From the day of the announcement of Anik Dutta’s ‘Aparajito’ in the midst of all the ‘Tribute’ on the birth centenary of one of the best icons of Bengalis, interest has been growing. Along with the curiosity about how the character made in the form of Satyajit Ray will look on the screen, there was also the greed to look back at the story behind the making of ‘Pather Panchali’.
From the very first glimpse of Jeetu Kamal in the role of Aparajito Roy, there was a hint that the director has entered the field like Eklavya, uncompromisingly. This homage of Anik Dutta has got another dimension by finding the main and side character actors with the predominance of look-match and then bringing out what he wanted with the help of dubbing. At the same time, ‘Aparajito’ will be important in the history of documentation of the film, which changed the position of Indian cinema on the international map.
Anik has used ‘Manikmoy’ sentiment in his film in a complete but subtle way. As informative and unemotional as possible. The screenplay is based on an interview with Satyajit Ray by Shamik Bandopadhyay for All India Radio. From the days of D J Kimar to Aam-Antir Bhepu’s cover design and the early days of the Film Society, the film began with a bang.
Almost all the characters around Satyajit appeared from that time including DK Gupta, Chidananda Dasgupta, Shantulbabu in the movie. The titbits of how the team of ‘Pather Panchali’ was made with Bangsi Chandragupta, Subrata Mitra, Anil Chaudhary, Ashish Burman; going from door to door of producers, finding Apu-Durga-Indir Thakrun, all are shown in the piece.
Also present in the movie are the legendary director’s wife Bijaya Roy (Sayoni Ghosh), child Sandeep Roy (child artist), Shamik Bandyopadhyay (himself in his role). Every actor is appropriate in his character – such is the statement of Ray’s son after seeing the picture. He further claims that Anik has reconstructed several moments in a new way in need of the screenplay. He is perfect there too. Sandeep really likes ‘Aparajito’.
Ray’s son’s frank confession, Anik became quite a guru. Quite a tough subject, tough picture. Enough trouble. Capturing every scene perfectly is not an easy task. But the director got it. So the speed of the picture is effortless. This movie will keep those seated who love to see good works.
In Sandeep’s words, “Some of the scenes are very quiet and serene which relax the eyes and mind. Such scenes are almost unseen of in today’s films. Because, almost all the scenes in the current films are wrapped with background music. In the language of films, it is called ‘carpeting’. Undoubtedly, this picture is going to be an example in terms of technology and use of light.”
This movie is a successful attempt to look back at the work that the school drawing teacher, Ashubabu’s ‘Saityazit’, proved himself to be a master in. Seeing ‘Aparajito’ can almost touch that enormity.