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Aparajito
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Aparajito | |
|---|---|
 Aparajito DVD |
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| Directed by | Satyajit Ray |
| Written by | Satyajit Ray, from stories by Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee |
| Starring | Kanu Bannerjee Karuna Bannerjee Pinaki Sengupta Smaran Ghosal |
| Release date(s) |  1956 25 April 1959 (NYC) |
| Running time | 110 min |
| Language | Bengali |
| Preceded by | Pather Panchali |
| Followed by | Apur Sansar |
| IMDb profile | |
Aparajito (Bengali: অপরাজিত, Ôporajito, meaning "The Unvanquished") is an award-winning 1956 Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is the second part of Ray's Apu trilogy, and is adapted from the last section of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee's Pather Panchali and the first section of its sequel Aparajito. It focuses on the life of Apu from childhood to college. The film stars Kanu Bannerjee and Karuna Bannerjee.
Contents |
The film begins with Apu's family getting settled in a flat near a ghat in Benares, where Apu quickly makes new friends. While Sarbajaaya (Apu's mother) stays at home, Harihar (his father) works as a priest. On Diwali, however, Harihar is in bed with a fever and Apu is sent to comfort him. Disregarding his wife's advice, he leaves for the ghat the next day, collapses on the stairs on the way home, and dies soon afterwards.
Because Harihar is no longer there to protect the family, it is up to Sarbajaaya to make a living as a maidservant and manage the family. Sarbajaaya and Apu are invited to return to their home village by a relative, but they move to another with her mistress. Once they are finally settled in a village called Mansapota, Apu asks his mother to pay for him to start going to school, where he studies diligently.
Gradually, he is offered a scholarship to go to Kolkata. Sarbajaaya, though impressed, does not want to let her son leave. She soon gives in, albeit reluctantly, and helps him prepare to leave. From this point, the film becomes increasingly poignant as Ray films an eternal struggle between the young man's ambitions and the mother who loves him.
Apu must work at a printing press after school in order to make a living. Sarbajaaya is desperate for news and visits from her son, but Apu can only visit a few times and feels out of place in Mansapota. Sarbajaaya becomes seriously ill but refuses to tell Apu; when he finally learns the truth, Apu leaves for Mansapota only to find that he has been orphaned. Rejecting a relative's plea that he stay and become a Brahmin priest, he decides to return to Kolkata and perform the last rites for his mother there.
Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the 1957 Venice Film Festival. It was later nominated as one of the 100 greatest movies by Time magazine,[citation needed] and is discussed in a chapter on the Apu trilogy by Roger Ebert in his book Great Movies.
Prolific web reviewer James Berardinelli wrote in 1996,
- "Aparajito was filmed forty years ago, half way around the world, yet the themes and emotions embedded in the narrative are strikingly relevant to modern Western society (thus explaining why it is called a "timeless classic")... Aparajito is an amazing motion picture. Its rich, poetic composition is perfectly wed to the sublime emotional resonance of the narrative. For those who have seen Pather Panchali, Aparajito provides a nearly-flawless continuation of the journey begun there. Yet, for those who missed Ray's earlier effort, this film loses none of its impact. On its own or as part of the Apu Trilogy, Aparajito should not be missed."[1]
- ^ James Berardinelli. Reel Reviews URL accessed on 3 April, 2006
Pather Panchali (1955) • Aparajito (1957) • Parash Pathar (1958) • Jalsaghar (1958) • Apur Sansar (1959) • Devi (1960) • Teen Kanya (1961) • Rabindranath Tagore (1961) • Kanchenjungha (1962) • Abhijan (1962) • Mahanagar (1963) • Charulata (1964) • Two (1965) • Kapurush (1965) • Mahapurush (1966) • Nayak (1966) • Chiriyakhana (1967) • Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969) • Aranyer Din Ratri (1970) • Pratidwandi (1971) • Seemabaddha (1971) • Sikkim (1971) • The Inner Eye (1972) • Ashani Sanket (1973) • Sonar Kella (1974) • Jana Aranya (1976) • Bala (1976) • Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) • Joi Baba Felunath (1978) • Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980) • Pikoor Diary (1981) • Sadgati (1981) • Ghare Baire (1984) • Sukumar Ray (1987) • Ganashatru (1989) • Shakha Proshakha (1990) • Agantuk (1991)
| Preceded by Ordet (1955) (no award in 1956) |
Golden Lion winner 1957 |
Succeeded by Rickshaw Man |