Page 87 - The Apu Trilogy_ Satyajit Ray and the Making of an Epic

74 The Apu Trilogy

thinking of Great Expectations and Pip growing up. We got very
fond of the boy Pip, and when at a certain point you suddenly
have John Mills appearing as a grown-up Pip, you know it’s a
different actor and therefore it’s a different person altogether.
You get a shock, and then you accept it after a certain point.’
The acceptance was made easier by the utter conviction of
Karuna Banerji as the mother of all three Apus, who gave
unquestionably the finest performance in Aparajito. ‘I was abso-
lutely overwhelmed by her personality,’ she said. ‘It all came so
naturally to me. Every word, every look, every small movement,
the deep attachment towards the alienated son, they all devel-
oped within me, as leaves grow outwards on the branch of a tree.
Sounds poetic? But believe me, that is exactly how I felt when-
ever I had a chance to work with Manik [Ray]. Not a single turn
of the character that I portrayed was forced, illogical, artificial.’
Shooting in Benares was formidably challenging. Interiors
(Harihar’s rented rooms) were shot in a Calcutta studio, but
exteriors meant working on the ghats, in the lanes and within
the temples of the holy city, among its crowds of religious devo-
tees, shifting shadows and diverse sounds. Ray was determined
to capture this multitude of sensations through the experiences
of Apu, as the opening entry of his diary reveals:

1 March 1956 – Set out at 5 a.m. to explore the ghats. Half an
hour to sunrise, yet more light than one would have thought,
and more activity. The earliest bathers come about 4 a.m.,

I gather. The pigeons not active yet, but the wrestlers are.
Incomparable ‘atmosphere’. One just wants to go on absorb-

ing it, being chastened and invigorated by it. The thought of
having to work – planning, picking sites and extras, setting
up camera and microphone, staging action – is worrying. But
here, if anywhere, is a truly inspiring setting. It is not enough
to say that the ghats are wonderful or exciting or unique. One
must get down to analysing the reasons for their uniqueness,

their impact. The more you probe, the more is revealed, and

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