Pather Panchali (1955)

Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal, India. It is based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name and is Ray's directorial debut. It features Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta and Chunibala Devi. The first film in the Apu trilogy, Pather Panchali depicts the childhood of the protagonist Apu and his elder sister Durga, and the harsh village life of their poor family. Production was interrupted due to funding problems and it took nearly three years for the film to be completed. The film was shot mainly on location, had a limited budget, featured mostly amateur actors, and was made by an inexperienced crew. The sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar composed the film's soundtrack and score using classical Indian ragas. Subrata Mitra was in charge of the cinematography while editing was handled by Dulal Dutta. Following its premiere on 3 May 1955 during an exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art, Pather Panchali was released in Calcutta later the same year to an enthusiastic reception.