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The Apu Trilogy
With the Apu Trilogy - Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar - in the fifties, Satyajit Ray caught the attention of film enthusiasts all over the world. The trilogy is the story of growing up in India. It traces Apu´s growth from childhood - cruelly poor but brightened by a passion for creativity and learning - to battered maturity. This 50th Anniversary volume, containing a foreword and working sketches by Ray presents the first authorized publication of these scripts in their entirety along with extensive interviews with Ray himself. Fresh material special to this edition includes an expansive interview with Ray by Shyam Benegal, himself a leading filmmaker with several award winning films to his credit. In the interaction between the two directors, Ray talks about early influences, the experience of making the Apu Trilogy, the importance of music and the portrayal of women in his film as well as other aspects of his craft. This edition also includes a complete filmography.
270 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2005
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About the author
Satyajit Ray
675 books1,523 followersSatyajit Ray (Bengali: সত্যজিৎ রায়) was an Indian filmmaker and author of Bengali fiction and regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of world cinema. Ray was born in the city of Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and watching Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist 1948 film, Bicycle Thieves.
Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents.
Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. This film, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Award in 1992. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.
Early Life and Background:
Ray's grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious and social movement in nineteenth century Bengal. Sukumar Ray, Upendrakishore's son and father of Satyajit, was a pioneering Bengali author and poet of nonsense rhyme and children's literature, an illustrator and a critic. Ray was born to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray in Calcutta.
Ray completed his B.A. (Hons.) in Economics at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, though his interest was always in Fine Arts. In 1940, he went to study in Santiniketan where Ray came to appreciate Oriental Art. In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das and the couple had a son, Sandip ray, who is now a famous film director.
Literary Works:
Ray created two of the most famous fictional characters ever in Bengali children's literature—Feluda, a sleuth in Holmesian tradition, and Professor Shonku, a genius scientist. Ray also wrote many short stories mostly centered on Macabre, Thriller and Paranormal which were published as collections of 12 stories. Ray wrote an autobiography about his childhood years, Jakhan Choto Chilam (1982). He also wrote essays on film, published as the collections: Our Films, Their Films (1976), Bishoy Chalachchitra (1976), and Ekei Bole Shooting (1979).
Awards, Honors and Recognitions:
Ray received many awards, including 32 National Film Awards by the Government of India. At the Moscow Film Festival in 1979, he was awarded for the contribution to cinema. At the Berlin Film Festival, he was one of only three to win the Silver Bear for Best Director more than once and holds the record for the most Golden Bear nominations, with seven. At the Venice Film Festival, he won a Golden Lion for Aparajito(1956), and awarded the Golden Lion Honorary Award in 1982. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents.
Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes Film Festival. This film, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Award in 1992. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.
Early Life and Background:
Ray's grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a writer, illustrator, philosopher, publisher, amateur astronomer and a leader of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious and social movement in nineteenth century Bengal. Sukumar Ray, Upendrakishore's son and father of Satyajit, was a pioneering Bengali author and poet of nonsense rhyme and children's literature, an illustrator and a critic. Ray was born to Sukumar and Suprabha Ray in Calcutta.
Ray completed his B.A. (Hons.) in Economics at Presidency College of the University of Calcutta, though his interest was always in Fine Arts. In 1940, he went to study in Santiniketan where Ray came to appreciate Oriental Art. In 1949, Ray married Bijoya Das and the couple had a son, Sandip ray, who is now a famous film director.
Literary Works:
Ray created two of the most famous fictional characters ever in Bengali children's literature—Feluda, a sleuth in Holmesian tradition, and Professor Shonku, a genius scientist. Ray also wrote many short stories mostly centered on Macabre, Thriller and Paranormal which were published as collections of 12 stories. Ray wrote an autobiography about his childhood years, Jakhan Choto Chilam (1982). He also wrote essays on film, published as the collections: Our Films, Their Films (1976), Bishoy Chalachchitra (1976), and Ekei Bole Shooting (1979).
Awards, Honors and Recognitions:
Ray received many awards, including 32 National Film Awards by the Government of India. At the Moscow Film Festival in 1979, he was awarded for the contribution to cinema. At the Berlin Film Festival, he was one of only three to win the Silver Bear for Best Director more than once and holds the record for the most Golden Bear nominations, with seven. At the Venice Film Festival, he won a Golden Lion for Aparajito(1956), and awarded the Golden Lion Honorary Award in 1982. In 1992 he was posthumously awarded the Akira Kurosawa Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 8, 2026
Apur Sansar aka The World of Apu, written by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay and Satyajit Ray, the latter is also directing the film
A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
This is the last, but not least of the parts of The Apu Trilogy.
It has been included by TIME Magazine on the All-TIME 100 Movies list, available here:
- http://entertainment.time.com/2005/02...
The film is indeed an exceptional work of art.
It is a worthy epilogue of the life of a tragic figure.
In the previous installments, we have seen Apu loose everyone around him, in a seemingly never ending list:
- First his sister, then his father and finally his mother
The orphan has grown and is now an intellectual, fond of literature and an aspiring writer himself, as he explains to his friend Pulu:
“Pulu: So are you writing anything? What are you writing?
Apurba Roy: A wonderful novel.
Pulu: And you've kept it mum all this time?
Apurba Roy: You know a good publisher?
Pulu: All in good time.
Apurba Roy: Listen to this: a young boy. A young boy. A village boy. Poor but sensitive. His father's a priest. The father dies. The boy comes to the city. He doesn't want to be a priest. He'll study. He's ambitious. He studies. Through his education and struggles, we watch as he sheds his old superstitions and fixed views. He questions everything and takes nothing on trust. Yet he has imagination and sensitivity. Little things move him and bring him joy. Perhaps he has greatness in him, the ability to create, but...
Pulu: He doesn't make it.
Apurba Roy: That's right. But it doesn't end there. It's not a tragedy. He does nothing great. He remains poor, in want. But he never turns away from life. He doesn't run away. He wants to live. He says living itself brings fulfillment and joy. He wants to live!”
I thought this film is a masterpiece, dealing with important themes like:
- Meaning of life, art and poetry, rich versus poor, intellectual facing the illiterate, love and loss of loved ones…
In some memorable scenes, Apu is reciting to his friend and talks about matters of the heart, spirit and self.
He says he is
- “the son of the Himalayas, looking for his lost wings”
- Then about a “rapture of delight”, prison of the mind „and “the point of life: live it!”
I looked for the quotes to see who the author, the poet is but did not find them and so these are just words I think I remember.
Nevertheless, apart from the poetry of many scenes there is a plot that takes unexpected turns, when Apu travels to the home of Pulu.
The family of the friend is much better off and they afford servants and a rich wedding set just as Apu is visiting.
Alas, on the day of the arranged ceremony, the groom to be has a breakdown and gets really crazy, to the chagrin and desperation of most of those involved.
Pulu and other relatives insist there is a solution, which would be the only way out, given that the ceremony has to take place:
- Apu, you have to be the groom
- Are you crazy?
- If you will not, the bride is cursed!
- You think this is a comedy and I am the fool?
- The wedding has to take place at the time that was established, otherwise there will be a disaster
Apu continues to protest and says he will not do such a mad thing, but then he relents and becomes married to the naïve, innocent Aparna.
In spite of this being even more outré than an arranged marriage, which is still the tradition in large parts of the world, the relationship seemed to work.
I was even tempted to say that finally, this man has escaped his fate and the series of horrible events that have punctuated his life this far.
And then another disaster strikes…
A different version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
This is the last, but not least of the parts of The Apu Trilogy.
It has been included by TIME Magazine on the All-TIME 100 Movies list, available here:
- http://entertainment.time.com/2005/02...
The film is indeed an exceptional work of art.
It is a worthy epilogue of the life of a tragic figure.
In the previous installments, we have seen Apu loose everyone around him, in a seemingly never ending list:
- First his sister, then his father and finally his mother
The orphan has grown and is now an intellectual, fond of literature and an aspiring writer himself, as he explains to his friend Pulu:
“Pulu: So are you writing anything? What are you writing?
Apurba Roy: A wonderful novel.
Pulu: And you've kept it mum all this time?
Apurba Roy: You know a good publisher?
Pulu: All in good time.
Apurba Roy: Listen to this: a young boy. A young boy. A village boy. Poor but sensitive. His father's a priest. The father dies. The boy comes to the city. He doesn't want to be a priest. He'll study. He's ambitious. He studies. Through his education and struggles, we watch as he sheds his old superstitions and fixed views. He questions everything and takes nothing on trust. Yet he has imagination and sensitivity. Little things move him and bring him joy. Perhaps he has greatness in him, the ability to create, but...
Pulu: He doesn't make it.
Apurba Roy: That's right. But it doesn't end there. It's not a tragedy. He does nothing great. He remains poor, in want. But he never turns away from life. He doesn't run away. He wants to live. He says living itself brings fulfillment and joy. He wants to live!”
I thought this film is a masterpiece, dealing with important themes like:
- Meaning of life, art and poetry, rich versus poor, intellectual facing the illiterate, love and loss of loved ones…
In some memorable scenes, Apu is reciting to his friend and talks about matters of the heart, spirit and self.
He says he is
- “the son of the Himalayas, looking for his lost wings”
- Then about a “rapture of delight”, prison of the mind „and “the point of life: live it!”
I looked for the quotes to see who the author, the poet is but did not find them and so these are just words I think I remember.
Nevertheless, apart from the poetry of many scenes there is a plot that takes unexpected turns, when Apu travels to the home of Pulu.
The family of the friend is much better off and they afford servants and a rich wedding set just as Apu is visiting.
Alas, on the day of the arranged ceremony, the groom to be has a breakdown and gets really crazy, to the chagrin and desperation of most of those involved.
Pulu and other relatives insist there is a solution, which would be the only way out, given that the ceremony has to take place:
- Apu, you have to be the groom
- Are you crazy?
- If you will not, the bride is cursed!
- You think this is a comedy and I am the fool?
- The wedding has to take place at the time that was established, otherwise there will be a disaster
Apu continues to protest and says he will not do such a mad thing, but then he relents and becomes married to the naïve, innocent Aparna.
In spite of this being even more outré than an arranged marriage, which is still the tradition in large parts of the world, the relationship seemed to work.
I was even tempted to say that finally, this man has escaped his fate and the series of horrible events that have punctuated his life this far.
And then another disaster strikes…
September 19, 2009
Just to wander in the life with all ups and downs.
August 15, 2019
Ray’s Apu Trilogy has been nothing short of an awakening as I watched Apu’s story unfold in front of my eyes evoking an inexplicable closeness for Apu and life. Such is Ray’s writing. Ray captures endless practicalities of life and its preservation with such panache and some of his most beautiful sketches demonstrate such a nuanced admiration of life and nature. When Apu states his acceptance of poverty and (not but) will to live, it moved me so immensely. Ray’s realism tugs at your heart but leaves with you a lingering idyllic sensation. It made me wonder how beautiful our trials and tribulations are and would seem if we were to read our own records of life or watch our life as a movie. There is such beauty in the mundane, in the everyday struggles that we endure, to live in whatever way we may choose. It maybe Ray, but I love this reminder.
July 21, 2015
The main features of the the Satyajith Ray's screenplay was he narrating the script with some universal or natural elements. among the three Pather Panjali was the best and the The world of Apu is my second favourite
January 13, 2015
I have fond memories of watching these movies back at home as a kid! Given this I could literally picture every scene as the book unfolds! The book is a good screenplay and the illustrations capture some of the most poignant moments of the movies! Apart from this there is nothing more that the author adds! It was an interesting way for me to relive the movies in text!!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews