Page 112 - The Apu Trilogy_ Satyajit Ray and the Making of an Epic

Pather Panchali: Critique 99

Village elder: (looking at Apu) Go on like that and you’ll end
up behind a plough. (Apu’s grin vanishes.)
Schoolmaster: (smiling at his visitor) Well, well. What were
you saying, Mr Majumdar? ...
Village elder: Tell me, have you seen a good jatra lately?

He goes on to extol extravagantly a travelling theatre troupe he
is about to book for the village; helps himself to some free hair
oil from the shop; then leans confidentially towards the school-
master and mutters (out of the boys’ earshot) that he will not be
asking him for a subscription this year, given his helpfulness in
other ways.
When Apu returns home with his father from his first day
at school, Sarbajaya is cooking. Durga is out of sight but she
calls Apu. Conspiratorially she tells him to fetch her secret stock
of mustard oil from the top of some shelves inside the house.
Meanwhile, Indir Thakrun, by showing off her tattered shawl
to Harihar, induces him to promise her a new one. His offer
is overheard by a resentful Sarbajaya. When Harihar then asks
for cinders for his tobacco pipe, she gives them reluctantly and
launches into a list of all the things he is failing to do for his
immediate family, without mentioning Indir’s shawl directly.
‘Have you taken a look at the state of the house, what the chil-
dren are eating, what clothes they are wearing?’ she asks.
Apu can no doubt hear all this, but he is intent on reaching
the high shelf. His parents’ preoccupation will help him to do
this unnoticed. As Sarbajaya carries on, we see Apu approach
the shelf and then, in an interesting shot from behind the shelf,
pick up the coconut shell of oil. Exactly the same pair of shots
will be repeated at the end of the film to powerful effect, as Apu
clears the shelf before departure and discovers the necklace his
dead sister once stole from the neighbours – a visual repetition
that thereby recalls the brother and sister’s earlier intimacy.
Crouched in their corner, the children share the tamarind
paste Durga has made. Apu is tasting its strong sourness for

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