Collectively, these elements and the impact of PP’s social commentary laid the groundwork for India’s version of a filmic “New Wave” movement, a loose collection of subversive, socially conscious movies and moviemakers that contrasted with India’s commercialized musicals: Parallel Cinema. Italian neorealism trademarks can be seen everywhere in this movie, only differing in the film’s geographic location: The entire film is shot on-location and outdoors, the cast is composed of either non-professional or small-time actors, and the narrative focuses on the plights of the working poor. Given it’s subject matter and low-budget cinematography, one can draw connections between PP (and much of Ray’s filmography for that matter) to works of European New Wave filmmakers, most notably Italian neorealist features such as Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (1948). It’s a film that focuses on the daily lives, both the hardships and the pleasures, that the rural poor experience both in spite and because of their poverty.
The entire Apu trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959) of which Pather Panchali ( PP) is the first installment, is highly regarded and PP is acknowledged as the Bengali director’s magnum opus. While that’s about as unfair or inaccurate as reducing American cinema to Hollywood and Paul Thomas Anderson, or the national film stables of France down to Jean Renoir and the French New Wave, it still gets the biggest points across to newcomers: To understand regional film movements, you start with the major stereotypes and follow those recommendations to the cinematic genesis points of what has historically been the most influential works from within a particular film culture.Īs far as influential classics go, Ray’s Pather Panchali is one of the most recognizable auteur features of world cinema. Indian cinema lovers, particularly those who follow independent and/or South Indian film industries, often lament their national cinema, one of the most prolific in the history of film, is often boiled down to two main components in the public eye: Bollywood and Satyajit Ray.
Music by: Ravi Shankar || Cinematography: Subrata Mitra || Edited by: Dulal Dutta || Country: India || Language: Bengali Screenplay by: Satyajit Ray || Starring: Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta, Chunibala Devi, Tulsi Chakrabarti Directed by: Satyajit Ray || Produced by: Government of West Bengal
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