Criterion Collection

A breathtaking milestone that brought India into the golden age of international art-house film, Satyajit Rays The Apu Trilogy follows one indelible character, a free-spirited child in rural Bengal who matures into an adolescent urban student and, finally, a sensitive man of the world. Rays delicate masterworks Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished), and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) based on two books by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee, were shot over the course of five years, and each stands on its own as a tender, visually radiant journey. These films which have risen from the ashes in meticulously reconstructed restorations, after the original negatives were burned in a fire are among the most achingly beautiful, richly humane movies ever made.

Films In This Set

Pather Panchali (1955)

With the release in 1955 of Satyajit Rays debut, Pather Panchali, an eloquent and important new cinematic voice made itself heard all over the world. A depiction of rural Bengali life in a style inspired by Italian neorealism, this naturalistic but poetic evocation of a number of years in the life of a family introduces us to both little Apu and, just as essentially, the women who will help shape him: his independent older sister, Durga; his harried mother, Sarbajaya, who, with her husband away, must hold the family together; and his kindly and mischievous elderly auntie, Indir vivid, multifaceted characters all. With resplendent photography informed by its young protagonists perpetual sense of discovery, Pather Panchali, which won an award for Best Human Document at the Cannes Film Festival, is an immersive cinematic experience and a film of elemental power.

Aparajito (1956)

Satyajit Ray had not planned to make a sequel to Pather Panchali, but after the films international succes