Page 69 - The Apu Trilogy_ Satyajit Ray and the Making of an Epic

56 The Apu Trilogy

had come encouragement of a different sort: the first interna-
tional film festival to be held in India. Satyajit and his friends
rushed from cinema to cinema, seeing about four films a day for
a fortnight. ‘Mercifully,’ remarked Ray, ‘there were no jurors, no
prizes, no seminars, few parties, and only a handful of visiting
celebrities.’ The future Bengali director Mrinal Sen, who was
then a medical representative, noted in his diary:

10 a.m.–12 noon Visiting doctors: 4 will do.
3 p.m. At Purna Theatre: Rome, Open City by
Roberto Rossellini.
6 p.m. At Menoka: Jour de Fête by Jacques Tati.
9 p.m. At Light House: Miracle in Milan by
Vittorio de Sica.

The film that made the biggest impression on Ray and his
friends was Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon. They knew of its rave
reviews at the Venice Film Festival the previous year. Ray saw it
three times on consecutive days ‘and wondered each time if there
was another film anywhere which gave such sustained and daz-
zling proof of a director’s command over every aspect of film-
making.’ He was thrilled by the camerawork in the woodcutter’s
journey through the forest, ‘cut with axe-edge precision’.
The success of the unknown Kurosawa in the West gave fur-
ther impetus to Ray’s fledgling ambitions and suggested that
Pather Panchali might one day find a western audience too. A
film made in India at that time, which Ray later described as
a ‘landmark’, also encouraged him, since it was shot partly on
location, concerned a peasant family, and involved few songs and
no dances. This was Bimal Roy’s Two Acres of Land/Do Bigha
Zamin, which won the Prix International at the 1954 Cannes
Film Festival.
Seeing Ray’s pilot footage, a producer called Rana Dutta
eventually came forward and advanced enough money for him
to shoot some scenes in Boral. No one involved could be paid,

9/16/2010 9:07:57 PM
Robinson_Ch03.indd 56
Robinson_Ch03.indd 56 9/16/2010 9:07:57 PM