Page 56 - The Apu Trilogy_ Satyajit Ray and the Making of an Epic

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An Epic in Production:

Making the Apu Trilogy

Pather Panchali never had a proper script. Unlike every other
Ray film, there was no red, cloth-bound shooting notebook for
it. Instead, Ray had the treatment that he had started on board
ship from London in October 1950 and, from early 1952, a sheaf
of sketches of the most important shots in black ink which he
deposited, years later, at the Cinémathèque in Paris. Most of
the film’s dialogue, three-quarters of it from Bibhutibhusan
Banerji’s novel, he kept in his head. By showing producers these
vivid sketches, which were unheard of in Bengali film-making,
and telling them the story, he hoped to raise interest in a film
with him as its director.
First, though, he took his treatment to Banerji’s young
widow – whose husband had unexpectedly died on 1 November,
just after Ray’s return from London – to persuade her to part
with the rights to the novel. She received him warmly, being an
admirer of both his grandfather Upendrakisore’s and his father
Sukumar’s work, and of Satyajit’s cover designs and his illustra-
tions for the abridged edition of Pather Panchali. She said that her
late husband had always believed his writing had film potential
but that no one had seemed interested. She gave her agreement

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