An avid film buff, Ray was 39 when he completed his Apu cycle, which he also wrote and produced. The films were based on three novels by Bibhuti Bhushan Banerji chronicling the life of Apu from his Bengalese village childhood through his separation from his parents (one by choice, one through death) and here as a young adult (played this time by Soumitra Chatterjee) in the slums of Calcutta. He agrees to accompany a friend to a wedding where the groom's mental breakdown leaves the bride in a precarious position, believed to be cursed unless she marries someone as scheduled. Apu steps in to save face and unexpectedly falls in love with her, which leads to the impending birth of a son that will change Apu's fortunes forever.
As with the previous two films, The World of Apu was released in the United States by art film distributor Edward Harrison, who also handled such titles as Ugetsu, Gate of Hell, and other Ray titles like The Goddess and The Big City. The incredibly prolific Ray was inspired to direct after experiencing Italian neorealist cinema via a screening of < I>Bicycle Thieves and an assignment doing location scouting for Jean Renoir in India for The River, and he managed to alternate directing with other pursuits including graphic design, short story writing, and music composition, among many others. His knowledge of life in Calcutta served him well here as did his knowledge of the limits of Indian censorship at the time, which forbade the depiction of kissing or other close intimacy between men and women in a romantic context. Instead, Ray came up with a beautifully symbolic gesture to depict Apu's married wife with his beloved involving a pillow and a hairpin that remains one of the most memorable little humanist touches in his work.
Despite the worldwide acclaim that greeted the first two Apu films, Ray hadn't originally planned to make a trilogy. The Banerji source material was two novels, with enough left in the second to spawn a third feature; however, the idea only struck Ray when he was promoting his work in Venice. The film proved to be up to the level of its predecessors and was regarded by many as the best of the three, racking up such honors as the BFI Awards' Sutherland Trophy and the Best Foreign Film designation from the National Board of Review. Reviewers at the time hailed it with plaudits at the time including Time, who called it "one of the most vital and abundant movies ever made... Taken as a whole, Ray's film has the generosity and the prodigal variety of genius." Likewise, The New York Times called it "a lovely telling of a simple, sensitive story with exquisite, distinctive imagery."
The legacy of the Apu trilogy has been firmly established with filmmakers around the world hailing it as a favorite, including such maestros as Akira Kurosawa and Martin Scorsese, and its Ravi Shankar scores played a large role in bringing him to attention among English-speaking music lovers. Sony Pictures Classics mounted a reissue of the films in the early '90s, with actress Rita Moreno selecting it as her choice for an essential title from the studio. "I saw The World of Apu when I was quite young," she recalled. "It was the first time I had seen an Indian film, and it made a lasting impression. The acting, cinematography and direction were innovative and different from anything I had ever seen. It forever changed the way I view films." However, some dark news was also lurking as the negatives for all three films were burned in a film lab fire in 1993 (a year after Ray's Honorary Academy Award presentation shortly before his death), putting the future of these essential works at risk. A lengthy, full-scale restoration was undertaken between the Criterion Collection, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2013, salvaging as much of the negatives of the first two films as possible from the wreckage and using other high-grade film material for the rest. Thankfully this film and its two companions now survive in the most pristine condition possible, ensuring future generations will continue to be inspired by the most famous jewels in Ray's filmography.
By Nathaniel Thompson
