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If you are a movie goer, then you might have heard or seen these movies. But, if you aren’t a movie buff, then you must see these movies, as soon as possible. These movies are from, one of the finest directors that, India has ever produced and his excellency can be seen in his extraordinary work. Here are few Satyajit Rays Movies or Cinema, that you must watch.
Cinema of Satyajit Ray
1‘Pather Panchali’ (1955)
‘Pather Panchali’ or Song Of The Little Road, is a Bengali-drama film, that was being directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal. This film was Satyajit Ray’s first directorial debut movie.It was based on Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s 1929 novel of the same name. This is the first film in ‘Apu’ Trilogy. The movie depicts, the childhood of Apu and Durga, his elder sister, and village life of their poor family. How their family struggled every day for one meal a day, and how they had to travel to the city in search of money leaving their ancestral home.
It took Satyajit Ray, three years to make this film, mainly because of low budget, inexperienced crew, and new actors. This movie was described as the major turning point in Indian Cinema; it was also among the films that pioneered the Parallel Cinema. Which mostly espoused social realism and authenticity. This movie is the first film from independent India that attracted many major international critical attention. It also won many major awards, like 1955’s National Film Award For Best Feature Film, 1956 the Best Human Document Award at the Cannes Film festival, which featured Ray in the lists of the greatest films ever made.
2‘Aparijito’ (1956)
‘Aparijito’ orThe Unvanquished, is the second part in ‘Apu’ Trilogy. It was being inspired from Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s, one-fifth of ‘Pather Panchali’ book and the first one-third of the sequel book of the same name. In this movie, he stayed faithful to the novel. This film starts off where the last film ended and shows that Apu’s family moving to Varanasi, and all the chronicles of Apu’s life from his childhood to his college, how his father died after a serious illness and how they moved to Calcutta. When his mother died, he is left all alone in this world.
This movie won eleven international awards, including positive international critical reception. It became the first ever film to win both the Golden Lion and Critics Award, at Venice Film Festival.
3‘Apur Sansar’ (1959)
Yes, you guessed it right. That is Sharmila Tagore in the picture and movie too. ‘Apur Sansar’ or The World Of Apu, is the third and final part of the trilogy. This movie mainly focuses the adult life of Apu, introducing Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore. In this part, Apu, who is an unemployed graduate, on a trip with his friend Pullu visits his cousin’s marriage in their native village in Khulna. But, due to some mishap in the marriage, Apu had to marry the bride. Later, when he returns to his place at Calcutta, he finds a clerical job and love blossoms in this newly wed couple. After sometime Aparna (Apu’s wife) diedwhile giving birth to his son, and Apu blames all this to his newly born son Kajal, and never goes home to take him back from his in-laws. Later, when he realizes his mistake he comes to his in-law’s place and makes friendship with his son Kajal and starts life afresh.
This film had won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film and several other international awards. Like the Sutherland Award for Best Original And Imaginative Film and National Award of Review Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
4‘Charulata’ (1964)
‘Charulata’ or the Lonely Wife was adapted from Rabindranath Tagore’s novella ‘Nastanirh’ (The Broken Nest). This movie is about a lonely housewife, Charulata, played by Madhabi Mukherjee, who lives in a wealthy and secluded life in 1870’s Calcutta. Her husband who runs a newspaper spends his most of the time at work. When he notices his wife loneliness, he asks his cousin Amal played by Soumitra Chatterjee, to give her company.However, after some time, Amal and Charu relationship move beyond just a mentoring and friendly relationship.
This movie was part of the Cannes Classic Film Festival of 2013 and was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1996.
5‘Sonar Kella’ (1974)
It was adapted from 1971 mystery novel written by Satyajit Ray himself. This movie is about a kid named Mukul, who remembers events from his previous life drawing sketches of a peacock, fort, and battles, that he claims to have seen. He soon receives media attention, which results in his father consulting to Prodosh Mitter, a detective and discusses in his Parapsychological Phenomenon.
Due to the newspaper publication, two notorious criminals plan at kidnapping Mukul.By mistaken-identity, they kidnapped somebody else, which hasalerted the neighborhood area and Feluda comes to rescue Mukul. This also won many awards, like 1974, National Film Awards for Best Screenplay & Best Direction, Best Film, Direction and Screenplay, Government of West Bengal, 1975 Best Feature Film for Children and Young Adults, Tehran and national awards for best cinematography.
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