''Apur Sansar'' ( bn, অপুর সংসার), also known as ''The World of Apu'', is a 1959 Indian
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
-language
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
produced, written and directed by
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...
. It is based on the second half of
Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay
Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay () (12 September 1894 – 1 November 1950) was an Indian writer in the Bengali language. His best known works are the autobiographical novel, '' Pather Panchali'' (''Song of the Little Road''), ''Aparajito (Undefeat ...
's novel ''Aparajito''. Following ''
Pather Panchali
''Pather Panchali'' (; ) is a 1955 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same na ...
'' (1955) and ''
Aparajito
''Aparajito'' ( bn, অপরাজিত ''Ôporajito''; ''The Unvanquished'') is a 1956 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray (1921–1992), and is the second part of ''The Apu Trilogy''. It is adapted from ...
'' (1956), ''The World of Apu'' is the final part of Ray's ''
The Apu Trilogy
''The Apu Trilogy'' comprises three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: '' Pather Panchali'' (1955), '' Aparajito'' (1956) and '' The World of Apu'' (1959). The original music for the films was composed by Ravi Shanka ...
'', about the childhood and early adulthood of a young
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
named Apu in early twentieth century India. ''The World of Apu'' stars
Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...
(as Apu) and
Sharmila Tagore
Sharmila Tagore (also known as Begum Ayesha Sultana; born 8 December 1944) is a retired Indian actress, primarily known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema, Tagore is the recipient of two National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award, and the F ...
(as Apu's wife Aparna); the duo would go on to appear in many subsequent Ray films.
Upon its release on 1 May 1959, ''The World of Apu'' was well-received by critics. It won the
National Film Award for Best Feature Film
The National Award for Best Feature Film is one of the categories in the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. It is one of se ...
as well as several international awards, including the
Sutherland Award for Best Original And Imaginative Film and
.
Plot
In early 1940s, Apurba Kumar Roy (Apu) is an unemployed graduate (completed study up to the intermediate science) living in a rented room at
Tala, Calcutta. Despite his teacher's advice to go for higher studies, he is unable to do so because he cannot afford it. He tries to find a job, while barely getting by providing private tutoring. His main passion is writing a novel, partially based on his own life, hoping to get it published some day. One day, he meets his old friend Pulu, who coaxes him to join him on a trip to his village in
Khulna
Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 b ...
to attend the marriage of a cousin named Aparna.
On the day of the marriage, it is revealed that the bridegroom has a serious mental disorder. The bride's mother cancels the marriage, despite the father's protests. He and the other villagers believe, according to prevalent Hindu tradition, that the young bride must be wedded off during the previously appointed
auspicious hour, otherwise, she will have to remain unmarried all her life. Apu, after initially refusing when requested by a few villagers, ultimately decides to take Pulu's advice and come to the rescue of the bride by agreeing to marry her. He returns with Aparna to his apartment in Calcutta after the wedding. He takes up a clerical job, and a loving relationship begins to bloom between them. Yet, the young couple's blissful days are cut short when Aparna
dies while giving birth to their son, Kajal. Apu is overcome with grief and holds the child responsible for his wife's death.
He shuns his worldly responsibilities and becomes a recluse – travelling to different corners of India, while the child is left with his maternal grandparents. Meanwhile, Apu throws away his manuscript for the novel he had been writing over the years. A few years later, Pulu finds Kajal growing wild and uncared for. He then seeks out Apu, who is working at a mining quarry and advises Apu one last time to take up his fatherly responsibility. At last, Apu decides to come back to reality and reunite with his son. When he reaches his in-laws' place, Kajal, having seen him for the first time in his life, at first does not accept him as a father. Eventually, he accepts Apu as a friend and they return to Calcutta together to start life afresh.
Cast
*
Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...
as Apu (Apurba Kumar Roy)
*
Sharmila Tagore
Sharmila Tagore (also known as Begum Ayesha Sultana; born 8 December 1944) is a retired Indian actress, primarily known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema, Tagore is the recipient of two National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award, and the F ...
as Aparna, Apu's wife
* Swapan Mukherjee as Pulu
* Alok Chakravarty as Kajal
* Sefalika Devi as Sasinarayan's wife
* Dhiresh Majumdar as Sasinarayan
* Dhiren Ghosh as the landlord
Production
Ray wanted fresh faces again for the film like other two films in the
Apu Trilogy
''The Apu Trilogy'' comprises three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: '' Pather Panchali'' (1955), ''Aparajito'' (1956) and ''The World of Apu'' (1959). The original music for the films was composed by Ravi Shankar ...
and thus he started auditioning. In others films he made in between, like ''
Parash Pathar
''Parash Pathar'' ( bn, পরশ পাথর ''Porosh Pathor''; English: ''The Philosopher's Stone''; French: ''La Pierre Philosophale'') is a 1958 Bengali language Indian fantasy comedy film. It was Satyajit Ray's first film outside of ''The A ...
'' (1958) and ''
Jalsaghar
''Jalsaghar'' ( bn, জলসাঘর ''Jalsāghar'', "The Music Room") is a 1958 Indian Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a popular short story by Bengali writer Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, and starring Chhabi Bis ...
'' (1958), he did work with professional actors like
Soumitra Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee (also spelt as Chattopadhyay; 16 June 193515 November 2020) was an Indian film actor, play-director, playwright, writer, thespian and poet. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of ...
, a radio announcer and a stage actor who, with doyen of
Bengali theatre
Bengali theatre primarily refers to theatre performed in the Bengali language. Bengali theatre is produced mainly in West Bengal, and in Bangladesh. The term may also refer to some Hindi theatres which are accepted by the Bengali people.
Ben ...
Sisir Bhaduri
Shishir Kumar Bhaduri or Sisir Kumar Bhaduri (2 October 1889 – 30 June 1959) was an Indian stage actor and theatre founder, who commonly referred to as the pioneer of modern Bengali theatre, where he was an actor, director, playwright and eve ...
, had first auditioned for the role of the adolescent Apu in ''
Aparajito
''Aparajito'' ( bn, অপরাজিত ''Ôporajito''; ''The Unvanquished'') is a 1956 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray (1921–1992), and is the second part of ''The Apu Trilogy''. It is adapted from ...
'' (1956). Though Ray thought he had the right look, he found him too old for the role. Ray remembered him and offered the role of adult Apu two years later. Chatterjee was still unaware that he had already been selected for the title role. He had gone on the sets of Ray's fourth film, ''
Jalsaghar
''Jalsaghar'' ( bn, জলসাঘর ''Jalsāghar'', "The Music Room") is a 1958 Indian Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a popular short story by Bengali writer Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, and starring Chhabi Bis ...
'', to watch the shoot. That day, while he was leaving the sets, Ray called him over and introduced him to actor
Chhabi Biswas
Chhabi Biswas (''Chabi Biśbās'') (13 July 1900 – 11 June 1962) was an Indian actor, primarily known for his performances in Tapan Sinha's '' Kabuliwala'' and Satyajit Ray's films '' Jalshaghar'' (''The Music Room'', 1958), '' Devi'' ( ...
, saying, "This is Soumitra Chattopadhyay; he's playing Apu in my next film ''Apur Sansar''", leaving him surprised. Ray however had a tough time finding an actress for the female lead Aparna. He even placed an ad in a local daily asking for photographs from girls between ages of 15 and 17. There were over a thousand responses to the ad, but Ray found none of them worth auditioning. This was when Ray became aware of a girl,
Sharmila Tagore
Sharmila Tagore (also known as Begum Ayesha Sultana; born 8 December 1944) is a retired Indian actress, primarily known for her work in Hindi and Bengali cinema, Tagore is the recipient of two National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award, and the F ...
, who had recently performed at a dance recital at Children's Little Theatre (CLT) in Kolkata. She is related to poet
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
, and subsequently auditioned and was selected.
Despite being selected, as a debutant actor, Chatterjee was nevertheless unsure of his career choice and especially his looks, as he did not consider himself photogenic. However, on 9 August 1958, when the first shot of the film was given an okay in one take, he realized he had found his vocation.
Awards
;
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...
(India)
* Winner –
1959
Events January
* January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
* January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
–
President's gold medal for the All India Best Feature Film
;
British Film Institute Awards (
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...
)
*Winner – 1960 –
Sutherland Award for Best Original And Imaginative Film
;14th
Edinburgh International Film Festival
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...
*Winner – 1960 – Diploma Of Merit
;
National Board of Review Awards
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...
(United States)
*Winner –
1960 –
Best Foreign Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
;
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...
(United Kingdom)
*Nominated –
1962 –
BAFTA Award for Best Film
The BAFTA Award for Best Film is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and presented at the British Academy Film Awards. It has been given since the 1st BAFTA Awards, representing the best films of 1947, but until ...
Reception and legacy
![President John F](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/President_John_F._Kennedy_and_others_arrive_at_Dupont_Theater_for_film_screening.jpg)
At
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, ''The World of Apu'' has a 96% fresh rating based on an aggregate of 27 reviews with an average score of 9.04/10. Its critic's consensus states: "Achingly poignant, beautifully shot, and evocatively atmospheric, The World of Apu closes out Satyajit Ray's classic trilogy on a high note."
In 1992, ''
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' (the
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
's film magazine) ranked ''The Apu Trilogy'' at #88 in its Critics' Poll list of
all-time greatest films.
''The World of Apu'' appeared in ''1982 Sight & Sound Poll of Greatest Films of All Time'' ranked at #42. In 2002, a combined list of ''Sight & Sound'' critics' and directors' poll results ranked ''The World of Apu'' at #93 in the list.
In 1998, the
Asian film magazine ''
Cinemaya
''Cinemaya'' (a blend of ''cinema'' and ''maya'' (illusion)) is a film magazine established in 1988 devoted exclusively to coverage of Asian film. It is published in New Delhi, India and distributed internationally. The present editor-in-chief o ...
s critics' poll of all-time greatest films ranked ''The Apu Trilogy'' at #7 on the list.
In 1999, ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' ranked ''The Apu Trilogy'' at #54 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list, based on a poll of critics.
The film was selected as the Indian entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the
32nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.
In 1996, ''The World of Apu'' was included in Movieline Magazine's "100 Greatest Foreign Films".
In 2001, film critic
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
included ''The Apu Trilogy'' in his list of "100 Great Movies" of all time.
In 2002, ''The World of Apu'' featured in "
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made".
[The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made](_blank)
THE FILM CRITICS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', 2002 In 2005, ''The Apu Trilogy'' was included in
''Time'' magazine's
All-Time 100 best movies list.
At the Indian box office, the film earned a profit of for distributors.
''The World of Apu'' has been influential across the world. In
Gregory Nava
Gregory James Nava (born April 10, 1949) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter.
Personal life
Nava was born in San Diego, of Mexican and Basque heritage. Nava graduated from St. Augustine High School (San Diego), St. Augustine ...
's 1995 film ''
My Family
''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadc ...
'', the final scene is duplicated from the final scene of ''Apur Sansar''. The film's influence can also be seen in famous works such as several
Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman (born October 23, 1936) is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed fifteen films over a career spanning more than six decades. He has been described as a "maverick" and an "iconoclast," notable for his versati ...
films.
References to ''The World of Apu'' are also found in several films by European filmmaker
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
,
and in
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include '' The New York Trilogy'' (1987), '' Moon Palace'' (1989), '' The Music of Chance'' (1990), '' The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The ...
's 2008 novel ''
Man in the Dark
''Man in the Dark'' is a 1953 film noir drama 3-D film directed by Lew Landers and starring Edmond O'Brien, Audrey Totter and Ted de Corsia. It is a remake of the 1936 Ralph Bellamy film '' The Man Who Lived Twice''.
It was the first Columbi ...
'' where two characters have a discussion about the film.
In 2012 the film was ranked #235 in the ''Sight & Sound Top 250 Films'' list. The film is ranked 55 in
Letterboxd
Letterboxd is an online social networking service co-founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011. It was launched as a social app focused on sharing opinions about, and love of film, and is maintained by a small team in Auckland, Ne ...
's list of 250 greatest films of all time.
Preservation
The
Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...
preserved the entire Apu Trilogy in 1996, including ''Apur Sansar''. In 2013, the video distribution company
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
, in collaboration with the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
’ Film
Archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
, began the restoration of the original negatives of the Apu trilogy, including ''Apur Sansar''. These negatives had been severely damaged by a fire in London in 1993, and all film cans and fragments belonging to the Ray films were sent to the Motion Picture Academy for storage, where they lay unseen for two decades.
It was discovered upon reexamination that, although many parts of the films were indeed destroyed by fire or the effects of age, other parts were salvageable. The materials were shipped to a restoration laboratory in Bologna, Italy:
L’Immagine Ritrovata. For those parts of the negative that were missing or unusable, duplicate negatives and fine-grain masters from various commercial or archival sources were used.
The Criterion Collection’s own lab then spent six months creating the digital version of all three films, at times choosing to preserve the distinctive look of the films even at the cost of retaining some imperfections.
See also
*
Cinema of West Bengal
Tollywood, also known as Cinema of West Bengal, is an Cinema of India, Indian film industry of Bengali language, Bengali-language motion pictures. It is based in the Tollygunge region of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The origins of the nicknam ...
*
Parallel Cinema
Parallel cinema, or New Indian Cinema, is a film movement in Indian cinema that originated in the state of West Bengal in the 1950s as an alternative to the mainstream commercial Indian cinema.
Inspired by Italian Neorealism, Parallel Cinema ...
*
*
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
*
*
''Apur Sansar''at SatyajitRay.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:World Of Apu
1959 films
1950s coming-of-age drama films
Bengali-language Indian films
Indian coming-of-age drama films
Indian black-and-white films
Best Feature Film National Film Award winners
Films set in Kolkata
Films directed by Satyajit Ray
Films with screenplays by Satyajit Ray
Films scored by Ravi Shankar
1950s Bengali-language films
1959 drama films
Films based on works by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Films about poverty in India