Kolkata: It’s an auspicious day for the Indian film fraternity. Satyajit Ray’s classic Pather Panchali turns 70 today.
Yes, the movie made on a shoe-string budget hit the screens on this day in 1955 amid a lot of obstacles. But that is a thing of the past.
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Despite the barbs Ray had to encounter, his film still holds an indelible part of our day-to-day lives.
National Award-winning Assamese filmmaker Santwana Bordoloi gets a bit infuriated when quizzed on the movie’s relevance.
“It’s a very frivolous question to start off. Why wouldn’t it be relevant? The facts the movie depicted still hold true at several quarters,” she said.
“It wasn’t an ordinary film for sure,” she answered
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Another legendary Assamese director Sanjib Sabhapandit, also a National Award winner agrees amid his eulogy on Pather Panchali.
“I loved the film and hold it in highest esteem. People in the 21st Century have alienated themselves from the society. The bond is missing. It is not healthy. Pather Panchali is relevant in terms of its penchant to relate to roots and values,” says Sabhapandit.
Both Bordoloi and Sabhapandit get nostalgic when asked about their first memory of watching the movie.
Sabhapandit was perhaps in his early college days, when he watched it the first time and it’s the surroundings that he could relate to.
“I am from a village and I could identify with the backdrop of the movie. The film was impressive, the title being a metaphor – talking about the journey of life,” he said reminiscing about his childhood.
Bordoloi says the movie shook her up. “I loved the riveting scene between Sorbojaya and Indir Thakrun is something that I can never away with.
Talking about Ray, Sabhapandit harps on his prowess over storytelling.
“He was a compact storyteller with no exaggeration. Ray’s use of imagery has left a lasting impression on me,” he adds.
Now the million-dollar question – if Ray were alive today, would Pather Panchali work?
Out here, they tread two different paths.
Bordoloi nods in the affirmative, though Sabhapandit differs.
“Why do we keep going back to Pather Panchali? This itself answers your question,” says Bordoloi.
Sabhapandit however has a different take.
He underlines the changing times to buttress his logic.
“Everything should be judged as per the changing scenario. If we make Pather Panchali now, people may not accept it, things are so different now.”
“India has developed and grown in a much more different fashion. So, if he makes Pather Panchali today, people may not accept it,” he answers.
Well, the debate rages on.
But the very fact that we are discussing the movie seventy years down the line is testament to its eminence.