Apur Sansar
was the masterful concluding chapter in Ray’s vaunted ‘Apu Trilogy’, one of the great achievements in the history of the
medium. The subtle tonal shifts across the trilogy was worth noting, from cinematic
exuberance in Pather Panchali to profound
restraint in Aparajito to world-weary
cynicism in Apur Sansar, with coping
with personal loss being a common strand in all. Apu, played by Soumitra
Chatterjee in his first of 14 feature film collaborations with Ray, is now a
young wannabe writer living alone at a rented place in Calcutta. The only
person he’s close to is his college buddy Pulu (Swapan Mukherjee) with whom he
shares his manuscripts and has good laughs once in a while. So, when Pulu presses
Apu to accompany him and attend his cousin sister’s marriage, Apu accepts,
oblivious of what fate has in store for him, as he ends up getting married
himself with the young and demure Aparna (Sharmila Tagore). Tragedy, however,
refuses to leave his company, and when his wife unexpectedly dies during
childbirth, it turns out to be one jolt too many for the shocked and distraught
Apu, who’s endured personal losses all through his life, and the ensuing
meltdown was devastating. The film progressed in an episodic manner despite its
linear narrative – the carefree life of the bachelor Apu, the beautifully
portrayed quietly blossoming romance between the young couple, and his
embracing the life of a vagabond upon her death. His homecoming at the end,
therefore, completed the circle for the trilogy, even if symbolically so. And
trains here stood as a metaphor for life’s journey, including death. Chatterjee
gave a brilliant turn, while Tagore, in her first screen appearance, was also memorable as the young bride.
Director: Satyajit Ray
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Urban Drama
Language: Bengali
Country: India
Aparajito,
the second chapter in Ray’s decorated human saga ‘Apu Trilogy’, was the most understated of the 3 films. Moreover, it’s
easier to watch Pather Panchali and Apur Sansar as standalone films while
this distinctly feels as a significant and defining middle segment of a larger
picture. This haunting, melancholic and poignant coming-of-age tale explored
two powerful themes – mother-son relationship, and the divide between home and
the world. It takes off at Benaras where young Apu is residing with his father
Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), who works as a priest there, and mother Sarbajaya
(Karuna Banerjee). Tragedy strikes soon when Harihar dies, upon which Sarbajaya
moves to the family’s ancestral village with her son. Apu isn’t interested in a
life of priesthood, and more so when Western education in the school he enrolls
in opens the whole universe to him; consequently, it’s a matter of time when
he’ll leave home to find his place in the world, and the teenaged Apu (Smaran
Ghosal) does that, much to his mother’s silent anguish, when he gets a
scholarship to study in Calcutta. The film’s most sublime and heart-wrenching
moments were those where subtle gestures and silent images reflected the agony
of separation – the mother’s change of expression, from happiness at her son’s
elation when given permission to go to Calcutta, to one of deep sadness for the
inevitable loneliness, and, most unforgettably, the ailing mother silently
staring at the passing trains with the hope to see her son one last time, with
trains here symbolizing both moving from home to the world and the futile longing
for reunion. Ravi Shankar’s tunes and Subrata Mitra’s camera perfectly
complemented the pathos and humanism.
Director: Satyajit Ray
Genre: Drama/Family Drama/Coming-of-Age
Language: Bengali
Country: India
While working as a graphic designer at Signet
Press, Ray had provided illustrations for renowned Bengali author
Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee’s semi- autobiographical bildungsroman Pather Panchali; during a trip to London
he’d watched, among others, De Sica’s Bicycle
Thieves which had strongly affected him; and these, combined with his
longstanding cinephilia, motivated him to quit his job and adapt the novel in
neo-realist traditions, with hardly enough funding and with nearly everyone
involved novices in this line – the rest, as they say, is history. This
lyrical, poignant, episodic and humanist rural drama, bursting with exuberance,
simple joys and profound tragedies that define life, naturalistic beauty and
incredible realism, and the first chapter of his masterful "Apu Trilogy”, marked a defining moment
for Indian cinema. It focused on a poor family small Bengal village, comprising
of idealistic father Harihar (Kanu Banerjee), a priest and writer, stern mother
Sarbajaya (Karuna Banerjee), adolescent daughter Durga (Uma Dasgupta), kid son
Apu (Subir Banerjee), and the aged and lovable Indir Thakrun (Chunibala Devi). The
film remains as famous for its production history that has become part of
pop-culture trivia, as for its iconic sequences and indelible moments – the
legendary scene where the wide-eyed Durga and Apu catch sight of a train for
the first time, the heartwarming relationship between Indir and Durga, or Durga’s
tragic death that suddenly makes Apu grow up by a few years. The family’s
fluctuating fortunes were beautifully juxtaposed with nature’s progression,
courtesy Subrata Mitra’s fascinating cinematography, and accompanied by Sitar
maestro Ravi Shankar’s haunting melodies. Interestingly, trains acted as
powerful symbols in the entire trilogy – here, as a metaphor for a child’s wonderment
and the land of dreams.
Director: Satyajit Ray
Genre: Drama/Rural Drama/Family Drama
Language: Bengali
Country: India
Farewell to the Summer Light, the final entrant and the only one shot in colour in
Yoshida’s so-called 6-film “anti-melodrama
series”, was a formally challenging but aesthetically pleasing take on
romance. All the films belonging to the series comprised of complex and layered
relationships brewing between the male lead and his female counterpart, with
either of the two obsessively chasing (physically or otherwise) the other, and
this was no different; however, tonally this was the lightest of the lot, and psychologically
perhaps the least audacious. The way it evoked questions of memory and
ephemerality of relationships, with an underlying political consciousness, it
reminded me of Resnais, particularly Hiroshima Mon Amour; further, its rambling narrative style, with the protagonists
simply conversing nearly all through its length, seemed the prototype for
Linklater’s ‘Before Series’, even if,
temporally, the latter was compressed into a much shorter timespan. A Japanese
scholar (Tadashi Yokouchi) who’s in Europe to locate a church
that might provide insights to his research on Japanese civilization, gets
acquainted to and falls madly in love with a beautiful and enigmatic Japanese
expat (Mariko Okada) who’s been staying in Europe for nearly a decade and is
married to an American man. They meet, talk and part multiple times over, over
an unspecified timespan, across various locales – both urban and countryside –
across the continent. Their growing relationship, sharing of personal thoughts
and seemingly digressive philosophizing were counterpointed with their emotional
dilemmas, loneliness and past baggage, particular her harrowing memories as a
child in Nagasaki. Dazzling photography by a restless camera and an affecting
tune accompanied this strangely fascinating journey of theirs.
Director: Yoshishige Yoshida
Genre: Drama/Psychological Drama/Romance
Language: Japanese/English
Country: Japan
Nebraska is
an engaging road movie, and a tender and affectionate father-son tale. Except
for the rather stretched and maudlin ending, for most parts Payne succeeded in
maintaining a delicate balance between whimsical nature and light humour, on
one hand, and sentimentality on the other; traces of Jim Jarmusch were often discernible
in this low-key and likeable, albeit slight, serio-comedy. Woody Grant (Bruce Dern),
an ageing and retired Montana resident with a fast failing mind, is convinced
that he’s won a $1 million lottery and is hell-bent in going to Nebraska, by
foot if required, to collect the sum. His sons, however, immediately realize
upon reading the letter that it’s nothing more than a sham. But, with Woody
impossible to be reasoned with, his younger son David (Will Forte) decides to
pamper his unreasonable wish – if not for anything else, just to spend some
time with him. Thus, he takes leave from the store he works in, and embarks of
the journey. There, they’re joined by Kate (June Squibb), Woody’s cantankerous
but loving wife, and Ross (Bob Odenkirk), his well-established elder son, and
have a dubious family reunion too. Getting to know of his windfall, his
relatives and former acquaintances try to establish shares of their own, thus
opening old wounds. And, through all this, David finally gets to know his
father. Dern gave a startling and deeply affecting turn as the seemingly gruff,
laconic and self-centered man but with a soft soul, while Squibb provided some ribald
fun – particularly in the darkly hilarious scene at the graveyard. The B/W
photography beautifully captured America’s vast open spaces and road network,
and was nicely accompanied by the lilting score.
Director: Alexander Payne
Genre: Drama/Family Comedy/Road Movie
Language: English
Country: US
