ghosh ..... Nanda
Subodh Ganguli ..... Headmaster
Mani Srimani ..... Inspector
Hemanta Chatterjee ..... Professor
Kali Bannerjee ..... Kathak
Kalicharan Roy ..... Akhil, press owner
Subir Bannerjee ..... Apu
Uma Das Gupta ..... Durga
Chunibala Devi ..... Indir Thakrun
Runki Banerjee ..... Little Durga
Reba Devi ..... Seja Thakrun
Aparna Devi ..... Nilmoni's wife
Haren Banerjee ..... Chinibas, Sweet-seller
Tulsi Chakraborty ..... Prasanna, school teacher
Nibhanani Devi ..... Dasi Thakurun
Rama Gangopadhaya ..... Ranu Mookerjee
Roma Ganguli ..... Roma
Binoy Mukherjee ..... Baidyanath Majumdar
Harimohan Nag ..... Doctor
Kshirod Roy ..... Priest
Soumitra Chatterjee ..... Apurba Roy
Sharmila Tagore ..... Aparna
Alok Chakravarty ..... Kajal
Swapan Mukherjee ..... Pulu
Dhiresh Majumdar ..... Shashinarayan
Sefalika Devi ..... Shashinarayan's wife
Dhiren Ghosh ..... Landlord
Shanti Bhattacherjee ..... Office Associate
Abhijit Chatterjee ..... Aparna's Brother
Belarani Devi ..... Apu's Neighbor (as Belarani)

Synopsis:

Pather Panchali (Song of the Road):

Pather Panchali (Father Panchali), Indian director Satyajit Ray's first feature film, relates the story of an impoverished Bengalese family. When the father (Karuna Bannerjee) leaves for the city to pursue a writing career, the mother (Karuna Banerji) is left with the responsibility of caring for the rest of the brood. Gradually, the film's true central character emerges: Apu (Subir Banerji), the family's son. Though excruciatingly realistic at times, Pather Panchali takes an occasional timeout to dwell on the purely cinematic. For example, when the mother receives a postcard bearing good news, Ray dissolves to a pond, where a pair of water skates scamper about. The music by Ravi Shankar at first seems to be at odds with the action; soon, however, we come to accept the music as a logical outgrowth of the events at hand. A multiple award winner, Pather Panchali was the first of Ray's celebrated 'Apu Trilogy' (the other two entries were 1956's Aparajito and 1959's The World of Apu). The film was also released as The Song of the Road and The Lament of the Path.

Aparajito (The Unvanquished):

The Unvanquished is the second of Indian director Satyajit Ray's 'Apu Trilogy' (the first was Pather Panchali). Ray's young protagonist Apu is permitted a formal education over the gentle objections of his mother, who'd wanted him to be priest. Eventually, Apu earns a university scholarship and arrives in the teeming metropolis of Calcutta. Overwhelmed by life in the Big City, the impressionable country boy forgets about his loving mother. By the time Apu returns to his home, he finds it's too late to pick up pieces. Smaran Ghosal plays the adult Apu, with Pinaki Sen Gupta portraying his younger counterpart in the flashback. Aparajito was derived from a novel by Bibhutibhusan. The film also features a musical score by Ravi Shankar.

Apur Sansar (The World of Apu):

Originally released in India as Apur Sansar, The World of Apu was the last of Satyajit Ray's 'Apu Trilogy'. Pather Panchali (1955) covered Apu's early years in his native village, while Aparajito (1956) detailed his school years, and the tragedy that temporarily brought him back home. Now Apu (Soumitra Chaterjee), having abandoned college due to lack of money, hopes to find success as a writer. He is sidetracked from this goal when he meets Aparna (Sharmila Tagore), whose impending wedding is cancelled when the groom turns out to be mentally unstable. To save Aparna from a custom-dictated life of spinsterhood, Apu marries her himself. When she dies giving birth, the grieving Apu cannot bring himself to meet his son, and in fact deserts the boy for five years before learning how to gracefully accept his lot in life. Like the other entries in the Trilogy, The World of Apu was based on Bibhutbhusan Bandopadhaya's semi-autobiographical novel Aparajito. In the manner typical of his earlier works, director Ray adopts a straightforward, realistic approach, avoiding any sort of attention-getting directorial techniques, the better to simply tell his story.

Pather Panchali (Song of the Road):

Sometime in the early years of the century, a boy, Apu, is born to a poor Brahmin family in a village in Bengal. The father, a poet and priest, cannot earn enough to keep his family going. Apu's sister, Durga, is forever stealing guavas from the neighbour's orchards. All these add to the daily struggles of the mother's life, notwithstanding her constant bickering with old aunt who lives with the family.

Aparajito (The Unvanquished):

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.

Apur Sansar (The World of Apu):

Apu is a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer. An old college friend talks him into a visit up-country to a village wedding. This changes his life, for when the bridegroom turns out to be mad, Apu's friend asks him to become the husband! After initial revulsion at the idea, Apu agrees. Apu takes his exquisite bridge, Aparna, back to Calcutta. But Aparna dies in childbirth, Apu leaves Calcutta, crazy with grief, and his son Kajal is left abandoned with his wife's parents. Only after a long period of total indifference to worldly responsibilities, does Apu become capable of returning to the world.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 01 April, 2008.

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