'Pather Panchali' enters 50th year

Kolkata, Aug 27 (IANS): In 1952, a 35-year-old advertisement professional began shooting a film that had no songs, no dances, no love interests but only a small boy and a young girl as the central characters.

The book on which the film was based was a classic. But back in those days, when cinema was a collage of melodrama and music, no producer was willing to bet his money on this strange film.

So the young Satyajit Ray began selling his wife's jewellery and his music collection and dug into his savings to try to realise his celluloid dream that he called "Pather Panchali" (Song of the Road).

But he soon ran out of money and the project was stalled. But Ray was destined to be great and "Pather Panchali" the face of Indian cinema.

To his rescue came the West Bengal government, which decided to finance his film. "Pather Panchali" opened in Kolkata Aug 26, 1955, in three theatres.

Set in the early 20th century in a remote village in Bengal, the film deals with a shockingly destitute Brahmin family.

The head of the family, a priest - Harihar - his wife Sarbajaya, daughter Durga and his aged cousin Indir Thakrun live on the edge of poverty, coping with the unkind taunts of their neighbours and the terrible aftermath of a natural catastrophe.

Harihar is frequently away from home on work. The wife is raising her mischievous daughter Durga and caring for the elderly cousin, whose independent spirit sometimes irritates her.

Then Apu is born to Sarbajaya. With the little boy's arrival, happiness, play and exploration uplift daily life.

Durga and Apu share an intimate bond. The rambunctious kids follow a candy seller whose wares they cannot afford, enjoy the theatre, discover a train and witness a marriage ceremony.

They even face death of their aunt - Indir Thakrun.

One monsoon, Durga falls ill after a joyous dance in the rains. On a stormy day, when Harihar is away on work, Durga dies.

On Harihar's return, the family leaves their village in search of a new life in the Hindu holy city of Benaras. The film closes with an image of Harihar, his wife and son Apu, slowly moving away in an ox cart.

"Pather Panchali" is Ray's debut film, and the first film of his Apu trilogy. The other two films, "Aparajito" and "Apur Sansar", follow Apu as the son, the man and finally the father.

"Manik-da (Satyajit Ray) has made better crafted films, but the raw human emotion of "Pather Panchali" has no parallel," says Soumitra Chatterjee, who came to figure as the chief protagonist in many later day Ray films.

"Pather Panchali" won numerous awards in Cannes, London, Edinburgh, Manila, Rome, Berlin, San Francisco, Vancouver, Tokyo, Stratford and New York. It won the Indian President's Gold Medal in 1955.

Says Madhavi Mukherjee, immortalised as Charulata in Ray's film by the same name: "I saw 'Pather Panchali' with my sister with a Rs.1.25 ticket.

"Bengali films till then were more of an aural experience. But Pather Panchali was a realisation that cinema has a distinct language. It enlightened me."

Ray's son, Sandip, only a child when his father's masterpiece was released in 1955, saw the film with his mother. He doesn't remember anything of it now because he was only three years old.

Bijoya Ray, Sandip's mother, however says he had watched the whole film quietly. "Initially, I was to have seen the night show of the first day after putting Sandip to sleep," Bijoya says.

But she couldn't wait and rushed with her son to the premier show at 6 p.m.