Satyajit Ray’s 1956 film Aparajito was the second installment of the “Apu Trilogy”, following two years after the completion of Pather Panchali. Some critics describe it as even more masterful than its predecessor while others praise it but less highly than the earlier segment. I think that a big part of that judgment hinges on which set of issues one most identifies with from one’s own life. Aparajito has a bit faster pace and a little less attention to detail, paralleling the stages of childhood and adolescence. Childhood is a time of wonder and appreciation of the small things of life while adolescence tends to be more a time of action. I personally experienced Pather Panchali as the more totally compelling of the two films but can easily understand why others might disagree. Aparajito is certainly masterful in its own right.

The Story: Aparajito means the “Unvanquished” and its meaning is evident from the opening frames. It is 1920. Apu (Pinaki Sengupta) and his father Harihar (Kanu Bannerjee) and his mother Sarbojaya (Karuna Bannerjee) have left behind the suffering they endured in Pather Panchali and have settled in Banaras, a city along the holy Ganges River. Harihar is at last earning a reliable income as a Brahmin priest, by reciting Hindu verses to pilgrims on the sacred steps that lead down to the river. Harihar is finally able to provide some of the foods and spices that Sarbojaya could only yearn for in the past. Unfortunately, this ill-starred family’s brief respite from trouble is broken when Harihar suddenly becomes ill and soon after dies.

Sarbojaya briefly works as a cook for a wealthy family but soon accepts her uncle’s offer to live with him and his family in a Bengali village. There she and Apu perform chores for their board and Apu is taught the duties of a priest by his grand-uncle. Apu, however, has no interest in becoming a priest and wants instead to attend the nearby school. Apu impresses the educators and is given access to books on science, geography, biography, and other subjects. His intellect is awakened and he reads and studies so voraciously that he obtains the second highest score in the district on the competitive examination. This earns him a scholarship to study in Calcutta. Sarbojaya struggles with the idea of separation from her last surviving family member, but Apu’s gaze is riveted straight ahead. Apu at this age is now played by the actor Smaran Ghosal.

At college, Apu concentrates on his studies and thinks little of his mother or home village. He visits her once during the holidays, but even then spends the first several days of the vacation in Calcutta. Even when they are together at home, Apu and his mother communicate very little. Sarbojaya understands little of what Apu is learning and can relate to him only maternally, fretting about whether he is eating well enough. Apu spends most of his short time at home catching up on his sleep and reading. He seldom answers her queries with more than a word or two.

When Apu returns to Calcutta, Sarbojaya gradually becomes increasingly ill. She seems to be wasting away – whether from despair or from some genuine condition is not made evident. She begs her relatives not to contact Apu as it might disturb his studies. At last her condition has deteriorated to such an extent that he must be contacted. When he arrives home, his mother has already passed away. Apu packs his things and heads back to Calcutta.

Themes: Ray is perhaps best known for his ability to take up fundamental themes of human experience that have universal applicability, even though the life and culture that he depicts is uniquely Indian. The central theme of Aparajito is the relationship between a mother and a son and especially how that relationships undergoes transformation as a boy grows into a young man. While this is an issue that is universal to an extent, it is also somewhat unique in each specific instance for a couple of reasons: culture and the vicissitudes of life. In Indian cultures (as well as in some of the Mediterranean cultures), a women’s role and significance is strongly defined in terms of family life. A woman in India exists first and foremost to provide support for her husband and later for her sons. By contrast, women in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian cultures often have identities that are less fully based on their relationship to their men. Throughout the trilogy, we see Sarbojaya tending to the home, whether in the village or the city. She cooks and cleans the home. In one poignant scene in Aparajito, while Apu’s family is living in Banaras, Harihar brings home a surprise guest. We see Sarbojaya in the kitchen preparing tea for her husband and his guest, which is then carried into their sitting place by Apu. Sarbojaya is not invited or expected to join the men for their worldly discussion. She stands just outside the room out of sight. When the guest complements the tea, she smiles. Indian women during the time period reflected in the Apu Trilogy (and today as well by in large) were not educated, did not participate in politics or other worldly events, and married into matches arranged by their parents. It is also interesting that although Harihar and Sarbojaya were mutually respectful and polite with one another, they never exhibit any overt affection for one another. They dutifully tend to each other’s needs, providing caretaking in illness or cooperative effort when needed, but without either physical or verbal expressions of affection. Sarbojaya’s relationship with Apu is also largely devoid of overt affectionate behavior. They relate to one another in their roles as mother and son, but do not actually make psychic contact either in the domain of intellect or the realm of feelings. Neither one truly knows anything of the inner life of the other except what they gather by observation. Indian life is based far more on roles and duties than on true intimacy. Under such circumstances, Sarbojave was bound to suffer profoundly from the empty nest syndrome because her entire identity derived from her husband and later her son. She had neither hobbies, nor interests, nor workplace skills to turn to after Apu’s departure. The theme of the mother/son relationship may be universal, but two characteristics of Indian culture gave it unique definition in this particular instance: the high level of gender differentiation in Indian culture and the emphasis on social duty over personal desires.

I think that it is a little unfair to judge too harshly Apu’s “insensitivity” to his mother’s loneliness and need for his presence. Late adolescence and young adulthood is often a time when children feel the need to break from their parents, establish their own identities as adults, and to focus on preparing themselves for their own lives. Under the best of circumstances, adult children sometimes establish new adult-adult relationships with one or both of their parents that take the place of the former adult-child relationships. That can only occur if both the child and the parent are able to adjust their thinking. The child has to be ready to give up dependence on the parent. The parent has to be prepared to give up the parental oversight and judgmental observations. Some parents and their adult children are never able to forge new bonds as mutually respectful adults. Moreover, life’s vicissitudes play a significant role in whether it happens as well. I have known many people who lost one or both parents while still a child or an adolescent and therefore never enjoyed even the possibility of knowing that parent as one adult to another. In Apu’s case, it was too soon in his young life to be forging a caring, supportive, or protective perspective toward his mother. He was still looking toward her for his sense of security and orientation. Most likely, had his mother lived longer, he could have come to a stage where he could care for her needs. After all, Apu had the example of Auntie, in the first installment of the Apu Trilogy, as an elderly family member that was cared for in her old age.

Production Values: As in the preceding installment of the Apu Trilogy, Pather Panchali, the poetic qualities of the cinematography, music, and script in Aparajito are superlative. Ravi Shankar’s sitar music once again provides the perfect accompaniment throughout the entire film. The camerawork provides many marvelous shots of great beauty and symbolism – pigeons scurrying about beside the Ganges, men bathing in the river, Apu dressed like an African tribesman complete with spear after studying about Africa, the flock of pigeons taking wing as Harihar dies, and Sarbojaya’s brave smile as Apu departs for Calcutta melting into a sad face as soon as he is out of sight. There was one bit of editing that was so magnificent that I actually stopped the tape and reran it three times before going on. At the point that Sarbojaya determines to accept her uncle’s offer to live with them in the country in a Bengali village, Sarbojaya descends the staircase in Banaras for the last time, looking pensive and agonized, and approaches the camera. We see a close-up of her face full of worry reflected in her eyes. Then we hear the sounds of a train’s wheels and whistle. Sarbojaya turns her head to the left as if to look for the source of the sound and suddenly she and Apu are on the train headed to their new home. Ray’s sense of storytelling is flawless as always.

The performances all resonate with feeling and believability. Both actors who played Apu (in childhood and then in adolescence) were excellent, but the key performance was provided by Karuna Bannerjee as Sarbojaya. She provides an impressive range of emotional and conflicted states as well as physical deterioration as she approaches death. It’s a moving portrayal.

Bottom-Line: Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the 1957 Venice Film Festival. It is in Bengali with English subtitles and has a running time of 113 minutes. It is a fully comprehensible film for viewers who have not previously seen Pather Panchali, but obviously the most complete experience comes from watching the three parts of the Apu Trilogy in succession, perhaps over three consecutive nights. I would like to rate this film at 4.5 stars as it is very nearly as successful in my view as its predecessor. Since that option is not available, I’ll reluctantly go with four.


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You might want to check out these other excellent films from India:

Charulata
Earth
Jalsaghar
Kadosh
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India
Mother India
Pather Panchali
Salaam Bombay!
The Terrorist
The World of Apu

Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12