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Nau Do Gyarah (1957) – Breezy Classic Road Movie

01/11/2026/3 Comments/in Classic, Comedy, Dev Anand, Director's Film, Hindi Film Music, Musical, Road Movie, Vijay Anand/by Rammesh

5–8 minutes

Genre: Road Movie / Road comedy

Platform: You Tube Free

Time: 2 hours 35 minutes

Story, Screenplay, Director: Vijay Anand

Cast: Dev Anand (Madan). Raksha (Kalpana Karthik). Jeevan (Surjit). Madan Puri (Radheshyam “Radhey”). Shashikala (Neeta). Krishan Dhawan (Kuldeep). Lalita Pawar (Kuldeep’s mother).

Plot: Totally broke and thrown out of his rented home, Madan learns that he is heir to a fortune of 11 lakhs left by his late uncle in Mahabaleshwar. En route, he encounters a runaway woman Raksha, who initially dresses up as a male Sardar Nihal Singh. Soon the cat is out of the bag and a romance develops. Madan reaches Bombay and informs his friend Radhey about both the fortune and his new found woman in his life. Radhey promises to help. Madan and Raksha pretend to be a married couple to stay at Mahabaleshwar and to find out about the uncle’s mysterious death…

Twenty-three-year-old Vijay Anand wrote the story, screenplay and directed the film. Modern viewers may scream about ‘nepo brothers’ and similar stuff but in this case Vijay Anand’s deft and firm touch in all departments was clearly visible. Goldie as Vijay Anand was popularly known, really had a golden touch when it came to the box office and this was his first collaboration with big brother and producer, Dev Anand. The pair reached its peak with the stylish 1967 thriller Jewel Thief but that’s for another day and time.

Nau Do Gyarah can be easily said to be Hindi / Indian cinema’s first ever ‘road movie’ and a very loose adaptation of It happened one night (1934), the only commonality being that the lead female character is a runaway heiress. It happened one night was remade at least three times in Hindi Cinema as Solva Saal, Chori Chori and Dil hai ke maanta nahi, the last being the most ‘true’ to the original, right down to scenes being almost copy-pasted.

As we all know, a road movie is where two characters, usually men of opposite temperaments, go or are forced to share a car / bus on a journey. If it’s a man and a woman, typically romance follows. Usually, the lead male and female actor essay the lead characters, making it easy for the audience to identify with the lead pair as they embark on a journey. If it is two men on a journey, either they will bond as friends or in some extreme cases, end up as antagonists, leading to violent climactic scenes.

A cursory look at the outdoor makes it clear that some scenes were definitely shot outdoors in Delhi, Bombay and Mahabaleshwar. This is one of the few films where Dev Anand, in keeping with the character, doesn’t keep changing his clothes from scene to scene. His acting has also a light comic, almost self-deprecatory touch as befitting a character who is broke and penniless, yet defiant to ask for help as in the scene where ‘Sardar Nihal Singh” offers to pay for the petrol for his onward journey to Bombay.

The romantic development naturally follows after the initial fights and the usual haughty acts of a rich haughty woman who has escaped her home from a marriage against her will since the groom Surjit was demanding more money, moments before the marriage. By the long arm of coincidence, Jasjit turns up at Mahabaleshwar with a girlfriend Neeta, who is also enticing Kuldeep with her feminine charm.

A Navketan film without music would be an anomaly. Navketan’s “House Composer” S.D.Burman gives an overall lightweight touch to the proceedings as befitting a romantic comedy cum road movie. Most of the songs have become classics barring the ‘club’ numbers and the unique climatic song with an integrated fight sequence. Since its one of my favorite Dev Anand films and favorite SD Burman albums, lets look at the songs and the order in which they appear in the film, for which SD Burman’s favorite lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri does immense justice as per the song situation. (Both Burman and Majrooh shared the same date of birth, October 1)

Hum hai raahi pyar ke humse kuch na boliye – a broke Madan leaves Delhi on his onward journey to Bombay. Kishore Kumar gives the song a lightweight touch and the whistle interludes remain unique. Immediately after this song, Madan spies the stowaway Raksha in his truck. The song was reused in Dil hai ke maanta nahi when the lead couple dance slowly to the song in a remote stop, while the song plays on a radio.
Kali ke roop me chali ho dhoop me – the haughty Raksha , now in a female dress, is on foot , talking about how she can walk alone on the hot road while Madan sitting comfortable in the driver’s shaded cabin, teases her. Mohammed Rafi’s special velvet ‘Dev Anand’ voice complements Asha Bhosle singing for the heroine Kalpana Karthik.
Aankhon me kya jee rupahla baadal – This Kishore- Asha duet was almost banned as it was felt by the censors that it was full of sexual innuendo! Especially the line “Aachal me kya jee, ajab see hulchul”. So much for censors! The light romantic duet shows Madan and Raksha’s growing affection for each other
Kya ho jo din rangeela ho – This Geeta Dutt – Asha duet fulfils one standard trope of those years, for a ‘club dance. Geeta Dutt sings for Shashikala while Asha sings for Helen who appears only in this song.
Oh aaja panchi akela hai – Madan and Raksha are supposedly husband and wife but they live in separate rooms, he in the bathroom and she in the bedroom. Hence his playful suggestion and her retort to go to sleep, yet another breezy, playful Rafi-Asha romantic duets.
Dhalti jaaye chundariya – Asha sings for Raksha who is expressing her new found love.
Jaane jigar haay haaye – Asha sings for Neeta who is trying to seduce Madan. At the song’s end , a jealous Raksha throws a stone at Madan who in the next scene explains to an amused Raksha that a crow bit him on the head.
See le zubaan – this is probably one of the most unique song picturisation ever in the history of Indian films. While Kuldeep and Surjit are fighting , Neeta is warning Kudeep’s mother not to say anything in front of Madan. The fight goes on and so does the song ! Unique and in no way distracting. Goldie had mastered the art of integrating the song and the scene.

4, 6,7,8 were not numbers that had lots of airplay while the other songs four songs were super hits and could be heard in almost all ‘retro’ radio programs on AIR and Radio Ceylon.

Its also worth mentioning that the choreography was by Zohra Sehgal. The same Zohra Sehgal whom most late 20th and 21st century audiences know as the loveable and or cranky granny.

Overall, the songs, the story and the screenplay are so deftly woven that we fail to appreciate the superb craftsman that was Goldie who integrated everything into a film that can be classified as India’s first ever road movie. Dev Anand and his wife Kalpana Kartik, in her last onscreen appearance, also show some lovely onscreen chemistry, befitting the film’s overall lightweight breezy structure. For its time, it may have been a risk for such a unique theme, but it proved to be a box office hit

The film is free on You Tube

https://youtu.be/sHqlMGEkU40?t=1

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 5 out of 5

Music – 4 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Total – 4.6 out of 5

3 comments

Restless (2012) – Hidden Gem

25/10/2026/0 Comments/in Book to Film, Gritty, Slow Burn, Spies and Spying, Thriller, Woman centric/by Rammesh

3–5 minutes

Clickable links are in red

Genre: Spy Film

Platform: Amazon Prime – BBC Player

Time: 3 hours – 2 x 1.5 hour mini series

Director: Edward Hall

Cast: Michelle Dockery (Ruth Gilmartin). Charlotte Rampling (Sally Gilmartin). Hayley Atwell (Eva Delectorskaya). Rufus Sewell (Lucas Romer). Michael Gambon (Lord Romer). Michael Peter Willis (Jochen).

Plot: In the early 1970s, Ruth Gilmartin is visiting her mother with her son Jochen. Her mother Sally is behaving in increasingly suspicious and erratic ways , peering at the surrounding countryside through binoculars, looking for strangers and telling Ruth that ‘they’ are watching her. When a concerned Ruth asks what is going on, Sally gives her a set of typed pages that talks about the life of Eva Delectorskaya . Ruth thinks that her mother is joking when Sally says that she adopted the name and identity Sally Gilmartin, after coming to England during WW2 and she is really the Eva in the typed pages. Ruth reads with increasing astonishment about how Eva was contacted by Lucas Romer, supposedly belonging to a news syndicate but actually running some kind of secret information network into which she is soon inducted, resulting in a series of daring escapades during WW2….

Structurally, the mini series flits back and forth between the current where Ruth gets increasingly drawn into Sally’s world. In the past we see what Eva goes through as a trainee, and then as an agent. If I say anything about the plot it would be a series of spoilers. So let me focus on some of the clever stuff in the film that is based on real incidents.

Some of the early disasters of SIS/MI6 , and other true life incidents, are cleverly woven into the story. Especially the “Venlo incident” where the resident MI6 officers in Amsterdam were lured to a border post at Venlo and kidnapped by German SD agents who bundled them into a car and simply drove over the border into Germany (Holland was neutral in 1939 and it/ Western Europe had not been invaded by Nazis). Here the incident occurs at a town named ‘Preslo’ , near the border with Nazi Germany (very clever ) .

Lucas and Eva become lovers and she is sent to America in early 1940. Romer sets up a “security office” in New York and this clearly a mirror of the real life BSC – British Security Coordination , which was also based in New York. BSC was set up to “coordinate” activities with the FBI , who were overall in charge of all security activities, there being no external intelligence organization in the US at that time. As part of this security activities, Eva is even tasked to sleep with one of Roosevelt’s aides , so that he can be blackmailed and thus pressurized into getting the US on the British side.

In yet another meeting, she sees a nameless man present at a meeting and listening intently to everything she says but some days later the man is dead by suicide. He is identified as a Soviet defector Nekich. This mirrors Walter Krivitsky, one of the earliest Russian defectors and who wrote a book In Stalin’s Secret Service aka I Was Stalin’s agent. Krivitsky was found dead mysteriously in a hotel – just like Nekich in the film.

Such real-life incidents are peppered through the movie.

The rest of the story is somewhat predictable as she sees that her colleagues in New York are mysteriously dying/ killed and there are enemy agents on the loose in New Mexico whom she is supposed to deal with alone. But who are the people who want to kill Eva? The enemy agents? or someone else? Someone close to home?

However, the overall atmosphere including the production design of offices of those times, costumes, cars and so on. This part is exceptional and is often intercut with the “current” happenings in the 1970s as Ruth is being pressurised by Special Branch , as her German lover is supposedly a member of the infamous Baader Meinhof terrorist group. It is at this time that Ruth believes that her mother was correct and there is some kind of coverup, all the way to the highest levels in the government.

The film is based on writer William Boyd’s novel of the same name which also follows a similar structure in flitting between the past and the present. The performances are superb. The basic premise of a mole inside our organization, is as old as spy fiction, but it is done in an engaging way so much that you want to see “where will this go”, “what will happen to Eva” and so on. Since this is a mini movie of one and half hour each, the two mini movies are a worthy binge watch (which is how I did it).

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

Production Design – 5 out of 5

Total – 4.4 out of 5

1947: Brexit India (2023) – Superb; a rare 5

18/10/2026/2 Comments/in British Raj, Documentary, Indian History/by Rammesh

3–5 minutes

Genre: Documentary – The British and India

Platform: Amazon Prime Rent

Time: 2 hours

Director: Sanjivan Lal

Cast: William Dalrymple. Shashi Tharoor. Ishtiaq Ahmed. M. Rajivlochan. C. Uday Bhaskar. Allister Hinds. Tom Tomlinson

Narrator and Anchor: Boman Irani.

Plot: The 300 years of British presence in India from 1609 to 1947; from East India Company to Lord Mountbatten.

In his novel The Secret Pilgrim (1993), spy novelist John le Carre writes about how British behaved perfidiously, and that too repeatedly against trusting allies. In this case, the narrator of the story, Ned, talks about how Poles placed their trust on the British who proceeded to gayly abandon the Poles, once in 1939 against the Germans, and within six years in 1945, against the Soviet Union. The hero Ned concludes thus:

“Our repeated betrayals of their country have always seemed to me so disgraceful that if I were Polish, I would spit on every passing British shadow, whether I had suffered under the Nazis or the Russians, the British in their time having abandoned the poor Poles to both”.

I had similar feelings while watching this documentary – of spitting at every passing British shadow.

Anger aside , the history though appalling, is deeply interesting. What started as a private enterprise by a trading company, soon became in a hundred years, “The Jewel in the Crown” of the British Empire, thanks to the East India Company and then the British Crown merrily looting India in ever more innovative ways. The history of loot and deceit is told in a matter-of-fact way by British historians like Dalrymple, Hinds, Tomlinson etc all of whom are very clear that the British took much more from India than gave to it. Shashi Tharoor in his inimitable way also adds to the overall history with an Indian perspective – how many famines were deliberately created by the British ; the 1800s alone accounted for more deaths than the 1.5 million estimated deaths of the Bengal famine. Tharoor is also clear that there has been a lot of myth making of British benevolence and points this out from time to time. Other Indian historians present more evidence of how the British proceeded to destroy India , in the name of commerce, buying Indian clothes cheaply and selling British produce in much higher prices. An amazing added information is how Indian ship building was destroyed steadily over the years as Indian wooden ships lasted much longer compared to the British wooden ships, due to the much superior Indian craftsmanship and which was steadily destroyed by the British.

An interesting aside is that the East India Company was strictly business oriented and didn’t give too much thought to converting Indians into Christianity. That followed much later as the Missionaries went about their job of converting “heathens” into Christians. The early British were more practical – they took Indian wives, had children out of them, wore local dresses and ate Indian food. There is collateral evidence for these practices in the books Curry(2005) and The Hungry Empire (2017), both by British writer Lizzie Collingham , about the British hunger for spices , that ultimately led to Empire and the modern British obsession with “curry” and how the British increasingly adopted local cuisine and some cultural practices, such as multiple servants and wives.

Graphs, charts, contemporary paintings, historical photos, newsreels are interspersed with the dry commentary by anchor Boman Irani. Interestingly , clips from various feature films are inserted to prove a point.

Eg – The British stationed troops in multiple kingdoms – paid for by the Rajas of these kingdoms. This is proven with a clip from the film Lagaan (2001) where Captain Russel announces that taxes have to raised for “your protection” , gesturing at the King. These practices more or less bankrupted India. All these may be well known but still this is a comprehensive lesson in the overall “Empire experience’. A clip from Shatranj ke Khiladi (1977) is shown to prove how Awadh was annexed by the British while another clip from Ghare Bhaire (1984) discusses the Partition of Bengal.

The freedom movement also gets its share. The documentary correctly points out the political hara-kiri that the Congress committed by resigning unilaterally in protest against Lord Linlithgow’s declaration of war. The wrong timing of the 1942 Quit India movement, combined with the wholesale arrest of the Congress, paved the way for Muslim League, which had actually been in the doldrums earlier, and this is also pointed out in a dry manner.

This documentary has less to do with the freedom movement and more to do with the overall 300+ year British rule in India and how their rule ultimately proved divisive, since an economically and morally bankrupt “Great” Britain abandoned India and the Parthian shot of a divided India. I have absolutely no problem in recommending this superb documentary narrated and anchored by Boman Irani.

This is two hours well spent; and perhaps some time for self-reflection.

Total – 5 out of 5

2 responses to “1947: Brexit India (2023) – Superb; a rare 5”

Robin Bhat

19/10/2026

Hi Rammesh,

Another superb review, by someone whom I regard as a history-teacher… or at least history-whisperer :)
—

Books which should be required reading on the subject:

‘Inglorious Empire’ and ‘An Era of Darkness’. Both by Shashi Tharoor.

And

‘Churchill’s Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II’, by Madhusree Mukerji.
—
The other day, I accidentally fell across ‘The Journal of Historical Geography’, and an article on the subject. Will send it to you offline… but… one point:

“Employing a novel systems approach to analyse historical causality, this study shows how volcanism, climate and society – especially the ruling British East India Company – contributed to the Madras (1832—1833) and Agra (1836—1838) famines”.

Yes, volcanos.

Thanks,

Robin

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  19/10/2026
  
  Hi Robin
  
  History whisperer. I rather like that.
  
  The documentary is excellent and calls a spade a spade.
  
  Both the Tharoor and Mukherji book are among my TBR pile :(
  
  KVR
  
  KVR
  
  Reply

Apur Sansar (1959) – Classic / Apu Trilogy part 3

11/10/2026/1 Comment/in Book to Film, Classic, Director's Film, Drama, Satyajit Ray/by Rammesh

3–5 minutes

Genre: Human Drama

Platform: Free on You Tube with English subtitles

Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Director: Satyajit Ray

Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee (Apurba “Apu” Kumar Roy). Sharmila Tagore (Aparna Roy, Apu’s wife). Swapan Mukherjee (Pulu, Apu’s friend). Dhiren Ghosh (Apu’s landlord). Dhiresh Majumdar (Sasinarayan, Aparna’s father). Alok Chakravarty (Kajal Roy, Apu and Aparna’s son).

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.

The film is free on You Tube

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

1 comment

Aparajito (1956) – Classic / Apu Trilogy Part 2

08/10/2026/2 Comments/in Book to Film, Classic, Director's Film, Drama, Satyajit Ray/by Rammesh

3–4 minutes

Genre: Human Drama

Platform: Amazon Prime / You Tube Free

Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Director: Satyajit Ray

Cast: Kanu Banerjee (Harihar Roy). Karuna Banerjee (Sarbajaya Roy). Pinaki Sengupta (young Apurba “Apu” ). Smaran Ghosal (Apu – adolescent). Ramani Ranjan Sengupta (Apu’s great uncle).

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:

https://youtu.be/scgyxNLiAL8?t=35

Script – 5 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 5 out of 5

Total – 4.8 out of 5

2 responses to “Aparajito (1956) – Classic / Apu Trilogy Part 2”

Robin Bhat

09/10/2026

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,

Robin

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  09/10/2026
  
  Robin
  
  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.
  
  KVR
  
  Reply

Pather Panchali (1955) – Classic / Apu Trilogy part 1

04/10/2026/5 Comments/in Book to Film, Classic, Director's Film, Drama, Satyajit Ray/by Rammesh

4–6 minutes

Genre: Human Drama

Platform: Amazon (Rent) You Tube Free

Time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Director: Satyajit Ray

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

04/10/2026

Why No mention of Chunibala Devi as Indir Thakrun- who was a scene stealer-

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  04/10/2026
  
  Mentioned in passing as “old aunt”
  
  Reply
Robin Bhat

04/10/2026

Hi Rammesh,

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

—
Regards,

Robin

Reply
Lalitha Ravindran

05/10/2026

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.

Reply
1. Rammesh
  
  05/10/2026
  
  Hi Lalitha
  
  Indeed. What was dull is now refreshing . Guess its a matter of perspective that improves with age :)
  
  KVR
  
  Reply

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5 responses to “Pather Panchali (1955) – Classic / Apu Trilogy part 1”

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