APARAJITO: ANIK DUTTA’S NEW MOVIE

Mandira Chattopadhyay (Ohio)

Someviewers may feel baffled by Anik Dutta’s recent movie Aparajito. Dutta launches onto an unknown path -– his trail is his own. Your take as a viewer would probably make more sense if you had a sense of the director’s perspective. Oddly, the film is not Ray’s biography, but it is about Ray’s perseverance and how he overcame all the obstacles he faced in his efforts to create Pather Panchali, his first movie.

The famous drama critic Samik Bandyopadhyay appears as the interviewer with Jeetu Kamal, the actor, portraying Satyajit Ray telling the story of his love for movie-making.

Bandyopadhyay’s clipped accents both in Bengali and English keep the audience absorbed to the story. Interestingly, Ray’s own voice interjects into the conversation-- a wonderful way of introducing us to the film. The conversation has Shakespearean overtones. We are immediately transported to that time.

Anik Dutta received his first schooling at Patha Bhavan (a non-traditional school producing a lot of creative people), of which Samik Bandyopadhyay was one of the founders. Later, with further education, and as an advertising agent, he met different people like Satyajit Ray. Hence, Dutta was exposed to westernized culture and sensibilities. As a result, his movie Aparajito has the right attitude and near perfect atmosphere.

Dutta’s film bears the same name as the second part of the Apu Trilogy. Aparajito (The Unvanquished) draws inspiration from the maestro Satyajit Ray’s fight to make his first international film, Pather Panchali. The movie starts with a scene of Satyajit Ray’s wife and mother listening to the interview with Ray on All India Radio. Ray had just completed the movie a few months back.

Dutta points out Ray’s rejection of stereotypical characters and established, trained actors. He always hunted for the right person for the right role. Dutta shows the sincerity of Ray’s wife in this effort. While Ray and his wife stand by the window upstairs in their home watching kids playing on the street, his wife points to a boy and says, “Look, here is your Apu!”

When a girl is brought to play the role of Durga, Ray is not quite happy with her and asks her to leave. However, his wife takes the girl inside and makes her look like a country girl. This change makes Ray happy, and the girl gets the role. Later, when Durga dies, Sarbojaya (Sarbomangala) claims she cannot cry for her dead daughter.

Then Ray goes on to show how she is able to so: she burst into tears when her husband shows her the sari he brought for their daughter. This detail captures the empathetic situation more vividly.

When the old woman is chosen for the role of Indir Thakrun, his wife is surprised by how Ray finds her. Ray and the old lady bicker about how much she will be paid for her role. He wonders whether this lady will last through the film. When the crew puts a dummy in place of the old lady on a stretcher for the funeral, the lady insists on herself being put on the stretcher, to prepare her (hilariously) for her own death. Dutta recaptures Indir Thakrun’s death when Durga unwittingly pushes her over.

When Ray looks for a baldheaded person on whose head the first raindrop would fall, he comes across such a person, but the man slips away, Ray then sketches the person, and the crew subsequently finds him through the sketch. The incident shows not only Ray’s art- istry (learned at VisvaBharati), but also his presence of mind.

Ray was fortunate to have the support and encouragement from his family and friends. The wit and warmth in the script come out in Ray’s home life. While he readies for his trip abroad, his mother brings him the picture of his deceased legendary father Sukumar Ray. Dutta captures this poignant moment when she asks him to seek his father’s blessings and assures him of continued success in his life and career.

As a novice filmmaker, Ray rejects the Indian films of that time: they all center on religion and music. He decides to go abroad to see more Western movies. He needs a leave of absence from his work with pay and convinces his British supervisor. Initially, his supervisor is hesitant but eventually his leave is granted, and he is even allowed to have his wife accompany him. While in England Ray sees Battleship Potemkin and Bicycle Thieves repeatedly. This affects the way he visualizes the screenplay in Pather Panchali. We also see how Ray learns the concept of the storyboard in London. Anik Dutta very cleverly highlights how nicely Ray maneuvers his way.

In the movie we also witness a quick movement of scenes. He brings together anecdotes collected from different scenes.

Neorealism has encouraged Ray’s belief in spontaneity. In a rain scene he is not pleased with the artificial rain his crew creates in Pather Panchali, so he asks them to wait for the real rain. Magically, the raindrops start to fall. Apu and Durga are completely drenched. Similarly, when different people suggest that he hire some professional cameramen, he chooses a very ordinary cameraman that he knew, which proves to be a perfect choice. Cinematographer Subrata Mitra deserves special credit for the pond scene where the siblings are clearly reflected in the water while a dog follows their reflections in the water for a concealed biscuit.

Dutta cleverly shows Ray’s musical talent and his ability to interact with musicians. One is led to believe that Ray was well versed in Indian classical music as he introduced Ravi Shankar’s soft music in the background.

To Anik Dutta, the winning appearance of Ray’s wife (ably acted by Saayoni Ghosh) is also important. He paints a portrait of an astute, caring wife. She comforts her husband to move on with his project when Ray is short of money to make the movie. His wife comes forward to offer her jewelry (an actual event). When that is not enough, she advises Ray to write to different government officials for funds for the movie. In the premier show of Pather Panchali we see her distributing the pamphlets and comforting her husband when some foreigners made remarks with a colonial attitude. She makes sure her husband has enough sleep and keeps their young son away so he will not disturb Ray’s thoughts.

Jeetu Kamal’s portrayal of Satyajit Ray is simply fabulous. He appears as Ray’s split image as emphasized by various mannerisms, which include the way he positions his arm behind his head, smokes a cigarette, and stares unflinchingly at sponsors telling him to add song, dances and romance to the plot.

Ray’s mother encourages him to take his wife along with him in his adventure. Anik Dutta shows how Ray knew how to make his path smooth. While abroad he is impressed by the famous filmmaker Renoir. When Renoir comes to India to take some snapshots for his movie River, he looks for someone to accompany him in the countryside. Ray offers his service. While trave- ling together, Ray mentions that he was trying to make a movie out of legendary Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay’s Pather Panchali. Renoir encourages him to “Go for it!”

Satyajit Ray is always hunting for the right location for his films. He wants to put his characters in the right landscape. He is fortunate when one of his coworkers tells him about a unique countryside that will serve as the setting for his film. Immediately, it dawns on him how Renoir taught him how to capture the right scene and to seize the moment. As they reach the place that the coworker mentioned, he finds himself in the middle of a catkin field. The charming wind blows the tips of the tall catkin flowers. Birds are all singing, greenery everywhere, in between a little boy running behind his sister.

Anik Dutta also shows the iconic train scene. He brilliantly shows how the captivating scene of the approaching train and its sounds, Apu and his sister run after it, reflected in the water with the catkins blowing in the breeze. We see the engine from one side, then another, and then another. This idea of taking shots of the train from different angles and putting them together, a technique popularly known as Montage, was initially used in the famous Russian movie Battleship Potemkin.

In his film, Anik Dutta offers a wealth of information on Satyajit Ray’s cinematic background and influences. The archival details bring an authenticity and reality to Ray’s artistic accomplishments. The resulting awards and acclaim are richly deserved. Aparajito is a remarkable cinematic experience which makes its mark because of its sensitive portrayal of Ray, a man who had a dream and knew how to make it come true. Bravo! This movie has been selected for the International Film Festival in Toronto.