Apur Panchali

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Apur Panchali
Apur Panchali.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Kaushik Ganguly
Produced by Shree Venkatesh Films
Starring Parambrata Chatterjee
Ardhendu Banarjee
Parno Mittra
Gaurav Chakrabarty
Cinematography Sirsha Ray
Edited byBodhaditya Banerjee
Music by Indradeep Dasgupta
Release dates
  • 25 November 2013 (2013-11-25)(IFFI) [1]
  • 25 April 2014 (2014-04-25)(India)
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali

Apur Panchali is a 2013 Bengali film directed by Kaushik Ganguly and produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. It is based on the life of Subir Banerjee, the actor who played Apu in Pather Panchali (1955), the first film of Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. [2] [3] Director Kaushik Ganguly won the award of best director for Apur Panchali in the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in November 2013. [4] The director mentioned in an interview that he found similarities between certain parts of the life of Subir Banerjee and the iconic character Apu. [3] The film uses several minutes of footage from Pather Panchali in its narrative.

Contents

Plot

The film follows the journey of Subir Banerjee, the child actor who portrayed "Apu" of Satyajit Ray's masterpiece Pather Panchali. The events take place in two time periods. Present-day action is shot in color, whereas past events are in black and white. Parallels are drawn between Subir's life and the Apu trilogy throughout the film.

The film opens with film school student Arka (Gaurav Chakrabarty) coming to deliver a letter—an invitation to attend a prestigious award ceremony in Germany—to the older Subir Banerjee (Ardhendu Banerjee). Now retired, lost-in-the-crowd Subir initially doesn't want to receive the letter, but eventually agrees after Arka convinces him. Subir recounts his days working on Pather Panchali to Arka. They visit an old tumbledown house where the film was shot. Arka collects a brick from the house as a souvenir. Later, as they prepare for their journey to Germany, Subir narrates his life story to Arka.

After Subir's brother went away to work in Dhanbad, Subir, now in his 20s, had to give up his football career to take care of his ill father and help his mother in her household chores. On the advice of his friend, Subir married Ashima (Parno Mittra), the daughter of a wealthy villager in Burdwan, after his father died. Two years into their marriage, Ashima became pregnant.

In the present, Subir and Arka open up to each other. Arka talks about his late father, whom he deeply admired. Subir reveals that due to jaundice, Ashima gave premature birth and the baby died soon after. Ashima went into depression and died too. Subir became heart-broken and isolated himself.

As Arka and Subir board the plane to Germany, Arka thanks Subir, for this is his first business-class trip; to which Subir replies, that he ought to thank "Apu", as it is his first time on a plane.

Subir, on request of his mother, comes to return all of Ashima's belonging to her native house. Her grandmother asks him to bathe in the local pond and stay for lunch. Subir goes to the pond and as he prepares to bathe, a young boy asks him if his name is Apu, to which Subir weepingly nods (which actually means that the young boy is none other than Arka!)

As the credits roll, Subir Banerjee is shown being congratulated at the Internationaler Preis für Film- und Medienmusik, Germany.

Cast

Soundtrack

The Music and Background Score of the film is composed by music composer Indradeep Dasgupta. The background score of the film has been appreciated widely. On 4 April 2014 - a song from the soundtrack titled Apur Paayer Chhaap sung by Arijit Singh was released.

Track listing
No.TitleSingerLength
1."Apur Paayer Chhaap" Arijit Singh 3:46
2."Apur Paayer Chhaap (Unplugged)" Arijit Singh 3:22

Release

The film was screened at the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in November 2013 and was received warmly. Kaushik Ganguly received the Best Director Award for the film there.

The film was released on 25 April 2014, and gained wide critical acclaim.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Apu Trilogy</i> 1955–59 Indian film series by Satyajit Ray

The Apu Trilogy comprises three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956) and The World of Apu (1959). The original music for the films was composed by Ravi Shankar.

<i>Pather Panchali</i> 1955 film by Satyajit Ray

Pather Panchali is a 1955 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray in his directoral debut and produced by the Government of West Bengal. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name and features Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta, Pinaki Sengupta and Chunibala Devi in major roles. The first film in The Apu Trilogy, Pather Panchali depicts the childhood travails of the protagonist Apu and his elder sister Durga amidst the harsh village life of their poor family.

<i>Aparajito</i> 1956 film by Satyajit Ray

Aparajito is a 1956 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, and is the second part of The Apu Trilogy. It is adapted from the first half of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee's novel Aparajito. It starts off where the previous film Pather Panchali (1955) ended, with Apu's family moving to Varanasi, and chronicles Apu's life from childhood to adolescence in college.

<i>The World of Apu</i> 1959 film by Satyajit Ray

Apur Sansar, also known as The World of Apu, is a 1959 Indian Bengali-language drama film produced, written and directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based on the second half of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's novel Aparajito. Following Pather Panchali (1955) and Aparajito (1956), The World of Apu is the final part of Ray's The Apu Trilogy, about the childhood and early adulthood of a young Bengali named Apu in early twentieth century India. The World of Apu stars Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore ; the duo would go on to appear in many subsequent Ray films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satyajit Ray filmography</span>

Satyajit Ray was an Indian filmmaker who worked prominently in Bengali cinema and who has often been regarded as one of the greatest and most influential directors in the History of cinema. Ray was born in Calcutta to a Bengali family and started his career as a junior visualiser. His meeting with French film director Jean Renoir, who had come to Calcutta in 1949 to shoot his film The River (1951), and his 1950 visit to London, where he saw Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di biciclette (1948), inspired Ray to become a film-maker. Ray made his directorial debut in 1955 with Pather Panchali and directed 36 films, comprising 29 feature films, five documentaries, and two short films.

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Karuna Banerjee was a Bengali actress best known for her role in Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959) as the long suffering mother, Sarbajaya. She was nominated for Best Actress at the 1959 BAFTA Awards for her performance in Aparajito (1956), the second part of The Apu Trilogy. She appeared in a number of other films after that, including Ray's Devi (1960) and Kanchenjungha (1962).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subir Banerjee</span> Indian actor

Subir Banerjee is an Indian actor who played Apu in Satyajit Ray's Bengali film Pather Panchali, the first installment of The Apu Trilogy.

<i>Kailashey Kelenkari</i> (film) 2007 film by Sandip Ray

Kailashey Kelenkari is an Indian Bengali thriller film directed by Sandip Ray based on the novel of the same name by Satyajit Ray. The film was released on 21 December 2007. Satyajit Ray visited the famous Ellora Caves near Aurangabad around 1940−41. Ray was so fascinated with the beauty of the Kailash Temple and the caves that he was inspired by it when he penned his crime thriller Kailashe Kelenkari. It is the second film of the New Feluda franchise as well as the sequel of Bombaiyer Bombete.

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Kaushik Ganguly is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor in Bengali cinema. Multiple National Film Awards winner Actor-Director, Kaushik Ganguly is known for making films that explore various aspects sexuality, like Ushnatar Janye (2003), which deals with a lesbian relationship, and Arekti Premer Golpo (2010), which examines transgender identity & Nagarkirtan (2017), an LGBTQ Movie. In 2019, Film Companion ranked Ridhi Sen's performance in Nagarkirtan which was directed by Ganguly, among 100 Greatest Performances of the decade.

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References

  1. http://www.iffi.nic.in/Program%20IFFI-2013%20-%201st%20half%2010.11%20(2).pdf [ dead link ]
  2. Ganguly, Ruman (29 March 2013). "Parambrata starts shooting for Apur Panchali". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Kaushik Ganguly's next film on Pather Panchali's child artiste". NDTV. 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  4. "Kaushik Ganguly named Best Director for Apur Panchali at IFFI 2013". Dear Cinema. 30 November 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.