Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
Making of Pather Panchali
West Bengal who went to Delhi to receive the award not Satyajit Ray . Strange might be the ways of the Government , one has to agree that without govt funding Pather Panchali would not have been possible . By the time finances were in place , the shooting had been suspended for eight months . In Rays ’ s words three miracles happened which saved the film which took so long to complete ‐ one Apu ’ s voice did not break , two Durga did not grow up and three Indir Thakrun did not die . In the meanwhile in 1954 , Monroe Wheeler from the New York Museum of Modern Art arrived in Calcutta . On seeing parts of the film , Monroe wanted it to be a part of an exhibition he was planning the following year . With only one year left , it was a desperate race to complete the film on schedule .
While shooting was going on , the post production work started to trouble Ray particularly the music for the film . Ray wanted Pandit Ravi Shankar to do the music , but the sitar maestro could spare only two days for Pather Panchali given his prior commitments . The complete recording of the music for the movie was done in a whole night session of 11 hours which ended at 4 am in the morning . Ray would tell of a particular portion of the film for which he wanted the background score , and Ravi Shankar and Ray ’ s flautist Aloke Dey would confer and quickly come up with a score then and there . Aloke would then transcribe Ravi Shankar ’ s compositions into notations , and the musicians would play it . Ravi Shankar himself played two solo sitar pieces in raga Desh and Tori . Satyajit Ray , Ravi Shankar , Aloke Dey , the Musicians , Sound Recordist and God were all working in tandem for this miracle to happen . Those eleven hours gave the world one of its best film background music .
When the film reached the editing tables at the Bengal Film Laboratories the deadline for shipping the print to New York Museum of Modern Art to be screened at the art exhibition was only 10 days away . It was virtual race against time . The team comprising of Editor Dulal Dutta , Ray and the editing assistants camped at the laboratory not bathing , shaving or sleeping while they worked continuously for seven days . Dulal would take half an hour naps while Ray none . At one point Dulal begged he would not be able to carry on , but the enthusiasm of a classic in the making pushed up the adrenalin and Dulal did not waver again . On the tenth day at night the final edited print along with sound mixing was ready . The next morning Pan Am flight was to take the prints to New York . While the film reels were being packed in a large steel trunk , Ray fell asleep ; people feared he was seriously ill due to sheer exhaustion . There was no time for the sub titles and no time to see the final version of the movie before being sent .
The review of Pather Panchali from New York was outstanding . The cable read ” triumph of sensitive photography ”. The film was released in West Bengal on August 26 , 1955 in one hall in Kolkata . Ray designed the final publicity material , the crowd puller being the large electric neon sign board on KC Das Street , Kolkata which showed Apu and Durga running . All the publicity material was done on credit .
The film opened to a poor response , but as word spread the hall by second week were going houseful . With the box office jingling , the theatre was reluctant to pull off the film , but was under contractual obligation to screen a Tamil movie . At 6 am the morning after Pather Panchali was taken off , Ray found a Tamil gentleman at his door . With eyes brimming with tears , he said had he known about Pather Panchali in advance he would have postponed the release of his own Tamil film . The gentleman has come with his apologies to Ray .
Pather Panchali swept the national film awards in 1955 and was sent to the 1956 Cannes Film Festival as India ’ s official entry with the personal approval of the Prime Minister . The film was screened towards the end of the festival , with only a small number of critics in attendance . There was not much expectation from the Indian entry . When the film came live on the screen it left the audience amazed . India had stunned the world . The film was awarded the Best Human Document prize at this festival , thereby making Pather Panchali the first film made in independent India to receive an international recognition . Pather Panchali subsequently went on to get the best film award at a number of film festivals including Vancouver , Berlin , San Francisco and Manila . Who would have thought of this day , when Ray was pawning his wife ’ s jewellery , begging for money and readying his amateur actors and crew for the first shot ? Ray had set out to make a good movie ; he had never dreamt that would actually end up directing one of world ’ s best films ever made .
Written and researched by Probashi Editorial Team , coordinated by Sudipto Sengupta