Product Description

Tale about Apu and his family, as they move to the city, where they encounter more tragedy, forcing Apu to become a man and make choices about the life he will lead. Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50299 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-28
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Bengali
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
In this, the second film in the Apu trilogy, Harihar (Kanu Bannerjee) takes his wife, Sarbajaya (Karuna Bannerjee), and his son, Apu, to live in the bustling city of Benares after the tragic death of his daughter, Durga, and the destruction of the family's home. Harihar ekes out a living reading sacred texts by the shores of the Ganges River. When he falls ill, Sarbajaya must learn to cope on her own and leaves the city to work as a cook for a wealthy family living in the country.

Apu, by now an adolescent (played by Smaran Ghosal), is extremely bright and hungry for knowledge. Good fortune befalls him, and he is able to attend school, eventually going to Calcutta to attend the university. Sarbajaya is reluctant to let her son go, but she is unable to stop him. She waits patiently for his return, but at the same time is growing weak from illness. When Apu learns of his mother's illness, he must decide if he's going to sacrifice his final exams and return to her side or take the exams and risk the chance she might die before he gets there.

As compelling as its predecessor, Pather Panchali, this film was made only one year later, in 1956. Karuna Bannerjee is riveting in her portrayal of a woman who has lost everything of value to her but her beloved son. The film was based on the novel Aparajito by Bibhutibhushan Banerjee, and the music was composed by Ravi Shankar. --Luanne Brown

Customer Reviews

brilliant film.....
This is the second installment in the "Apu Trilogy," by masterful Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
Apu (Pinaki Sengupta, as the young Apu and Smaran Ghosal, as the adolescent) has relocated with his mother (Karuna Bannerjee) and father (Kanu Bannerjee) to Banares. Apu's father is working as a medicine man there, and Apu is very ambitious to start school with the other young boys. This follows the life of this family, its joys, struggles and the choice Apu must make to either pursue the life of his father (as a priest) or venture out to Calcutta, as a scholarship student, to build a foundation for himself.

This film was shot beautifully and is really a great example of marvelous storytelling. Also, the acting is brilliant. The two young men who portray Apu as a child and a young man are wonderful and engaging--particularly Pinaki Sengupta whose eyes say so much in the scenes between him and his parents that there is very little need for dialogue. Beautiful.......

Deeply moving film
It is incredibly difficult to review any film by Satyavit Ray because he is an artist without peer...director, screen writer, composer. Unlike so many Hollywood films, Ray's films seem real, not contrived and stike at the core of our feelings. His film , Aparajito, is one of the Apu trilogy (be sure to see all three including "The World of Apu" and "Pather Panchali"). This is a luminous depiction of a family tragedy. But like other of Ray's films, it leads to a personal "epiphany", a deeper understanding of the meaning of our lives.

Simple and touching
This is something I've found common to all Satyajit Ray movies: they're very simple; they deal with everyday life (well everyday for an Indian in the 50s, I guess) and ordinary people. There are no larger-than life heroes, or villains for that matter; he doesn't talk about memorable events or catastrophes; no dramatic tales of lovers fighting to survive the trials of cruel fate... and yet he manages to touch you very deeply. Personally, I don't understand a word of Bengali (which is the language most of his films are in), yet his movies have a lot of impact. I highly recommend this and any other Satyajit Ray movie you can get your hands on.