Page 93 - The Apu Trilogy_ Satyajit Ray and the Making of an Epic

80 The Apu Trilogy

While shooting an especially lyrical scene on the river, there
was a near-catastrophe. At one end of the boat sat Apu and Pulu;
Apu playing his flute and declaiming Tagore’s poetry, his friend
silently reading Apu’s manuscript. At the other end were the
old oarsman, the cameraman and his camera, the sound record-
ist and his equipment, Ray’s first assistant Sailen Dutt and Ray
himself – making a full load. ‘The scene was going well, when
suddenly Sailen let out a cry’, remembered Ray. ‘I said “cut” and
turned round to see what Sailen was staring at aghast.’ Their
boat was on a direct collision course with a huge boat approach-
ing from behind in a narrow part of the river. With the seconds
ticking away, Sailen suddenly sprang up, threw himself forward
and managed to fend off the other boat with both hands – but at
the cost of his foothold. He was flung into the water along with
the notebook he had been using to keep continuity. ‘It was the
narrowest escape from dire disaster that I had ever experienced’,
Ray recorded in his autobiography. And at the same time a com-
pelling reminder of the unpredictable course of both art and life,
epitomised by the Apu Trilogy and its epic making.

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