Page 191 - The Apu Trilogy_ Satyajit Ray and the Making of an Epic

178 The Apu Trilogy

AR: But couldn’t it be a longing for a simple life?
SR: Possibly, but I think by and large Bengalis love to have a
good cry and this is a film which gives it to them.

AR: Do you regard the Apu Trilogy as period fi lms?
SR: To a certain extent yes. Apu in Aparajito is dressed in the
1930s fashion. Period in the sense of the 1920s to the end
of the 1930s – between the wars. I merely stuck to that
period because Bibhutibhusan [Banerji] wrote the novel
around 1931. It was contemporary then; the final part was

contemporary anyway. I preferred to stick to that period.

Certain rituals shown in the film, and the way Apu gets
married – all that set it in a slightly earlier period than
now. People would then accept such things. Marriages
like that may still happen in remote villages and small
towns occasionally; they are certainly not something very
common now. But that is what would happen if ortho-

doxy were being observed. The way Apu is married is

definitely an orthodox custom.
AR: In India, a critic wrote recently that when you see Pather
Panchali you feel that you know what it is like to be abso-
lutely poor. Did you feel that you were able to make that
kind of adjustment when you were making it?
SR: I was helped by the book. In those days I had no confi -
dence as a dialogue writer. Most of the dialogue comes
directly from the book, word for word, because I felt that
I could rely totally on Bibhuti Banerji. He belonged so
much to that milieu. I think my contribution comes in

the poetic elements in the film, all the ideas which came:
the scene of watching the train, the death of the old
woman, the wife crying when the husband arrives and
the music taking the place of the scream – that was all
my contribution. But the rest of it – the mood of the fi lm,
and what it means – all that comes from the author. I felt
very, very sympathetic to the whole thing. Of course, I
had no idea of village life, but fortunately villages were

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