Pather Panchali

With all these years of fanatical movie watching, it is a shame that I never caught up with Pather Panchali and the Appu Trilogy. Well...I finally caught up with PP on this dreary Sunday evening.

This is seriously for the discerning viewer but for some strange reason, I would recommend that in case he or she wants to view Pather Panchali, it may be a good idea to first watch the Korean Classic Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring by Kim Ki Duk. 

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring is a movie of extraordinary beauty and is a motion picture but the viewer goes through the spectacle as if it is seamlessly bounded by Still Photographs. I feel that this could enhance the appreciation of PP.

Once you digest the magic of the Korean master and if you have the patience to watch PP, the viewer will be rewarded with innumerable 'That is what we watch cinema' for moments.

The superlative black and white photography, with the most pleasant and unobtrusive music by Pandit Ravi Shankar freaking out combined with terrific re-recording takes your breath away. All the characters are well etched, the dialogues are optimal, the screenplay perfect and the casting, especially of the old lady with sunken eyes, the hunch, the receding hairline, the absence of any teeth and yet with a glint of gleam in her eyes, is just mind-boggling. 

Only for a very serious cinema viewer, others may please give this a miss.