I sit down to write this after watching pather panchali on my pc in the cozy interiors of my room.
when i first saw satyagit rays "pather panchali" the indian equivalent of orson welles american " citize kane" and akira kurasowas japanese masterpiece " seven samurai" i found it to be a unattractive and boring piece of cinema. this was 6 years ago when cinema to me was just another way of living through time. but, now six years down the lane i find it beautiful, enchanting and not to be forgotten engrossing.
after having read this book " the life and work of ray" a book which changed my very perspective and view on cinema i had the apu trilogy delivered to me of the net. being a cinephile i feel it's my responsibility to enlighten my fellow cinephiles about this work of art called " the apu trilogy". being an artist himself ray drew every single scene on a scribbling pad before actually shooting it and in the process giving rise to this new technique which would later on be followed by the likes of martin scorcese. it took ray more than one indian summer to finalise the casting. pather panchali broke every written and unwritten rule of conventional film making. the character indir played by an eighty three year old and a former theatre artist turned prostitute chunibala devi has been interpreted by gilbert adair in his book on ray as a performance which deserved an oscar had it not been an indian film. the thing which puzzles most of the critics and followers of ray is ray has actually stopped the shooting for a year because the narration in the film advances by a year and to show the slight changes in their age and habits he has done this. some say it's "over obsession" and some "pure genius" and i call it " passion".
it may not be a worty enough piece to describe ray. but this is my small token of gratitude to the first indian to have grabbed the oscar.
