The beauty of Satyajit Ray movies

Since the last few days, I have developed a keen interest in watching Bengali movies. It’s not about watching any Bengali movie but the ones directed by Mr Satyajit Ray. My association with Satyajit Ray movies started a couple of months back when I watched the movie ”Shakha Prosakha” After watching the movie I came across a few articles which stated that this movie was directed in the ’90s and is a part of the so-called trilogy which included Ganashatru and Agnatuk. Both of these movies were released around the same time. I watched Ganashatru and Agantuk both, but of all the three films I liked Agantuk the most. I was enthralled by Utpal Dutta’s performance in Agantuk. I have always cherished in fact enjoyed watching Utpal Dutta in movies like Golmaal or Naram Garam. Never had I thought that he was such a fantastic actor and he was not a stereotyped actor limited to comic roles but a matured and one of the finest actors of those times. His casting in Agantuk was perfect, his portrayal of that character in Agantuk is beyond words. Well let’s leave it for another day when we talk about Agnatuk and Mr Utpal Dutta.

After watching this trilogy, I started looking for more Satyajit Ray movies. I developed my own watchlist and I ended up watching some of the masterpieces such as ”Ghare Baire” ”Pratidwandi” ”Jana Aranya” ”Seemabaddha” ”Guphi Gayen Bagha Bayen” ”Hirak Rajar Deshe” ”Joy Baba Felunath”

As a Bengali, I feel embarrassed to admit that it took me 32 years of my life to come across such masterpieces by Mr Satyajit Ray. Nevertheless, I feel contented having watched these movies when I can relate with them. Although it’s my personal opinion , I firmly believe that we need maturity and intellect to understand and appreciate movies directed by Mr Stayajit Ray.

Having said about so many things I would like to bring your attention on the trilogy by Mr Satyajit Ray which I feel is eternal. Any guesses? I am talking about the Apu Trilogy starting with ” Pather Panchali” followed by ”Aparajito” and ”Apur Sansar”.

When I started watching Pather Panchali I developed an interest in its storyline and its characters. The story is about a poor Brahmin family where the head of the family Mr Harihar Roy is an educated Brahmin and is looking to meet ends for his family. His wife Sarbajya who tries to manage the family with her husband’s meagre income and also look after two beautiful and innocent kids ”Durga” and ” Apu”.The family of four seem to be contented and happy in their present situation. It’s very difficult to find out such a family nowadays. Well, I must not forget about one more character in the family ” pisima” that is Indir Thakrun. It’s difficult to describe pisima in words, it’s only when one watches the movie, one gets to know about this character and how Mr Satyajit Ray has searched for such a character and cast her in this role. Coming back to our main characters, the learned Brahmin Harihar is a free thinker. He feels that his education, his knowledge will be duly rewarded but the same doesn’t happen and soon he has to leave his native looking for a job to meet his families needs. Sarbajya his wife is always worried about her family and keeps on reminding her husband about the present situation and family requirements. She is like every other homemaker who wants to ensure security of her family along with a decent future for her kids.

Durga and Apu are the most beautiful and interesting part of this masterpiece as the story revolves around them. Their childhood and innocence have been so well captured on the screen that at any point of time you can not think of any other child actor/actress portraying the role of Apu or Durga even if a remake of this movie is thought about. I guess you all are aware that all characters of this movie were facing the camera for the first time and none of them was a seasoned actor or actress.

There are a number of scenes in the movie where I was left spellbound just by the simplicity with which the scene was portrayed on screen. I thought as if a bunch of actors were told to be themselves on the screen and the cameraman was capturing the perfect moments. I would like to share a few scenes with you which I liked the most. There is a scene in the movie where a sweet vendor comes to their village and Apu and Durga watch him hoping that they would convince their father for some money so as to buy some sweets. Even after a futile attempt of getting some money and buyingbsweets, they are not disappointed and decide to follow the sweet vendor and find their happiness in that. A subtle message for all of us that happiness is a perspective, you can always be happy if you want to be. Another scene where Apu in his pathshala plays tic tac toe on his slate when his teacher is giving some dictations in the class. Finally, when they are caught by the teacher and are punished we all are reminded that in our school days we all have done such kind of mischief and even we have been punished. All these things make us more fond of our childhood days making us nostalgic at times. One more scene I would like to share is when Apu and Durga while wandering in the fields looking for their cow come across the railway track. The joy on their faces of watching a train is priceless. Such is the beauty of childhood where everything is so exciting and life is simple. All such aspects of childhood have been captured amazingly by Mr Ray.

Relationship between siblings is another angle which has been depicted beautifully in this movie. For instance, when someone comes.to their house complaining about Durga, little Apu’s gestures to her sister for not entering in the house are worth a watch.

I have tried to pen down some of my favourite scenes of the movie Pather Panchali but it’s my sincere request to all of you to definitely watch this beautiful movie.

Life is a roller coaster ride, everything in life doesn’t happen as we expect. Life always has it’s own plan. As the story progresses we see that Harihar is out of town since months and has not communicated with his family. Sarbajya is trying to feed her kids by selling off whatever she has. At this juncture, they are struck with a tragedy. Durga falls sick with fever and in the absence of proper medical treatment, she succumbs to high fever. In the meantime when Durga is ill, Haraihar does write to her wife that he has got a source of income and even saved some money so he will be back soon. Although Harihar is late in this race against time and realises on reaching that his beloved daughter has passed away. That’s why I have mentioned earlier that life is a roller coaster ride, just when things had begun to settle for them, they were caught in an unexpected storm. After Durga’s death, there is a scene where Apu starts managing his daily activities on his own which earlier were supported by his mother or sister Durga indicating that Apu has matured at a very tender age due to family crisis.

What I liked about Satyajit Ray movies is that the characters are built up, the storyline takes a pace and suddenly when you least expect a twist or turn you are treated with one. But the beauty of twists or turns or tragedy in his movies is that through these scenes he will constantly ask questions and evaluate your conscience. It’s like you are given a situation and you have to act, your actions will decide the depth of your principles, morals , ethics, values.

After watching the movie I asked myself a few questions which I would like to ask you also. Was it important for Harihar to leave his family for earning money and let his family tide over the crisis all alone? Which is more important money or family or both are interdependent? Is it difficult to maintain a balance between family and one’s ambitions? Well many such questions arise in my mind but I don’t have answer for such subjective questions since these are situational.

Finally, Harihar moves to Kashi with his family to make a living. He has to move out of his ancestral house which he has tried to protect so long. Is there a message in this stating subtly that one has to cross boundaries and leave emotions behind if one wants to progress in life. For the young their progress and ambition may seem important but for the old it’s the emotions that matter. It’s a debatable point, which we can discuss in another blog.

When I started writing this blog I had planned to cover Aparajito and Apur Sansar so as to cover this trilogy in the same blog. But now I feel that all three movies deserve a separate blog and it would be injustice on my part to squeeze such masterclass in one blog.

This is the first blog I am writing. Hope you all will like this. Your comments are most welcome and keep reading for may such interesting blogs.