Shyam Benegal on how Pather Panchali helped him let go of his creative barriersThere are many films which have moved me but the one film that inspired me the most,not just as a filmmaker but also as an individual,is Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray. I was 21 years of age when I first saw the movie and it has stayed on with me since then. The film made me realise that I could do things the way I wanted to and there is no such term as creative barrier. The film,a simple story of a boy named Apu living in a village in Bengal,can be called a cinematic masterpiece of the 20th century. It remains special because of its ability to universalise the issues it talks about. The transformation of the incidents from being micro to being macro is what makes for great art and that is the category which this film fits itself in. The film is one of the best cinematic adaptations of a novella. I would call it a pastoral epic because of the atmosphere,the times and lives of the characters it shows. It intrigued everybody so much,including Ray that he went on to create two more films after it Aparajito (The Unvanquished) in 1956 and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) in 1959. The three films together are known as the Apu Trilogy. It ushered in a new movement in Indian cinema that was full of social realism and will always remain special for me.
