Simply A Masterpiece

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Off late i have stopped writing about films because my perspective has progressed that films are not an essential and valuable service, apart from non outdoor entertainment provided which is required to have healthy mind. Also, films are one sided and not two way as people on screen and behind keep exhibiting their talent and we the viewers have no participation (example in sports-Tennis or Chess is two sided). But recently got inspired to come back into my favorite arena-(parallel) movies(commonly/colloquially known as non song movies, award cinema, art film, documentary, slow movies, elite film festival audience movie) after getting inspired from a TV show accidentally i watched while changing channel, where Indian film director told that his favorite personality is Satyajit Ray(a veteran with Oscar and Bharat Ratna to his credit). While saying there was a special spark in his eyes. Then i came back to this movie called Pather Panchali - Song of the little road(1955) which was released 61 years ago(was in development hell for 3 years indeed), which is Mr.Ray's first movie with no experience in films except for watching, analyzing and discussing them. Unresisted to watch the movie despite the criticism on Rays movie as selling poverty abroad, lack of modernism,melodramatic and slow.Needless to say, movie is sourced to a literature as like any parallel movie should be. The film is into 5 characters of lower middle class family set in rural India. Rays movie has deeper touch with realism, story being natural and so the characters(in simple-the style is into absorbing story and characters strongly, parallel movie trademark). His style is more focused on characters. Its a chilling experience and a break from blood and gore and over romantic, repeat artificial routine movies in recent and past trend. Characters moments of living life as a human being is captured in close shots which is overwhelming. The boys reaction to his sisters beating and making-up with a mustache as a man after watching a theater performance and enjoying the rain with his sister is close to heart. Not to miss the deepness of Apu's love to sister when the movie ends he throws away the beads(which his sister stole and got beaten) to protect her reputation.The end of movie is heart breaking to be not in touch with the family we enjoyed overseeing while they are living. The chilling experience is deep because of the family living in a natural surrounding-lovely nature ambiance. People who have suffered lack of humanity in real life will enjoy this movie of 2 hours and 6 minutes for sure. Fiction seated in realism some or most of the times is purely enjoyable because we already built a stage(as we can closely match the realism in our life) to launch a fiction on top of it.

It is a wonderful film, but it is sad to see that IMDb is using a wrong cover picture for the film. the cover pic is actually from "Aparajito", NOT "Pather Panchali" and this mistake actually tells public attitude about this film. More people would rather talk about this film than watch it carefully. The film misses the "Ballali Balai" part of the novel by Bibhutibhushan which is a must read for a complete picture of the background of the film. Bibhuti's novel consists of three parts, a) Ballali Balai, b) Aam anti-r bhnepu, c) Akrura Sangbad. Ray covers Aam aanti-r bhnepu in "Pather Panchali" film and the "AKrur Sangbad" deals with the first half of "Aparajito" which ends with Harihara's death.

One of the most beautiful films from one of the most important directors of this era.First and foremost thing is that u need to have taste. A taste for movies which doesn't show an incredible or cheap story lines, but which are beautiful snapshots with each scene depicting its own saga.'Pather Panchali'(song of the little road) is one of such movie. It's a 'kaaljai' (one which is not bounded by space and time) piece of art.Though some people will find it fragmented, but the truth is that Ray has worked on each and every scene. Some scenes are historical like 'rain shower' and 'the vessel floating'. Surely Ray is the Shakespeare of Indian cinema, who loves to develop the characters. Though the movie dates back to late 50s still you can find traces of the 21st century's society (Indian) and the universal behavior of human. Bound in the ties of selfishness, ego, our own problems and society often the behavior of human is quite disgustful. But when it comes the time of crisis our true heart is revealed which is loaded with love and is hungry for it. The climax really highlights this notion in a beautiful way. Secondly, Ray seems to be well acquainted with the importance of family. And the selfless love among family members is the part and parcel of the movie.The innocence of Apu and Durga, brother-sister love, humanity, mother's care, relation between Durga and her aunt and (of course) the miseries and songs of the aunt had made the movie eternal. About the acting, I'll say that Chunibala Devi (Indir Thakrun) is the person who suppresses all other great performances. From her scene first to the very end she seems to steal all the scenes. I would call this one of great Indian performance. Uma Das Gupta has very well presented the character of Durga (I personally find her most amusing part of the movie). Both she and Subeer Banerjee (Apu) had presented their innocence quite artfully. There are some songs in the movie which in spite of being in Bengali (incomprehensible for many people and me) flow with the movie. Perhaps I might be wrong but they (songs) don't satisfy as such. At last, if you still had had no opportunity to watch this classic then I would personally recommend it to you, but with two precautions:First watch it if you really have taste buds for such art films (as I already have said).And second the film is of 50s so prepare your mind for a slow and no larger than life or exciting events in the story (it is quite realistic)If you are mentally prepare then don't wait just fetch it anyhow and see the 'weird beauty' of your own world through a genius' eye

Authentic account of the life of a poor, rural Indian family's life and hardships during a few year's time. Universal in theme but doesn't really get gripping until the final 15 min's during a memorable rain storm. Feels almost like a student project in its utter simplicity, technical limitations and primitive montage storytelling... which at times makes it a bit hard to follow in exactly what's going on (some bits are just frame filling and have no cause-and-effect whatsoever). I read after watching it that the father is a priest, and that it's supposed to be set in the early 1900's... gee - good to know, because the movie itself certainly doesn't tell me so! But most of the time it's just unclear if we have a main character: The mother? The daughter? No, apparently (again, after reading more about it afterward) it's supposed to be Apu, the son - which is weird since he honestly doesn't get more attention - OR personal character development than anyone else!I badly want to be more generous (like when you have to be nice about commenting a small kid's poor, ugly doodle drawings) because of its earnestness and alleged historical influence/importance to Indian cinema. But I can't - because it's simply not good enough. It's more an exotic rarity/half-documentary than being a particularly good movie. Do I feel like watching the sequels? Not much.4/10 from Ozjeppe.