Aparajito ***** (1956, Pinaki Sengupta, Smaran Ghosal, Karuna Bannerjee, Kanu Bannerjee, Kanu Bannerjee, Kamala Adhikari) – Classic Movie Review 7739

Writer-producer-director Satyajit Ray’s 1956 Indian masterpiece Aparajito [The Unvanquished] is the wonderfully touching middle episode in Ray’s majestic epic family drama the Apu trilogy, which takes the saga from the hero’s infancy of Pather Panchali (1955) to the adulthood of The World of Apu (1959). Aparajito won the Golden Lion best film prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1957 for Satyajit Ray, as well as the FIPRESCI Prize and New Cinema Award.

In the screenplay by Ray based on the novels by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay [Bibhutibhushan Banerji], not really that much happens for nearly two hours. After his father’s death, young Apu is taken to the city of Benares by his mother (Karuna Bannerjee) and later comes home to start his schooling in his small Bengali village, living with the mother’s uncle (Kanu Bannerjee). Eventually he leaves home to study at a college in Calcutta and his mother faces life alone.

But it is all about people, feelings, relationships and atmosphere. Ray’s subtle depiction of the bond between the central characters, especially the mother son relationship, and the juxtaposition of village and town life, both colourfully depicted, make for a superb film.

Aparajito is beautifully played and strikingly photographed in black and white by Subrata Mitra, with a notable score by Ravi Shankar. Pinaki Sengupta plays Apu as a boy and Smaran Ghosal as an adolescent.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7739

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