Thursday, August 23, 2007

Pather Panchali ...

Declaration : I do not intend to do a review of any of the work done by Satyajit Ray but I only want to take you through the state of my mind while I watched the journey of Apu ... eloquently!

Pather Panchali was the first movie that I saw in this Triseries or more accurately named as Trilogy by Ray ... and fortunately it was my first bong movie too (and I am really exhilarated about this). Though I can speak and understand bangali but I was little apprehensive about watching a bong classic created by Ray ... I was under the impression that I will need some more Bangla knowledge to understand this masterwork of Ray ...

Rajib encouraged me and promised me that he will help me out if I get stuck somewhere but bad part was ... he was speechless ... this is actually glorifying him ... let me express my anger by saying he was almost dumb during the whole movie ... huh and worst part was we ended up watching Pather Panchali without subtitles ... aargh (this was my thought during the first few minutes of the movie) ... but to my surprise I soon realized that these two things were actually helping me to dwell into the soul of Pather panchali more profoundly.

Thanks Rajib for not disturbing me during the magical two hours (I may be wrong in this timming calculation for a simple reaon ... I was really deep inside the movie and can not tell you how long it went on) and subtitles ... thanks subtitles a ton for not being there ... if you were there I would have probably ... naah ... definitely missed the wonderful expressions of Apu, Dugga ... and others.

Dugga (I heard everybody in the movie calling her Dugga only ... am I wrong ... anybody help me out pls ... any bong? I know they meant Durga ... but even I loved calling her Dugga) so this pretty creature Dugga became my favourite soon after I saw her taking kittens out of the circular broken mud pot ... I was stunned to see that scene ... and then the scene where Dugga and Apu discovers the train ... I do not have proper words about this scene ... the bushes ... black train ... black smoke comming out of that distant train ... Apu and Dugga and the sound effects everything was more then enough to leave anybody astounded ... how Ray gets these ideas gosh? but then there is nothing to keep pondering ... he gets those ideas that is why he became Ray and I after fifty seven years (thats not my age silly ... after fifty seven years of creation of this movie I meant) am still bewildered about how he get those ideas ... that is why I am still Aru (sighs again !!!)

It was a feast for my thoughts (I was about to write food for my thought but then I realized it was actually a feast for my thoughts) to see the bonding of Apu and Dugga ... Dugga combing Apu's hair .. Dugga and Apu under the tree ... soaked in rains .. Dugga and Apu following mishti waala's runjhun ... Apu's sad eyes after Dugga's death ... yes she died ... but Ray uncle I am really furious ... how could you do that ... she was jaan of your pather panchali ... aur aapne uski hi jaan le lee ... how could you do this? Bibhuti ji's blemish I know ... but you could have saved her ... this is my only grievance about your movie ... I couldnt see her dying (sob sob!)
I appreciated Sarabjaya more after seeing Aparajito ... but she was no less in this either ... and how could I forget that old lady ... Sarabjaya used to call her Thakuran (I do not know what does that mean ... again bong bondhus ... help needed) ... she looked so pathetic ... so pitiable that now I am scared of continuing my life even after my sixtees ... and she portrayed real thakuran .. none other then her could have performed the role better ... accolades to Ray for finding her out and hats off for Chunibala for performing such a brilliant once in a lifetime performance despite of her very weak health conditions (When she died in the movie ... she was like actually died ... really real )

ok I know guys this is too heavy of a blog but still I can not end it without mentioning the last scene of Ray's masterwork ... snake scene ... Ray completed pather panchali by showing a snake going inside the house of Apu and Dugga .. symbolizing that Apu's family vacated the house for good for ever ... and here comes an end to the magnum opus of Ray humn ... magnum opus I loved using this latin word here (with sighs!!!)

1 comment:

noukadubi said...

Dugga is just a colloquial version of "Durga"