Page 84 - The Apu Trilogy_ Satyajit Ray and the Making of an Epic

An Epic in Production 71

over its undoubted technical imperfections. Pather Panchali was
now launched on its worldwide odyssey, as we shall discuss in
chapter 8. Here, we shall tell only the story of its first theatrical
release, in Calcutta in 1955.
Its producer, the West Bengal Government, as per its earlier
performance, was in no hurry to release the film. It turned down
one offer of distribution before eventually placing Pather Panchali
in the hands of Aurora Films, which would later part-finance
Aparajito. A release date of 26 August 1955 was agreed on, with
a booking until the end of September. In the meantime, Ray,
using his publicity skills, decided to design some large advertise-
ments and have them printed and pasted up entirely on credit.
They made a big impact. He also designed a neon sign showing
Apu and Durga running together, which was mounted above K.
C. Das, the most famous sweet-seller in Calcutta.
Less happily, Ray allowed himself to be persuaded to give the
film its Calcutta premiere at the annual meet of the Advertising
Club of Calcutta in the ballroom of the Ordnance Club. As
one of the organisers later observed, ‘The audience was more
interested in drinking whisky than in seeing stark reality on the
screen.’ Ray recalled being ‘extremely discouraged’ by the reac-
tion. ‘There were lots of Englishmen in the crowd – men and
women – and they came forward to say how much they liked it.
Only English people came forward; nobody else did. There was
a little buffet afterwards and people just talked of other things.’
In the coffee house later, Subhash Ghosal repeated to him vari-
ous comments, such as why was the sequence with the water-
skaters so long? According to Ray,

All the criticisms were being related to me in the hope that
I would probably make some changes. But I didn’t. I just lis-
tened to them. My feeling was that the circumstances of the
showing were so dismal. The projector was right in the mid-

dle of the room and it made a terrifi c noise and the place had

wooden floors, so if people moved their chairs there was a

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