The World of Apu
Dir: Satyajit Ray
1959
*****
Life comes full circle for Apu in Apur Sansar as he becomes a Father to a little boy who is very much his Father's Son. The third and final installment of the Apu story focuses on identity and responsibility. Again, Apu has to make difficult decisions and doesn't always make the best choices but for any dip in the middle of the film (and it does dip a little) all is made up for in the wonderful, and for once, heartwarming final conclusion. Apu (Soumitra Chatterjee) is now an unemployed graduate living in a rented room in Kolkata. Despite his teacher's advice to go to university, he is unable to do so because he can't afford it. He tries to find a job, while barely getting by providing private tutoring. His main passion is writing a novel, partially based on his own life, hoping to get it published some day. One day, he meets his old friend Pulu, who coaxes him to join him on a trip to his village in Khulna to attend the marriage of a cousin named Aparna (Sharmila Tagore). On the day of the marriage, it is revealed that the bridegroom has a serious mental disorder. The bride's mother cancels the marriage, despite the father's protests. He and the other villagers believe, according to prevalent Hindu tradition, that the young bride must be wedded off during the previously appointed auspicious hour, otherwise, she will have to remain unmarried all her life. Apu, after initially refusing when requested by a few villagers, ultimately decides to take Pulu's advice and come to the rescue of the bride by agreeing to marry her. He returns with Aparna to his apartment in Calcutta after the wedding. He takes up a clerical job, and a loving relationship begins to bloom between them. Yet, the young couple's blissful days are cut short when Aparna dies while giving birth to their son, Kajal. Apu is overcome with grief and holds the child responsible for his wife's death. He shuns his worldly responsibilities and becomes a recluse – travelling to different corners of India, while the child is left with his maternal grandparents. Meanwhile, Apu throws away his manuscript for the novel he had been writing over the years. A few years later, Pulu finds Kajal growing wild and uncared for. He then seeks out Apu, who is working at a mining quarry and advises Apu one last time to take up his fatherly responsibility. At last, Apu decides to come back to reality and reunite with his son. When he reaches his in-laws' place, Kajal, having seen him for the first time in his life, at first does not accept him as a father. Eventually, he accepts Apu as a friend and they return to Calcutta together to start life afresh. It is the third and final part of The Apu Trilogy, about the childhood and early adulthood of a young boy named Apu in early twentieth century India. The film is based on the last two-thirds of the 1932 Bengali novel, Aparajito, by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. Ray wanted fresh faces again for the film like other two films in the Apu Trilogy and thus he started auditioning. In other films he made in between, like Parash Pathar (1958) and Jalsaghar (1958), he did work with professional actors like Soumitra Chatterjee, a radio announcer and a stage actor who, with doyen of Bengali theatre Sisir Bhaduri, had first auditioned for the role of the adolescent Apu in Aparajito (1956). Though Ray thought he had the right look, he found him too old for the role. Ray remembered him and offered the role of adult Apu two years later. Chatterjee was still unaware that he had already been selected for the title role. He had gone on the sets of Ray's fourth film, Jalsaghar, to watch the shoot. That day, while he was leaving the sets, Ray called him over and introduced him to actor Chhabi Biswas, saying, "This is Soumitra Chattopadhyay; he's playing Apu in my next film Apur Sansar", leaving him surprised. Ray however had a tough time finding an actress for the female lead Aparna. He even placed an ad in a local daily asking for photographs from girls between ages of 15 and 17. There were over a thousand responses to the ad, but Ray found none of them worth auditioning. This was when Ray came to know of a young girl, Sharmila Tagore, who had recently performed at a dance recital at Children's Little Theatre in Kolkata. She is related to poet Rabindranath Tagore, and subsequently auditioned and was selected. It is the perfect conclusion to the trilogy – very much its own story – but a great chapter in the story of one man’s life.