Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali” turns fifty.

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i think that “pather panchali” was the greatest film to come out of india, ever. yesterday marked the fiftieth anniversary of its premiere:

KOLKATA: It was May 3, 1955. The debut film of one Satyajit Ray opened a week-long festival at New York’s MOMA. On August 26 the same year, Pather Panchali opened to Indian audiences at Basusree.
And, in a near-repeat of the phenomenon, four months after Cannes conferred an award on it, the film won the President’s Gold. That prompted the 35-year-old Ray to give up a handsome monthly salary of Rs 1,013 and shoot the sequel, Aparajito. And it changed the face of Indian cinema.
As the film steps into its 50th year, it’s time for flashbacks…
…Soumitra Chatterjee saw it the next day, “and was stupefied.” Till then, he’d weigh every Bengali film against How Green Was My Valley, or Bicycle Thieves. So disappointment was inevitable.
Pather Panchali dispelled that, “it spelled hope for Indian cinema. No, we’d not seen anything like it,” the actor repeats. “Aparajito, Jalsaghar, Charulata were better crafted, but the raw emotion of Pather Panchali has no parallel.”

77 thoughts on “Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali” turns fifty.”

  1. BB, Any recommendations for Sri Lankan movies to watch? Or for where to find them outside Sri Lanka? (There’s a website that appears to ship Sinhala movies to the US, but I wouldn’t know which ones to order.)

    I have “The Forsaken Land” in my Netflix queue, but I don’t think it’s been released yet.

  2. dhaavak: nowadays all major Tamil movies are released on DVD with English subtitles…I don’t know a word of Tamil myself…for some reason only 20-25% of Malayalam films are released with English subtitles, and similarly very few Bengali films are…

    On a different note, I think Ray was unfairly lumped together with India’s so-called “art” filmmakers. Many of the latter confused realism/angst with art, resulting in the production of numerous joyless films that were about as much fun as watching an appendectomy. Not so Ray, whose films are not just thought-provoking but eminently, almost compulsively, watchable, well-placed but not ponderous, and serious but which don’t bear down oppressively on the mind. Personally I’m a huge fan of both Ray and traditional Bollywood, but I think the modes are so different it’s hard to imagine the latter becoming like the former (H. Mukherjee was probably the closest thing to a sensibility informed by both).

  4. I seem to recall you mentioning in some post that your parents were from Kerala; do you speak/understand Malayalam? Have you seen any of Gopalakrishnan’s films?

    Good memory! My parents are Malayalee and yes, I do speak and understand Malayalam. It was my first language, as well as the one I preferred until my fascist nursery school teachers forced me to speak english (which I also knew) to them. 😉

    I’m not sure if I’ve seen any of his films…I might have. I fell in love with Ray’s works when I was a bit older, and was way more into film (I ended up minoring in it via English). I’m totally interested in seeing some of Gopalakrishnan’s stuff now though, b/c of this thread. 🙂

  5. Anna: I guess we all will have to wait only till the end of October, when Gopalakrishnan’s most recent is released…minor in film, eh? Pretty cool (but then much seems cool when your sepia-ing on a Saturday night from the office — sob!–)…

    But the real point of this comment was: PLEASE everyone on this blog we have to buy the Gopalakrishnan DVD when it comes out, that’s the ONLY way to convince ’em to release more of his work!!!! (Something tells me I shouldn’t hold my breath)…

  6. While Pather Panchali is certainly a cinematic gem, I think it’s quite obnoxious to call it the greatest film that India has produced. I do not mean to be a regionalist but great films have been made in pretty much every corner of that country. I have a weakness for Malayalam movies myself as well, I think they are more humane and profound than any I’ve seen of either Bengali, Tamil or Hindi cinema. I would even go so far as to argue that Pather Panchali enjoys the status it does perhaps due to a happy series of coincidences that placed Satyajit Ray at the right place in the right time and thus, he was able to lead the charge of Indian cinema onto the global stage. There were many great movies being made in India at the same time and even before it. However, the urbane and English-speaking Ray probably cut a better marketable figure than say Panju who released his searing Parasakthi in Tamil or young Ramadas who released Newspaper Boy at around the same time. Anyways, as to the question of the top 5 Tamil movies that someone posed, that is a very difficult list to draw up. A movie by K Balachandar, Bharatiraja and Mani Ratnam is, more often than not, a safe bet to see the best that Kollywood has had to offer since the 1970s.

  7. Though a word of warning on Bhartiraja: one should catch his earlier films, as his recent ones have been quite foregettable (though more often than not featuring outstanding AR Rahman soundtracks). An exception was “Kaadal Pookkal.” Bhartiraj the actor was very good in Ratnam’s Aayudha Ezhuttu (the Tamil version of Ratnam’s Hindi “Yuva,” but with a mostly different cast; I would recommend both; Ratnam himself has said he planned the two as complementary rather than as just different language versions of each other)

  8. While Pather Panchali is certainly a cinematic gem, I think it’s quite obnoxious to call it the greatest film that India has produced.

    Why, thank you. My mother finds me quite obnoxious, too.

    THIS Malayalee and her uber-Mallu father both thought “Pather Panchali” was genius. To each their own, people. You say “coincidence”, I say “unforgettable brilliance”. Tomahto and Potahto to you, too.

  9. Anyone care to give me a top five Tamil films to watch?

    I am not good at rating the Tamil Movies. I Could give you some of the movies worth your time.

    1. Autograph –> Story about a guy, inviting all his childhood, college girlfriends to the wedding.

    2. Kuruthipunal –> Sleek Thriller starring Kamal Hassan

    3. Bala’s Sethu and Pithamagan as mentioned by Umair Muhajir

    4. Kannathil Muthamittal (Peck on the Cheek) –> Story of a daughter of SriLankan Tamil Suicide Bomber. ( movie by Mani Ratnam).

    5. Any movie acted by Shivaji Ganesan. I could guarantee that you will be mesmerized by the Sheer energy he bring on the screen. Most of his movies are Black/white or Eastman Color. Notable ones: Parasakthi, Andha Nall, Manohara.

      There are lot many out there. These movies are a good beginning

  12. There are many all time best directors in Tamil like BharathiRaja, Balachandar as mentioned by Mephistopheles1981 and Umair earlier in the post.If you want some real Indian village stories, you could bet on BharathiRaja, He wouldnt let you down. Balachander movies revolve around more complex relationships.

  13. Manish,

    Kandukondain Kandukondain –> Thats a movie by Rajiv Menon, who was Maniratnam’s Cameraman, before making his directorial Debut

  14. I had seen an Ayngaran DVD of Kandukondain Kandukondain, but recently Kino films have released an American version which has higher-quality subtitles (plus the songs are translated too, which wasn’t the case with the Ayngaran version) and a better transfer I think…

  15. Aiyo Anna moley kshamikanam pache I am, by no means, questioning the degree of your mallu-ness. I made an observation of Indian cinema as a non-Indian and at times envious outsider so ethnicity has little to do with it. Manasilaiyo :)? I just think it’s time we put old Ray’s ghost to rest and begin to entertain the possibility that great cinema was produced by Indians around (and even before) Ray’s time. It’s time we find and enthrone new cultural mascots than continue to regurgitate cultural archetypes thrown down to us by the British, American and French. As far as the current Tamil movie cesspool is concerned, the best years of Balachander, Bharathiraja and even Mani Ratnam have long passed. Among the current crop of Tamil directors, Sethu Bala and Cheran stand out.

  17. a list of top 5 tamil movies…uhhh, where to start?

    by no means exhaustive, and in no particular order: – Nayakan: the only movie with Mani Ratnam and Kamal Hassan collaborating; before KH became all shady and started hooking up with random Tamil actresses. – Padiyappa: with Rajinkanth, because you can’t make any type of foray into Tamil cinema without encountering the sheer power of the Superhero. (other favorites include Annamalai, Baadsha, and I know I’m forgetting others) – Sindhu Bhairavi: it’s a classic. – Salangai Oli (sp?): don’t forget the kleenex. ‘nuf said. – Thevar Maghan: combines the strength and drama of Sivaji Ganesan and KH. – Michael Madhan Kamarajan: i’m not sure if the humor translates well into the subtitles, but some of the dialogue from this movie ought to be enshrined in some hall of fame for cheesy, but hilarious, filmi dialogue.

    I know there are others I’m missing (and this list is biased toward Kamal Hassan) but in addition to all the other ones mentioned above, these should keep you pretty well entranced.

  19. As far as the current Tamil movie cesspool is concerned, the best years of Balachander, Bharathiraja and even Mani Ratnam have long passed.

    hmm, i might agree with the first two, but Mani Ratnam…he’s perhaps not as consistent as he was, but I couldn’t take my eyes off “Yuva“. He was pitch-perfect with the casting (not so with “Aayudha Ezhudu”-his Tamil version of the movie-but that’s another conversation for another day), story, and cinematography. ARR’s songs were inspired and suited the moods of the movie perfectly.

  20. Vidster: funny, I had just the opposite reaction to Yuva: I thought Abhishek Bachchan was amazing, but I thought Surya was WAY better cast than Ajay Devgan in the same role. The third hero was very much the third in both cases, though Vivek Oberoi is less trivial than Siddharth (I believe that wa shis name). Esha Deol I found awful in both versions, and personally I don’t think Kareena Kapoor holds a candle to Trisha Krishnan. Both Rani Mukherjee and Meera Jasmine were good, though my vote would probably eb for the former. Maddy is a personal favorite, so what can I say? The point being I don’t think Ratnam was “off key” waith casting in the Tamil version, with the exception of Siddharth, but it’s interesting to come across an opposite reaction…

  21. i think “off-key” is exactly the right word to describe my impression of his casting for a.e. his choices weren’t bad per se, but…something was off.

    after rani’s spirited, strong personality in yuva, i thought meera was strangly wooden and expessionless. there was chemistry, desperation, frustration, ‘lowe’ even, a fatalism to abhishek’s and rani’s relationship that i just didn’t get with madhavan and meera.

    siddarth looked like a 15-yr old next to kareena. it was hard to take him seriously. but you’re right, surya’s intensity probably carried the movie for me.

    my impressions of both movies are probably based on the order in which i saw them: i saw yuva first, thereby raising my expectations for a.e. 🙂

    btw, wasn’t mohan in mouna ragam, and not kamal hassan?

  24. “…there was chemistry, desperation, frustration, ‘lowe’ even, a fatalism to abhishek’s and rani’s relationship…”

    Very well put.

    I think the difference between Devgan and Surya was too huge to be passed over; the latter can appear intense and quiet; the former confuses the silence and “deadpan” of the non-actor with acting (he isn’t the only one). But I do agree that (much as I love Maddy), the Abhishek role, and the Abhishek-Rani combo, was the highpoint of both these films put together…

    PS– I thought both the bad guys did good jobs…

  25. I just saw “Shadow Kill”, my first ever Adoor Gopalakrishnan film. It was pretty darn good,I wasn’t blown away (and as my brother said, I’d expected better shot framing) but it certainly whetted my appetitie for more of his work (I mean, I don’t think this film– his most recent– was supposed to be as good as earlier films, and of course the man has made two dozen documentaries), and definitely well worth watching. It’s on Netflix everybody!

    It’s also weirdly relevant to the post about the Singaporean hangman; the protagonist of Shadow Kill (Nizhalkuttu in the original, ANNA will have to tell us whether this is a good translation or not) is a hangman in the 1940s in the princely state of Travancore, racked by guilt but also simultaneously sacred to those around him (and ironically, though perhaps not so in a Hindu economy of symbols, a piece of hangman’s rope burned and the resulting ash administered by him is believed by the village where much of the film is set to have great curative powers). The guilt comes from his realization that he has executed an (and possibly more, unknown to him) innocent man/men, and Gopalakrishnan is quite interested in the question of responsibility and guilt, just who bears it, etc. There’s certainly a lot more there besides, but it’s always a joy to come across a talent like this, that one has been utterly unfamiliar with previously…