The tenderness is palpable, inviting us into these characters’ compassionate patterns. The fight is short-lived, ending in a chase that leads Durga and Apu to witness a train passing together. The intimate nature of the characters’ depictions heightens the empathy we feel, like when we witness Durga and Apu’s fight after Apu steals tinsel from Durga’s toy box. It almost feels like we are witnessing Ray’s India through a documentary at times. We become fully immersed in the world we idle in with these characters. We witness the frustration of Sarbojaya bubbling up, with the pressure of motherhood mounting as she experiences crushing loneliness while her husband looks for work outside of their village. We see the family’s dilapidated house as it is. Ray does not shy away from the characters’ surroundings. The real time we spend with them creates a hyperrealistic perspective. Satyajit Ray plays with idle time in “Pather Panchali.” We join Apu and Durga for runs around the village, from dense forests with small pathways to fields where the children chase the occasional passing train. Together, they have to care for their aging aunt, withstand gossiping neighbors and prepare for an imminent monsoon. With her older daughter, Durga (Runki Banerjee), and younger son, Apu (Subir Banerjee), the family navigates their daily lives in hopes of a better tomorrow. His passive attitude toward money drives the mother, Sarbojaya (Karuna Banerjee), to brood over the looming threat of poverty. The father, Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), is a priest obsessed with finding success in writing.

This film tells the story of a family living in a rural Bengali village. The success of “Pather Panchali” - which won the Best Human Document at the 1956 Cannes festival - allowed for a trilogy to be created under the same lore: “Aparajito” (1956) and “The World of Apu” (1959). Ray was only able to finish the film with the little money he had left over because Apu’s voice remained childlike, Durga looked the same, and the aunt character, Indir Thakrun, didn’t die over the course of the extended production.

The film ran out of money anyway, causing shoots to be delayed. Its success is a story in itself: Ray’s wife pawned her jewels and Ray sold his life insurance policy to fund the film’s production. With a technical crew of first-timers, Satyajit Ray’s debut film “Pather Panchali” (1955) became the first internationally critically acclaimed Indian film.

Pather panchali