Plot: Apu quits college in Inter and wishes to find a job. He and his friend Pulu go to Pulu’s village to attend his cousin Aparna’s wedding but Apu ends up getting to Aparna, since the groom turns out to be mentally unstable. Apu brings Aparna to Calcutta and she is appalled at his existence in a single room atop a tenement. Soon she adjusts and they find married bliss in their simple existence where she manages the home and he earns money by giving tuitions. Aparna goes back to her native village and dies at childbirth…
Spoiler Alert:
Let me start with the film’s last scene / ending; working backwards, (hopefully) the essence of this human story becomes clearer.
Apu’s estranged 5 year old son Kajal: Tumi Kaun (who are you)?
Apu: Aami tomar bandhu (I am your friend)
Life has come full circle for Apu. Hope. to Confidence. to Love. to Anger and Despair. And once again Hope.
From being an orphan, to a student, to a married man who loses his wife at childbirth and finally becoming a friend to his five-year-old son who is running wild, (since the child lacks any kind of authority figure to ‘control’ him), Apu has undergone the full life cycle, while still in his 20s.
At the film’s beginning, Apu sets out to get a job. His college professor wishes that he continues his studies but Apu is clear that lack of money prevents him from continuing his science education. On a journey to his friend Pulu’s native town Khulna, Pulu reads Apu’s novel and urges him to get it published but fate has other plans in the shape of Pulu’s young teenage cousin Aparna, played with incredible absolute confidence by a then 15-year-old Sharmila Tagore, who Apu is forced to marry out of a sense of saving the girl’s honor and future.
Losing her to the rigors of childbirth. Losing interest in life. Working in a remote mine and sending money to his father-in- law to take care of Kajal. Apu’s overall depression and anger is brought out well in these scenes. He is bitter that life has dealt a bad hand to him . So much that he even doesn’t want anything to do with his son.
Once again it is Pulu’s intervention that proves critical. Pulu brought him to the marriage and Aparna. It is Pulu again who traces the child Kajal and the father Apu, and brings them together. Pulu’s job is over. Will Kajal and Apu live as father and son? The answer is provided by Apu himself to Kajal ; aami tomar bandhu.
In my view this is an ideal conclusion to the story which is actually from the second half of the novel Aparajito. The full circle of life that started with Apu’s birth and his journey till date is known to us . Aparna’s death acts as one more among the many blows that life has dealt him. Yet he comes out of it and despite not knowing what the future holds, he moves on with his ‘bandhu’. As to what Apu and his “bandhu’ will do in the future and what life holds for them is left to our imagination.
Lyrical is the word that frequently comes to my mind while watching the film. The pace is even and the third film of the trilogy shows Ray , the master observer of human emotions, in complete command of the medium. Be it a small river in rural Bengal or a dank tenement near a railway yard, the images that leap out of the screen onto us show the realities of life as seen by Apu (and by us). Subrata Mitra’s cinematography again shows the contrast between the peaceful rural areas and Apu’s somewhat harried life in his one room rooftop tenement that is open to the elements. The film also began Ray’s long association with Soumitra Chatterjee who remained his preferred lead actor well into the 1980s, acting in 14 of Ray’s films, in varying roles.
As the end titles appear, we wish that there had been more about Kajal and his bandhu and we could have known more about them and what happened to them. This is easily the most perfect film of the trilogy and a classic by any definition.
Plot: Apu’s father Hairhar is still struggling to make ends meet with his wife Sarbajaya, in Varanasi where they had shifted. Young Apu is just wandering around, playing with neighboring kids. Hari dies and an uncle helps them to return to a village so that Apu can take up the family tradition of priesthood. Apu however in interested in studying and proves to be a bright student, winning second prize in the district due to which he gets a chance to study in Calcutta. Sarbajaya is fearful but the adolescent Apu wants to learn science and goes off to Calcutta where he works in a printing press at night while studying in a college during daytime, struggling to balancing sleep, studies, friendship and money…
This is the second Apu story, written by novelist Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. This is also an unusual film from Ray in that it shows that Apu is not all that loyal to his parents, especially later to his struggling mother and even insensitive to her loneliness and pain – totally in contrast with how children were always shown loyal in various Indian language films. Apu emerges almost as ruthlessly selfish as befitting any teenager who thinks only about himself and doesn’t care what’s happening in his village home. Sarbajaya’s longing look at the distant railway tracks every time a train passes on the horizon, speaks volumes about her feelings than any long sets of dialogues can say or mean.
Apu is also discovering a world beyond his supposedly simple village life – the complexity of living in a city, earning his bread, paying his rent and studying. The professor who discovers Apu sleeping in the class and sends him out reminded me of one of my school principals who would rarely speak but just gesture with his fingers – as the onscreen professor does 😊.
Apu’s disinterest in priesthood and leanings towards science also makes a subtle point about how Apu looks at the world. His constant twirling of the small globe, which he carries around, shows a desire to go beyond his small world and look for adventures beyond his own world. He finds it in multiple ways and especially as a student, who is forced to balance his life between his village / mother, his studies, his job, and generally dealing with life. As mentioned earlier, Apu emerges as a somewhat selfish person, who thinks only about himself. Sarbajaya’s lonely death, shown in multiple cuts with her gradually fading away, cuts the last bond which Apu had with the village. Though he regrets not being there in her last moments, he tells his uncle that he will perform her last rites in Calcutta and leaves everything behind . He is now a full-fledged city man, awaiting new adventures beyond his limited world view.
Once again Subrata Mitra’s outstanding cinematography deserves a special mention. Be it the Varanasi ghats or lanes, or a steam train on the horizon as seen by Sarbajaya, almost everything leaps off the screen in utter crisp clarity.
To me, the film looks is a bit underwhelming. Maybe its the second film in a trilogy where everything is yet to develop and we do not know what Apu will grow into, since Apu is trying to find his place in the world – exactly like Ray, with his second film was trying to do so. Despite my misplaced feelings, the film cant be faulted in its story of a boy growing into a teenager and suddenly encountering the world and becoming a man.
The film is on Amazon Prime and FREE on You Tube . You tube link as below:
2 responses to “Aparajito (1956) – Classic / Apu Trilogy Part 2”
Robin Bhat
Hi Rammesh,
Just an aside on Subrata Mitra:
His entry at Wikipedia is worth reading, as it relates to the pioneering use of ‘bounce lighting’ in the Satyajit Ray films.
On the Hindi film side – Teesri Kasam.
IMHO, never has Waheeda Rehman looked as majestic as she does in this film, thanks to the lens of Subrata Misra.
An ace cinematographer such as him (and a select few in the Indian Film Industry) demonstrate to us that it is in accurate to call it a ‘black-and-white film’.
Their masterworks use two primary colors: pure black and pure white… and the infinite number of fractional color values between them, beyond what the human eye can decipher.
Thanks. Will check it out . As a rule I try NOT to check ANY reference site, (at the most imdb for the artist names) lest it interfere with what I have to say ;).
Now that you have mentioned it, I will check it out. Thanks again.
Cast: Kanu Banerjee (Harihar Roy). Karuna Banerjee (Sarbajaya Roy). Subir Banerjee (Apurba “Apu” Roy). Uma Dasgupta (Durga Roy). Chunibala Devi (Indira Thakrun, the old aunt).
Plot: Apu is born to a poor priest Harihar, who is struggling to make ends meet with his wife Sarbajaya, and their daughter Durga. His wife resents the presence of an old aunt, who she feels is spoiling her daughter. Hari goes out of the village to multiple towns to earn money while Apu grows up in the village, learns about village life and sees the world through his innocent eyes. Sarbajaya worries about the lack of food, money and news of Hari…
The story by novelist Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay was published in 1929. The film places the events in the same time period and has a total rural ambience including practices of the rural areas such as a village play (jatra), child marriage of girls who are generally uneducated , being married off at a very early age and an overall sense of rustic peace which will be surely broken by some kind of calamity.
The overall atmosphere is hardly doom laden but is filled with innocence as Apu sees the world through his eyes and cannot understand why his mother is slaving all the time , cooking, generally helping around while his elder sister Durga is playing with girls of her age . There are minimal dialogues as everything is visual , as Apu sees it. There are no cliches that one expects of films set in rural areas, such as the bad zamindar, the sly/ sympathetic priest , and so on. The village mostly has women doing all the hard household work. The men are barely seen.
Hari is essentially an optimist who feels that “the city’ will have more money and wants to try his chance there. With his meagre belongings he goes off to the city and thus starts Sarbajaya’s agony – not knowing what’s happening. The rare letter that arrives is usually rushed by Apu crying out aloud the arrival of a ‘chitti’. That the family can read is attributed to Hari being a Sanskrit teacher and helping his family to read, while composing stories and poems .
The supposedly simple village life is not all that simple as it appears to be. Sarbajaya is losing both her mental peace and must borrow money, leading to taunts and pressure from her lenders, to pay up or else. The expected tragedy as and when it happens is something that no one is prepared for. Apu also can’t understand what’s happening except that he sees his elder sister is not around any more . Durga’s death attains a more poignant tone when Hari returns with money from his various city jobs, including clothes for the family and learns of Durga’s death.
The final shot shows that Hari has had enough of the sufferings in his village and is leaving his village for the city. A snake entering Hari’s derelict broken house is the symbol that the house is inhabitable for humans. Its amazing that as early as 1929, someone had addressed the essential reason for migration from a simple rural life to an existence in a harsh uncaring city. The stage is set for part 2 and part 3 of the trilogy.
Overall the feeling of the film is like a blank canvas on which colours and shades are slowly filled. The poverty is not bleak but somehow the couple manage and finally throw in the towel. They may have been defeated for the time being but there are new adventures ahead, as seen through Apu’s eyes.
The simplicity of the film lies in its essence of everything seen through Apu’s eyes. Especially the scene where Apu and Durga rush to a railway line to see a train pass through as they have only heard its whistle and never seen it at close quarters. One of Durga’s friends being married off has its own poignancy as Durga also feels that maybe its time for her too. Durga is also accused of stealing a necklace from one of her friends but which is not found by anyone until much later , Apu finds it and quietly disposes it off at a nearby pond, thus cementing his jump from childish innocence to semi adulthood.
Personal Note: For me the village scenes, with the children running around, brought back vivid memories of my summer holidays, in my father’s village . It was his elder brother’s huge property which grew lots of vegetables and fruits . I and my cousins would run around plucking fruits or throwing stones at semi ripe mangos so that we could catch and eat them. It was a carefree time, and I can relate to Apu’s views of the village life.
The film wouldn’t be what it is , if not for the absolutely stunning photography by Subrata Mitra which shows every leaf, plant, dew drop and tree in exquisite sharp detail. The depth of focus is amazing in the long shots.
Overall this is a film that is a sure classic about the beginnings of Apu’s journey into adolescence, into adulthood and facing the thing called life.
Script – 5 out of 5
Story – 5 out of 5
Direction – 5 out of 5
Photography – 5 out of 5
Total – 5 out of 5
5 responses to “Pather Panchali (1955) – Classic / Apu Trilogy part 1”
Ram
Why No mention of Chunibala Devi as Indir Thakrun- who was a scene stealer-
Loved reading your review.. will await the next installments of your review of these delicate masterworks.
(small aside – I once did make the error of watching all three films in a single afternoon… mistake…. in the middle of the third film (Apur Sansar), was simply overwhelmed and left the theatre… (though, I have seen the films separately in the past, and do have the Blu-ray editions)
Criterion Collection:
“…shot over the course of five years, and each stands on its own as a tender, visually radiant journey. These films—which have risen from the ashes in meticulously reconstructed restorations, after the original negatives were burned in a fire—are among the most achingly beautiful, richly humane movies ever made.”
___
Best part of your review was your personal note… unrelated (sort of), but immediately reminded me of:
Aayaa hai mujhe phir yaad vo zalim
Guzara zamana bachapan ka
Haay re akele chhod ke jana
Aur na aanaa bachapan ka……
Vo khel vo saathi vo jhule
Vo dod ke kehanaa aa chhu le
Ham aaj talak bhi na bhule
Vo khwaab suhana bachapan ka…….
Mil kar roye fariyad kare
Un bite dino ki yaad kare
Ai kash kahi mil jaye koi
Vo mit purana bachapan ka
I like your practice of rewatching films you had seen in childhood again and recording your impressions. Apu Trilogy is truly a classic from a master filmmaker.
Cast: Mélanie Thierry (Anna Habert). Souheila Yacoub (Sarya Dogan). James Krishna Floyd (Nasser Yassin). Dean Ridge (Paul Wilkins). Leo Hatton (Ellie Gordon). Zed Josef (Jake Al-Shami). Tasnim Cheham (Nisrine Dakka). Thibaut Evrard (Maximilien Weiser).
Plot: Anna rescues a 12 year old girl Nisrine from being sold as a sex slave. Nasser is still being pressured by Anna to get information on the ISIS and but Paul shoots her dead. Sarya is back from France after recovering from her life threatening wounds. Max, a French journalist wonders, how she was airlifted to France , since he has heard rumors of a French woman code named Shamaran working for the all female YPJ military unit. Ellie, a student counsellor in Lubbock, Texas, sees a video of a masked jihadi with a strong Texan accent and is sure that it is her much younger former student Jake, with whom she had an intense affair. She gets in touch with Jake who instructs her how to come to Raqqa to be with him forever…
The disparate strands of the story are superbly and deftly woven together neatly into episodes which usually show how the entire ISIS operations affect everyone and has long term consequences. Since Anna is shot dead by Paul, Nasser and he grow distant , though not at loggerheads. Nasser moves to the oil production unit, so that he can get information about how the oil money is moved around and get closer to the “money man” Jake. Nisrine, whose mother taught her French, wants to avenge her mother being sold into ISIS through a contractor.
The proceedings appear too complicated at first but are absolutely absorbing and ultimately disturbing to watch, especially the ISIS scenes. Elle is so madly in love with her student that she betrays the FBI team who want to apprehend him and reaches Raqqa to be with her Jake. At first , she is shocked at the instant justice doled out to homosexuals, pedophiles, and anyone who doesn’t agree with the ISIS way of life – being thrown alive from a building’s roof. Later she proves to be the perfect ISIS bride, even betraying one of the runaway women , to be sold as a slave. Her brainwashing is complete and these scenes are really disturbing.
The crisscross plot keeps moving at a blistering pace and yet we know all the strands that are in play. Paul’s brainwashing is also complete; he doesn’t want anything to do with the West and is now a complete ISIS acolyte, even ready to betray his childhood friend Nasser.
There is enough material here to keep us absorbed over the eight riveting and disturbing episodes (there is actually a warning before each episode about disturbing scenes). The oil extraction through very primitive and crude methods is shown fairly realistically.
There are some major goofs too – like women being allowed out alone without accompanying men. Usually this was not allowed with the all female al Khansa brigade questioning such lone women; in real life such lone women would have been immediately flogged or executed. Also the characters look too fresh and well bathed ; continuous field operations without any bathing or cleaning facilities would mean that they would all have been very dirty and filthy.
All these goofs can be overlooked as this fictional story is set around two incredibly disturbing realities of recent history that is only a decade old – the ISIS treating women as things to be sold and the all female YPJ taking up arms to fight them head on.
Overall a superb , disturbing view of recent historical events that pulls no punches
https://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.png00Rammeshhttps://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.pngRammesh2026-09-27 11:06:562026-09-27 12:43:08No Man’s Land – Season 2(2025) – Intense
Subject:The MiG-21’s retirement from the Indian Air Force in September 26, 2025
Its not every day that such a momentous and truly historic event happens and is celebrated publicly. There have been many planes before in the Indian Air Force/ Armed Forces history but none of them have been the subject of a documentary and that too by Netflix. Hunter, Sukhoi Su7, Canberra, Sea Hawk, Sea Harrier and many more were retired in ceremonies where only the service personnel were present . Since the giant Tupolev Tu-142 was replaced by the Boeing P-8I , it was a strictly Indian Navy event with very few outsiders allowed and there are very few clips available .
But none of them are subject of a full length movie/ documentary.
Background history of the MiG-21: The Mikoyan Gurevich (the name of the two lead designers of the MiG design bureau) MiG-21 was a product of the late 1950s thinking of catching high flying (30,000 feet + ) American bombers and shooting them down. Since it was all a matter of time to intercept, the plane had to be fast , fast , fast. Thus came the delta wing design which , as with any design, has both advantages and disadvantages; the main disadvantage were the high speeds of takeoff and landing. But it did the job and quickly at that. The 1950s thinking was that a plane could fire missiles at stand off ranges and shoot down an intruding bomber. It was NOT designed to be a dogfighter that would go against another fighter. The Americans too had similar delta wing designs for the US Air Force, the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and the Convair F-106 Delta Dart, both of which served – unsurprisingly – as pure interceptors, intercepting Soviet Tu95 bombers which ‘tickled’ American radars into operation, thus enabling them to record the radar signature for future (conflicts , if that happened). The French delta design was the famous Mirage III which found fame against MiGs in the Middle East Wars (see below).
Operation Diamond and bad reputation: The Americans badly wanted a MiG-21 in their kitty so that they could study its weaknesses and take suitable counter measures. They sent the word out and lo and behold, they had a MiG-21 with them. Israel’s Mossad’s Operation Diamond persuaded an Iraqi Christian pilot to defect to Israel, in return for asylum for him and his family . The full details are available at this wiki linkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Diamond. Steal the Sky is a 1988 film on this operation , though it shows a MiG-17 instead of a MiG-21 .
The Israelis flew the plane on their Independence Day , painting it in a primal red color and giving it a cheeky and infamous serial number ,007. (Wiki link shows the same picture). The Israelis and Americans dismissed the plane as a supersonic sports carand thanks to “bad handling” by the Arab pilots during the 1967 Six Day war, shot down many in air to air combat, with many further destroyed in the waves of attacks on airfields. (Those interested can check out videos on this topic by a You Tuber Showtime 112). It is however the post WW2 combat aircraft that was the most manufactured at 10,000+ units. Here’s a link from April 2026 that mentions some of these facts https://migflug.com/afterburner/the-mig-21-10000-built-60-countries-still-flying/
The US secret program Constant Peg: Despite their dismissal of the MiG-21 as a supersonic sports car, such was the US obsession with MiGs that they actually used real MiGs in a secret program called Constant Peg ; This was where MiG-15s, MiG-17s, MiG-19s, MiG-21s were actually bought secretly from various countries and used to train American fighter pilots. If that sounds weird and unbelievable, the above link on Constant Peg and the below photos of MiG-21s in US Air Force markings, in formation with US Navy F-14s should disprove this (and these pics are at least 15 – 20 years old._
India’s use: India actually wanted the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter . often dubbed missile with a man , due to its sleek design, but thanks to Cold War politics, ended up buying the MiG-21. There were just 10 MiG-21s in the 1965 war , 3 of which were destroyed on the ground by Pakistani attacks. Mostly they ended up doing CAP (Combat Air Patrol) – wasteful but essential duty of orbiting over a select area , ready to shoot down any intruding enemy planes. By the 1971 war, license manufacturing of the MiG-21 was well under way and it proved its worth very well , though sadly this was not trumpeted from the rooftops unlike Pakistan, which continued to share fabricated stories of Indian planes being shot down in droves.
MiG-21 in Indian Air Force combat use: The moment of truth arrived in the 1971 war in the Jamnagar sector when two MiG-21s met its contemporary adversary, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. The MiG-21s fired their missiles which missed , since most first generation air to air missiles were notoriously prone to failure. Though the Russians had supplied some gun packs and refused to take any more ownership saying that the MiG-21 was not a gunfighter, the Indian Air Force proved that the spirit of “positive jugaad” prevailed, resulting in shooting down the intruding F-104 off the Jamnagar coast, with guns. Here’s an excellent link from the superb Website on Indian Armed Forces Bharat-Rakshak . Sadly this incident is NOT COVERED in detail in this documentary which gives more focus on the Eastern Sector, where the MiG-21s were mostly used for ground attacks. It was a MiG-21 bombing attack that finally persuaded the Governor of East Pakistan to resign and within a day, the Pakistani Army surrendered.
By the time of the 1999 Kargil war, the IAF was operating the last variant of the MiG-21, the MiG-21 bis. While many aircraft types were involved in Operation Safed Sagar, the MiG-21 once again proved that it was a true multi role aircraft as it did photo recce, ground attack and CAP.
In the Balakot operations, a “2nd generation” MiG-21 supposedly shot down a “4th generation” F-16 and this is shown in the documentary as “Falcon Slayer”. Like all Indo-Pak war claims, this one is also highly debatable, as each side gives contradictory information about what happened. Since the truth about the 1965 and 1971 Indo Pak wars are available only now, after 50 to 60 years, we suppose we will have have to wait another 50 years for the truth to emerge about the claim of a F-16 shoot down by a MiG-21 :)
As an aside. it is worth mentioning that during the Vietnam war, the USAF F-4 Phantom pilots often complained that they didn’t get an opportunity to dogfight the MiG-21 , despite the F-4’s much “superior” technology and the MiG-21’s “inferior technology”. One pilot supposedly said “the Vietnamese MiG-21s could come screaming out of the sun, make a firing pass, disengage and vanish”. Only fools would argue that this was “not right”; tactically it was the perfect thing to do since the Vietnamese had very limited number of MiGs. (During WW2, many German aces who had more than 200 kills used the same tactic of one firing pass and then scoot away, most notably ace of aces Erich Hartmann, with 352 air to air kills). The Vietnamese MiGs however fell prey to a ruse codenamed Operation Bolo, where the MiG-21s were lured into the air combat by F-4 Phantoms mimicking signals, flight paths, code names of the F-105 bombers and were shot down.
Bad reputation : This is tackled in some length in the documentary. After the end of the Cold war and the breakup of the Soviet Union, with many factories in the newly independent republics, a desperately broke Russia demanded hard cash for the spares at four or even five times the going price. Accordingly , alternative sources from the former Eastern Bloc countries and the new republics, were thought to be a lucrative source for spares. Some reports suggest that these spares were often defective and of low quality, resulting in the MiG-21’s reputation in the Indian press and public consciousness, as flying coffins/ widow maker, and so on. Just one such link (among many) is included here https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-buying-faulty-mig-parts-russia/articleshow/20395007.cms This aspect, namely the MiG-21 is NOT a flying coffin, is covered in depth in the documentary, with many veteran officers pooh poohing the irresponsible press reports. As with most such things the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes. Rang de Basanti , the hit 2006 film , also made it, the core idea of the story since the somewhat unfocused, “vagabond” characters band together, to ‘avenge’ the death of their MiG-21 pilot friend, who loses his life due to “corruption in the system of buying low quality spares”.
Except for Operation Diamond, the 1971 combat operations, Vietnamese use, many of the above mentioned facts are covered well in-depth in the documentary. The picture that emerges is of a plane, a powerful beast, that once tamed , can be and proved to be a benign plane . One of its champions Air Commodore (Retd.) S.S.Tyagi who logged a record 4003 hours on the MiG-21, is almost in tears when he says he would love to fly the plane again. Here’s a lovely tribute to both the man and the plane in Anchit Gupta’s superb page on the Indian Air Force
Verdict :Military nerds, like yours truly, simply love this film as its one of the rare Indian documentaries WITHOUT any jingoism and shows the man-machine interactions in detail than any jingoistic trumpeting However even the layman can watch it as most of the talking is done by the people who flew and maintained it ,both air and ground crew, which shows a picture of their enduring love for a much maligned beast of warplane.
https://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.png00Rammeshhttps://rammesh.co.in/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/1-pixel.pngRammesh2026-09-20 11:17:552026-09-20 14:17:06The Last Salute (2026); a love letter to the MiG-21 – Heartfelt tribute
Cast: Matt Damon (Odysseus). Tom Holland (Telemachus). Anne Hathaway (Penelope). Robert Pattinson (Antinous). Lupita Nyong’ (Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra). John Leguizamo (Eumaeus). Samantha Morton (Circe). Zendaya (Athena). Charlize Theron (Calypso).
Plot: Queen Penelope of Ithaca waits for her husband Odysseus who is presumed lost and dead, after going to war and on a voyage. Many unruly suitors gather daily to ask her hand in marriage while her young son Telemachus, who is not of age and cannot assume the throne, watches with increasing revulsion and anger. The blind slave Eumaneus is convinced that Odysseus is alive as Argus, Odysseus’s very sick hunting dog, is unusually alive for twenty years, long past a dog’s usual life span. Odysseus is in an island with a beautiful woman Calypso with whose help he is trying to remember his past, who he was, what happened to him and what happened to ‘his men’ as he is sure he commanded a ship with many sailors…
Statutory Declarations:
I haven’t read Homer’s Odyssey. So, I do not know the “original” story and cannot “compare” the film with the original story.
I only have a vague idea that Odysseus went on a journey, had multiple adventures and finally came back to his kingdom.
An entire industry has started about what was there in Homer’s Odyssey and how Nolan has messed it up.
I approached it as a film comparable to our Indian epics.
Given this background, I saw a story of ancient civilizations, queens, kings, treachery, monsters, ghouls, spirits, witches and what not. And I ENJOYED IT IMMENSELY since I didn’t have material to compare with and pick holes in the story as to “nah – that’s not correct; this is not what happened; this is too filmy; etc “. While watching the film (twice), I was mentally comparing with other cinematic epics like Spartacus, The Ten Commandments, etc and our own two great epics Mahabharata and Ramayana, as the sensibilities are somewhat similar. Film critics, ancient historians, bloggers, and anyone with a keyboard, have said that the “soul” of the story had been destroyed by Nolan due to an over emphasis on Odysseus and his guilt of his dead soldiers, lending a “modern” politically correct sensibility and thus supposedly “destroying” the core of the original story. In my view, this “modern sensibility” is what probably appeals to many viewers. A commander cant send his troops into battle without feeling sorry about the deaths, especially when his decisions prove fatal to many of his troops . (WW2 nerdy data : many British generals of WW2 who fought as young men in WW1, generally were extremely cautious in offensive operations, lest it end up as a WW1 style mass massacre).
But thats digressing. Lets look at the core story.
A King in exile trying to piece together his past. A queen pining for her husband who may or may not be dead. A blind loyal slave (Leguizamo is brilliant as Eumaeus). Multiple journeys with many adventures of meeting evil monsters, giants, unusual ghouls, etc. Actions and its consequences – somewhat like the karmic sensibilities of the Mahabharata. War and its consequences. A blind belief in the “Laws of Zeus” which once broken, has all round negative consequences. In fact I feel the film is one large story about action and consequences.
As for the overall narration, it is done in the typical non linear choppy back and forth style for which Nolan is famous (or notorious as might be the viewpoint). Starting with Ithaca, the gift of the wooden horse to Troy, jumping to Odysseus and Calypso, then years before with a young Odysseus, Trojan war – this back and forth narration can leave one confused but his strong screenwriting doesn’t falter and the threads are absolutely intact so much that someone – and that includes most of the lay film lovers/ film goers – who don’t know anything about Homer’s Odyssey, and haven’t read a word about the story, can easily follow what is happening , all the way to the final conclusion when Odysseus returns from his involuntary exile , back to Ithaca, reclaim his throne and fend off the unruly turned evil suitors led by Antinous.
The first time I saw it on Imax at Inorbit Mall, Malad and didn’t really feel anything different about the Imax factor ; googling produced the result that this was actually a “LieMax”. The second time I saw it at PVR Palladium, Lower Parel (with my wife) and this time the 70 mm sweep of the story was visible along with the crisp clarity of prints. The various locations serve brilliantly for the various scenes.
This is easily one of the most passionately done epics in recent if not all times.
Script – 5 out of 5
Story – 5 out of 5
Direction – 5 out of 5
Photography – 5 out of 5
Total – 5 out of 5
A special rating for Passion for Film – 6 out of 5 😊
PS: MY wife simply LOVED IT .
4 responses to “The Odyssey (2026) – BRILLIANT EPIC”
You are hereby encouraged to get additional input into all your reviews! For whether it is that of Mrs. KVR, or Penelope or Athena or Calypso or sometimes even the dangerous Circe, a woman’s instinct is usually infallible!
Your review is spot on, as usual. Learned something new today – there is a format called ‘LieMax’; (what a name!)
Not much to add to your review.. just a few random points.
1
My experience shared with a few friends: seeing it the first time (3 hour film) was difficult; for the second-time I did a brief bit of prep-homework: read a summary of the epic. So, enjoyed/understood the film much more and it did not feel as long.
2
As expected, the film has entered the ‘Billion Dollar Club’.
3
One small puzzle – unless I did not hear the words right, the use (two times) of the F-word and once the S-word seemed out of place.
4
Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattison are having quite the season this year.. a couple of films released and more coming.
5
As is now widely-known, the official poster of the film was not on Matt Damon, but a body-double, Canadian stuntwoman Devlyn Dalton.
Forced Perspective: Standing at 4 feet 6 inches (137 cm), Dalton helped create the optical illusion of towering giants when paired with seven-foot tall stuntmen.
The Famous Biceps: Matt Damon publicly praised Dalton’s physique, stating she had “the greatest arms I’ve ever seen”. Her muscular arms are prominently featured both on screen and in the movie’s official poster.
6
So much of the film is a reminder of our own Indian epics: the breaking of the bow…. Exile…. superhuman gods and monsters…. eventual victory of good over evil….
7
Lastly, a good occasion to revisit Tennyson famous poem:
(the Latinized name of Odysseus)
