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Pather Panchali (Song of the Road), 1955 |
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Film booklet cover |
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Production: Government of West Bengal |
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Screenplay and Direction: Satyajit Ray |
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Based on a novel by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee |
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Music: Ravi Shankar |
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Photography: Subrata Mitra |
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Art Director: Bansi Chandragupta |
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Editing: Dulal Dutta |
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Sound: Bhupen Ghosh |
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Duration: 115 mins |
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Date of release in India: 26th August 1955. B&W |
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| Durga and Apu |
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Cast: Kanu Banerjee (Harihar), Karuna Banerjee (Sarbajaya), Subir Banerjee (Apu), Uma Dasgupta (Durga), Runki Banerjee (Child Durga), Chunibala Devi (Indir Thakrun), Reba Devi (Sejo Thakrun), Aparna Devi (Nilmoni’s wife), Tulsi Chakravarty (Prasanna, schoolteacher), Benoy Mukherjee (Baidyanath Majumdar), Haren Banerjee (Srinibas, the sweetseller), Harimohan Nag (Doctor), Haridhan Nag (Chakraborty), Nibhanoni Devi (Dasi), Kshirod Roy (Priest), Roma Ganguli (Roma). |
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Sarbajaya, Durga, Apu |
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| Awards |
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President’s Gold and Silver medals, New Delhi, 1955 |
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Best Human Document, Cannes Film Festival, 1956 |
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Diploma of Merit, Edinburgh Film Festival, 1956 |
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Vatican Award, Rome Film Festival, 1956 |
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Golden Carbao, Manila Film Festival, 1956 |
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Best Film & Best Director, San Francisco Film Festival, 1957 |
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Selznick Golden Laurel, Berlin Film Festival, 1957 |
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Critics’ Award: Best Film of the Year, Stratford (Canada), 1958 |
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Best Film, Vancouver Film Festival, 1958 |
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Cultural Award: Best Foreign Film, New York Film Festival, 1959 |
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Kinema Jumpo Award: Best Foreign Film, Tokyo Film Festival, 1966 |
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Bodil Award: Best Non-European Film of the Year, Denmark Film Festival, 1966 |
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| The Story |
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| The story revolves around a poor Brahmin family in the early years of the 20th century in Bengal. The father, Harihar, is a priest who is unable to make ends meet to keep his family together. The mother, Sarbajaya, has the chief responsibility for raising her mischievous daughter Durga and caring for her elderly sister-in-law Indir, who is a distant relative and whose independent spirit sometimes irritates her. With the arrival of Apu in the family, scenes of happiness and play enrich their daily life. Life, however, is a struggle, so Harihar has to find a new job and departs, leaving Sarbajaya alone to deal with the stress of this family's survival, Durga's illness and the turbulence of the monsoon. The final disaster, Durga's death, causes the family to leave their village in search of a new life in Benares. In spite of poverty and death, the film |
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Aunt Indir, Durga |
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| leaves one not depressed but moved, filled with the beauty, and subtle radiance of life. The film suggests an intimate relationship between loss and growth or destruction and creation. |
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| View Clips |
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| Ray's comment on this film: |
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| "It is true. For one year I was trying to sell the scenario, to peddle it... since nobody would buy it, I decided to start anyway, because we wanted some footage to prove that we were not incapable of making films. So I got some money against my insurance policies. We started shooting, and the fund ran out very soon. Then I sold some art books, some records and some of my wife's jewellery. Little trickles of money came, and part of the salary I was earning as art director. All we had to spend on was raw stock, hire of a camera and our conveniences, transport and so on... I had nothing more to pawn." |
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| Contributed by DKB and AKD |
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