"Apu Durga"

Remembering Ray on his birthday, 2nd May.

Durga steals a vegetable from her neighbour's garden, and silently keeps it on the veranda for her Pishi, Indira. Indir Thakrun smiles a toothless smile and lovingly touches the unruly hair of her 6-year-old niece. Sarbajoya is aware of Durga's closeness to her Pishi and is far from approving the bond. For her, in an already impoverished household, Indir Thakrun is an extra mouth to feed. Sarbajaya, weighted down by poverty, is often rude to Indir, causing her to temporarily seek shelter with another relative in the village.

Poverty and endless worry to bring cooked food on her children's plates turns Sarbajoya into a stoic, acid-tongued wife, and ruthless, unforgiving mother to ever dreaming of a good life, Durga. Her husband, Harihar, is a knowledgeable but poor priest who struggles to find dignity in poverty, to make a living in a modest village. Harihar tries to empower his children through books on shastra, Vedas, and mathematics.

Bent, toothless and playful, Indir Thakrun welcomes the birth of Apu, Durga's younger brother. Here begins the journey of the brother and sister through intricacies of life, where childhood is simple, filled with trivialities of day-to-day life. Poverty doesn’t take away the little joys that life has to offer, because that is what childhood is. It doesn't weigh right or wrong, less or more. Life actually seems simple enough if looked at from a child's uncomplicated perspective; however, for the elder's simplicity is the most complicated business.

One day, after a fight, Durga, now 12, banishes her 6-year-old brother from joining her on their expedition to the railway track where they would chase the running train till their lungs would permit and the coal fumes would be visible. Apu followed his sister, nonetheless. After a few moments of ignoring angry glances, their friendship revived the moment they spotted the train on the track. Like two careless butterflies they ran and floated in the field full of Kaash Phool, sort of long bamboo flower bush, that heralds the arrival of autumn in Bengal. Apu and Durga gazed at the train and became hopeful of a better future and good things that are on its way.

There's a thing about dreams, they don't hit the poor differently. Durga steps into her teens and starts to dream. She aspires to look better, to be able to own objects that would adorn and compliment her looks, make her feel beautiful. Durga was accused of stealing a piece of artificial jewellery from her rich neighbour's daughter. Upon the realisation of such a crime, Sarbajoya's pride took a massive hit. She beats Durga throughout the day in an attempt to make her daughter confess her crime and return the jewellery. The following afternoon, Durga wandered along the paddy field with her brother at her toe. They laughed and danced and ran across the fields in heavy torrential rains to avoid their mother's wrath. The aftermath of which brought Durga down with pneumonia. Soon she succumbs to the illness and dies.

Death which is inevitable often seems distant and escapable until it reaches our doorstep and claims one of our beloveds. Demise of Durga brought a pause. It pushed the family to bring an end to the existing chapter of their village life. Apu - Durga's father, Harihar, decided that he must move the entire family to a city near the Ganges where being a Hindu Pandit he will have more professional prospects. As they were gathering their belongings and cleaning the house, Apu comes across the necklace that Durga denied stealing, which she secretly stacked away inside a bowl all this time. He clutches onto it, runs to a nearby pond and tosses the necklace into it, watching as the weeds conceal its presence, lest anyone finds it and maligns his dead sister who always struggled to be understood, accepted, and loved despite her mischievous self.

As the bullock cart slowly pulls away from the village, Apu could see his sister's eyes looking at him complaining sorrowfully and asking, "how could you, of all people leave me behind?"

Tears rolling down his cheeks, Apu looked back at her diminishing figure and promised, "I will never forget you, Didi. I will come back one day and be with you."

An excerpt from "Pather Panchali" written by Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay. Movie made by Satyajit Ray (1955).

Remembering Ray on his birthday, 2nd May, for a work of art that changed the Indian cinemas forever. Pather Panchali (1955) or ‘The Song of the Road’, as it is known to the English-speaking world, sketches a poignant story of a household in rural undivided Bengal of the 1920s. firmly stands as a cinematic landmark.

Ray struggled for funds to create this movie, and this was his first movie that he directed. He chose the actors with much deliberation. The most difficult part was finding Indir Thakrun, an 80year old woman with sunken cheeks, slightly bent back, body leaned forward. It wasnt an easy task to find a person who would fit the character so articulately sketched by Bibhuti Bhushan. Story has it that Ray couldn’t finalise an actress for the role after meeting several octogenarians who were either too senile or given to not-so-real mannerisms.

Upon recommendation by a fellow actress, Satyajit Ray knocked on the doors of a brothel in north Calcutta, where he was welcomed by its madame, who asked in a business-like tone, “Would you like to see the girls?” "Not quite." Ray answered and asked the madame if she would act in his film. Although he had no credentials and could promise her a meagre fee of Rs 20 a workday, 75-year-old Chunibala Devi was thrilled. From the world’s oldest profession, she would be returning to the one she had excelled in during the best years of her life. She ran into her room to show a few documents that supported her short but successful career in films. Chunibala Devi was a popular stage actress and acted in a couple of films of which the two most successful ones are Bigraha (1930) and Rikta (1939). Her astoundingly naturalistic performance of the old woman in Pather Panchali fetched her top honours at the Manila international film festival. She passed away after a bout of influenza, before Pather Panchali was released in her homeland.