Satyajit Ray’s The Apu Trilogy celebrates life in all its complexity and is a love letter to the human spirit. It is an intense yet intimate portrait of the journey from childhood to adulthood. The Apu Trilogy is available on a limited-edition Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
Satyajit Ray’s epic trilogy is far more complex than the coming-of-age story at its heart, following Apu from childhood to adulthood across three films: Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956), and The World of Apu (1959). Based on two Bengali novels by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, the trilogy was produced on a shoestring budget over several years, and the final films were almost lost to time before being rescued and restored.
While the three films are individual masterpieces, they work best as one continuous story, following Apu’s life from rural Bengal with his loving, low-income family through his adulthood. As the trilogy opens with Pather Panchali (1955), we meet Apu in a rundown house with his parents, Harihar and Sarbajaya, his older sister, Durga, and his father’s elderly cousin, Indir. Ray’s opening chapter focuses on Apu and his sister’s childhood and the simple joys of life. Durga and Apu’s carefree time in their village is beautifully realised as they tease each other and enjoy the village’s attractions, from a performance by a troupe of travelling actors to some sweet treats from the candyman passing through. However, this childhood innocence is also surrounded by poverty and the harsh realities of adult life.
Pather Panchali is an ocean of iconic imagery and stunning cinematography. In one of the film’s most iconic scenes, our young siblings run away from home to catch a glimpse of the train they hear every night but never see. Ray wraps the unveiling of an unknown world into a subtle metaphor, a simple yet powerful image that also serves as a collision of two worlds: modern versus rural and familiar versus mysterious. This becomes an overarching analogy for the trilogy, as Apu’s life constantly and inevitably changes through both direct and indirect forces.
Pather Panchali ends as the family moves to the city of Benares following two tragic deaths. This leads to Apu’s slow acclimatisation to city life in the second film, Aparajito (1956). In the second chapter, Ray focuses on the generational gap and dissonance between the adolescent Apu and his mother. While all three films explore Bengali traditions and culture, the scenes between Apu and his mum are universal in construction, transcending the time and place of Ray’s films while speaking directly to global adolescent experiences. Here, Apu’s mum faces the inevitable, harsh reality all parents must endure: her son is growing up and craving independence, free from her guidance.
The third film, The World of Apu (1959), explores Apu’s adult life in 1940s Calcutta. Ray initially concentrates on the hardships of unemployment before shifting focus to newfound love, partnership, and tragedy. Apu and his wife, Aparna, meet by chance and marry only because of their circumstances, but though they may start as strangers, they soon fall in love.
Family is the central motif on which all three films are built, as Ray explores a complex tapestry of relationships before deconstructing and rebuilding each one. In the final instalment, Apu is forced to accept the adult world around him through a series of losses that allow him to reevaluate his life and look ahead. This is the final chapter of the coming-of-age process, as the child and the teen disappear into the mists of time, with the adult world and all its inequalities, challenges, hopes, and wonders laid out before them.
Taking a different approach to India’s trademark Bollywood films, The Apu Trilogy would follow Italian Neorealism while giving birth to a new style of Indian filmmaking. Ray’s masterful, lyrical style embraces an amateur cast and crew in a stunning directorial debut that transcends cultures, history, and geography. The Apu Trilogy celebrates life in all its complexity and is a love letter to the human spirit. It is an intense yet intimate portrait of the journey from childhood to adulthood, and it remains a cinematic masterpiece.
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