Aparajito
Aparajito DVD
Directed by	Satyajit Ray
Written by	Satyajit Ray, from stories by Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee
Starring	Kanu Bannerjee Karuna Bannerjee Pinaki Sengupta Smaran Ghosal
Release date(s)	1956 25 April 1959 (NYC)
Running time	110 min
Language	Bengali
Preceded by	Pather Panchali
Followed by	Apur Sansar
IMDb profile

Aparajito (Bengali: অপরাজিত, Ôporajito, meaning "The Unvanquished") is an award-winning 1956 Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is the second part of Ray's Apu trilogy, and is adapted from the last section of Bibhutibhushan Bannerjee's Pather Panchali and the first section of its sequel Aparajito. It focuses on the life of Apu from childhood to college. The film stars Kanu Bannerjee and Karuna Bannerjee. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...   (Bengali: সত্যজিত্ রায় Shottojit Rae) (May 2, 1921–April 23, 1992) was an Indian filmmaker who is widely regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. ... Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (Bengali: Bibhutibhushon Bôndopaddhae) was a Bengali novelist and writer. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_India. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (116th in leap years). ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... New York, New York redirects here. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... Pather Panchali (Bengali: পথের পাঁচালী Pôther Pãchali, English: ), released in 1955, is the first film of director Satyajit Rays Apu trilogy. ... Third and last of the famous Apu Trilogy, a series of films about a boy named Apu in early twentieth century Bengal by Satyajit Ray. ... Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, IPA: ) is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The history of cinema in Bengal dates back to the 1890s, when the first bioscopes were shown in theatres in Calcutta. ...   (Bengali: সত্যজিত্ রায় Shottojit Rae) (May 2, 1921–April 23, 1992) was an Indian filmmaker who is widely regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. ... The Apu trilogy is a series of three films directed by Satyajit Ray. ... Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay (Bengali: Bibhutibhushon Bôndopaddhae) was a Bengali novelist and writer. ...

Plot

The film begins with Apu's family getting settled in a flat near a ghat in Benares, where Apu quickly makes new friends. While Sarbajaaya (Apu's mother) stays at home, Harihar (his father) works as a priest. On Diwali, however, Harihar is in bed with a fever and Apu is sent to comfort him. Disregarding his wife's advice, he leaves for the ghat the next day, collapses on the stairs on the way home, and dies soon afterwards. Desaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi, crowded with pilgrims at sunrise. ... , Vārāṇasī ( , Hindi: , IPA: ), also known as Benares, Banaras, or Benaras ( , Hindi: , , IPA: ), or Kashi or Kasi ( , Hindi: , ), is a famous Hindu holy city situated on the banks of the river Ganges (Ganga) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ... Diwali, also called Deepavali, is a major Indian festival that is very significant in Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism. ...

Because Harihar is no longer there to protect the family, it is up to Sarbajaaya to make a living as a maidservant and manage the family. Sarbajaaya and Apu are invited to return to their home village by a relative. Once they are finally settled in a village called Mansapota, Apu asks his mother to pay for him to start going to school, where he studies diligently.

Gradually, he is offered a scholarship to go to Kolkata. Sarbajaaya, though impressed, does not want to let her son leave. She soon gives in, albeit reluctantly, and helps him prepare to leave. From this point, the film becomes increasingly poignant as Ray films an eternal struggle between the young man's ambitions and the mother who loves him. This article is about scholarship (noun) and scholarship as a form of financial aid. ... , “Calcutta” redirects here. ...

Apu must work at a printing press after school in order to make a living. Sarbajaaya is desperate for news and visits from her son, but Apu can only visit a few times and feels out of place in Mansapota. Sarbajaaya becomes seriously ill but refuses to tell Apu; when he finally learns the truth, Apu leaves for Mansapota only to find that he has been orphaned. Rejecting a relative's plea that he stay and become a Brahmin priest, he decides to return to Kolkata and perform the last rites for his mother there.

Awards and recognition

Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the 1957 Venice Film Festival. It was later nominated as one of the 100 greatest movies by Time magazine,^{[citation needed]} and is discussed in a chapter on the Apu trilogy by Roger Ebert in his book Great Movies. The Golden Lion (it: Leone dOro) is the name of the highest prize given to a film at the Biennale Venice Film Festival. ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... The Venice Film Festival (it: Mostra Internazionale dArte Cinematografica) is the oldest Film Festival in the World (began in the 1932) and takes place every year in late August/early September on the Lido di Venezia in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, in Venice, Italy. ... Time (whose trademark is capitalized TIME) is a weekly American newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. ... Roger Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ...

Critical reception

Prolific web reviewer James Berardinelli wrote in 1996, James Berardinelli (born September 1967, New Brunswick, New Jersey) is an online film critic. ...

"Aparajito was filmed forty years ago, half way around the world, yet the themes and emotions embedded in the narrative are strikingly relevant to modern Western society (thus explaining why it is called a "timeless classic")... Aparajito is an amazing motion picture. Its rich, poetic composition is perfectly wed to the sublime emotional resonance of the narrative. For those who have seen Pather Panchali, Aparajito provides a nearly-flawless continuation of the journey begun there. Yet, for those who missed Ray's earlier effort, this film loses none of its impact. On its own or as part of the Apu Trilogy, Aparajito should not be missed."^[1]

Notes

1. ^ James Berardinelli. Reel Reviews URL accessed on 3 April, 2006

External links

• Aparajito at the Internet Movie Database
• Aparajito (SatyajitRay.org)