Pather Panchali (1955)
96%RT Audience Score: 94%
Awards & Nominations: NA
A film that requires and rewards patience in equal measure, Pather Panchali finds director Satyajit Ray delivering a classic with his debut.
If you’re in the mood for a slow burn, Pather Panchali is the flick for you. Satyajit Ray’s first film is a total classic, but don’t expect it to be a wild ride from start to finish. You gotta have some patience, my friend. But trust me, it’s worth it. Ray really knows how to tell a story, and he takes his time doing it. So sit back, relax, and let Pather Panchali work its magic. You won’t regret it.
Production Company(ies)
Government of West Bengal
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Boral, West Bengal, India
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
1955
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Mono
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Aspect ratio:1.37 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):Bengali
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Nov 17, 2015
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna Bannerjee, Subir Bannerjee, Uma Das Gupta, Chunibala Devi, Runki Banerjee, directed by Satyajit Ray, written by Satyajit Ray, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Jonas Mekas, Shubhra Gupta, Helen Bower, Mae Tinee, Wanda Hale, Philip K Scheuer, Arlene Croce, Brian Eggert, Gerald Weales, Isabel Quigly, Katherine McLaughlin, Hortense Morton, MPAA rating, impoverished priest, rural Bengal village, family, poverty, dreams, work, rebellion, daily indignities, human condition, Apu Trilogy, Bengali cinema, Indian culture, film history, beauty, ugliness, nature, human pain, human joy, human dignity, warmth, tenderness, artist, rapport, patience, classic, debut, transcends locality, speaks to us all
Worldwide gross: $135,342
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,705,029
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,455
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 185,936
US/Canada gross: $134,241
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,691,159
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,080
US/Canada opening weekend: $16,064
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $202,373
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,662
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Karuna Bannerjee – Sarbojaya Ray
Subir Bannerjee – Apu
Uma Das Gupta – Durga
Chunibala Devi – Indir Thakrun
Runki Banerjee – Little Durga
Director(s)
Satyajit Ray
Writer(s)
Satyajit Ray
Producer(s)
NA
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
All Critics (76) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (74) | Rotten (2)
It is most simple, most down to earth, and from the very heart. Specifically it is about India, but actually it is about everybody. The poetry of the film transcends its locality and speaks to us all.
April 20, 2022
Jonas Mekas
Village Voice
TOP CRITIC
Satyajit Ray put India on the world map with this felt portrait of life in a Bengal village…
August 16, 2021
Shubhra Gupta
The Indian Express
TOP CRITIC
Pather Panchali will leave many images in the mind’s ye and many impressions of another way of life.
May 5, 2021
Helen Bower
Detroit Free Press
TOP CRITIC
The cast has been well selected and all the players seem completely unaware of the camera. The results are a film which is unvarnished and often painfully vivid.
May 5, 2021
Mae Tinee
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Although Pather Panchali falls short of perfection in production, the acting is impeccable and it hits you right in the heart.
May 5, 2021 | Rating: 4/4
Wanda Hale
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
Ray has caught the sights and sounds of nature all about them — beauty side by side with ugliness — with a poet’s sensitivity.
May 5, 2021
Philip K. Scheuer
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
Pather Panchali shows the creative imagination in its humblest involvement with the pathos of the commonplace.
March 29, 2022
Arlene Croce
Film Culture
Pather Panchali, more than its social significance within Indian culture, film history, or even Ray’s oeuvre, endures because, quite simply, Ray captures the beauty of the human condition.
February 14, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
A film that speaks so directly and so movingly of human pain and human joy and, most important, of human dignity.
February 7, 2022
Gerald Weales
The Reporter
It invites its audience not so much to watch from outside, as to participate.
December 2, 2021
Isabel Quigly
The Spectator
Satyajit Ray speaks to the cruelty and kindness of humanity with perceptive depth in the tender first chapter of his Apu Trilogy.
July 16, 2021 | Rating: 10/10
Katherine McLaughlin
VODzilla.co
[Santayjit Ray] is an artist of stature and depth. He has taken the day by day problems of a warm and wonderful family and created a film of far reaching beauty. His mind and camera are always in rapport.
May 5, 2021
Hortense Morton (Screen Scout)
San Francisco Examiner…
Plot
The story of a young boy, Apu, and life in his small Indian village. His parents are quite poor – his father Harihar, a writer and poet, gave away the family’s fruit orchard to settle his brother’s debts. His sister Durga and an old aunt also still lives with them. His mother Sarbojaya bears the brunt of the family’s situation. She scrapes by and sells her personal possessions to put food on the table and has to bear the taunts of her neighbors as Durga is always stealing fruit from their orchard. Things get worse when Harihar disappears for five months and Durga falls ill. Even after Harihar returns, the family is left with few alternatives.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Chunibala Devi, who played the role of Indir Thakrun, was actually a retired actress who was convinced by Satyajit Ray to come out of retirement for the film.
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