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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (novel)
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (screenplay)
more
Release Date:
22 September 1958 (USA) more
Plot:
Sometime in the early years of the century, a boy, Apu, is born to a poor Brahmin family in a village in Bengal... more | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 7 wins & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
Slumdog Millionaire gets 10 nominations at the Oscars
(From BollywoodHungama. 23 January 2009, 1:35 AM, PST)
Shoojit Sircar to meet Lata-Asha (If only they would!)
(From BollywoodHungama. 8 December 2008, 6:06 AM, PST)
User Comments:
One of the best more (54 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Kanu Bannerjee | ... | Harihar Ray | |
| Karuna Bannerjee | ... | Sarbojaya Ray | |
| Subir Bannerjee | ... | Apu | |
| Uma Das Gupta | ... | Durga | |
| Chunibala Devi | ... | Indir Thakrun | |
| Runki Banerjee | ... | Little Durga | |
| Reba Devi | ... | Seja Thakrun | |
| Aparna Devi | ... | Nilmoni's wife | |
| rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Haren Banerjee | ... | Chinibas, Sweet-seller | |
| Tulsi Chakraborty | ... | Prasanna, school teacher | |
| Nibhanani Devi | ... | Dasi Thakurun | |
| Rama Gangopadhaya | ... | Ranu Mookerjee | |
| Roma Ganguli | ... | Roma | |
| Binoy Mukherjee | ... | Baidyanath Majumdar | |
| Harimohan Nag | ... | Doctor | |
| Kshirod Roy | ... | Priest | |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Song of the Little Road (International: English title)
Song of the Road
The Lament of the Path
The Saga of the Road
more
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
India:122 min (within Bengal) | Argentina:119 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Netherlands:AL | Netherlands:AL (re-release) (2008) | UK:U | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Québec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario)
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Legend has it that on the first day of shooting, Satyajit Ray had never directed a scene, his cameraman Subrata Mitra had never photographed one and none of his child actors had even been screentested for their roles. more
Quotes:
Durga:
Listen...
Apu:
What is it?
Durga:
When I'm better, we'll go and look at the trains again. We'll get a good look this time.
more
Soundtrack:
It's A Long Way to Tipperary more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (54 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Pather Panchali (1955)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
|---|---|
| Trailer? | patrick-bliss |
| POVERTY@PATHER PANCHALI/SEVEN SAMURAI | nagsaptarshi |
| How did... (spoiler) | kwai_chang_kain |
| DVD Out | subhashis_chowdhury |
Recommendations
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| The Good Earth | La terra trema: Episodio del mare | Journal d'un curé de campagne | Bes vakit | L'albero degli zoccoli |
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Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Drama section | IMDb India section |
| Add this title to MyMovies |

The film is certainly a masterpiece. The film is overwhelmingly real and the key element in the movie is the maintenance of this realism. The characters are so true to the ethnic rural-sixties Indian existence that one is compelled to wonder if the film was captured through surveillance cameras.
Pather Panchali, released in 1955, is the first film of director Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy. The film is a serene and beautiful depiction of a little boy's childhood in the Indian countryside in the 1950s.The film was made on a shoestring budget by a hitherto unknown director. Apart from a seventy-year-old woman who made her name in the 1930s on the stage, none of the cast had ever acted before and many had been plucked from the Indian rurality. In contrast Satyajit Ray completed the trilogy on the behest of the Indian Prime Minister, pointing to the film's cultural impact.
It's a quiet, simple tale, centering on the life of a small family living in a rural village in Bengal. The father, Harihar (Kanu Bannerjee), is a priest and poet who cares more about his writing and spiritual welfare than obtaining wages he is owed. The mother, Sarbojaya (Karuna Bannerjee), worries that her husband's financial laxity will leave her without enough food for her two children, daughter Durga (Uma Das Gupta) and son Apu (Subir Bannerjee). Harihar's family often lives on the edge of poverty, coping with the unkind taunts of their neighbors, the burden of caring for an aging aunt (Chunibala Devi), and the terrible aftermath of a natural catastrophe.
Most of what transpires is shown through the eyes of either Sarbojaya or Durga, and, as a result, we identify most closely with these two. Harihar is absent for more than half of the movie, and, before the penultimate scene, Apu is a mere witness to events, rather than a participant. Until the closing moments, we don't get a sense of the young boy as a fully formed individual, since he's always in someone else's shadow.
The simple story of the Bengali family will definitely stay in my heart for a long time to come. If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?........