Apur Sansar (1959). Photofest.
(Satyajit Ray, India 1959, 105 min., 35mm, Bengali w/subtitles)
After high school graduation, Apu (Soumitra Chatterjee) is at a crossroads, encouraged to continue with his studies, but barely sustaining himself through private tutoring. On the advice of his friend Pulu (Swapan Mukherjee), he gets away from the city on a vacation to a rural wedding. When the groom is deemed to be unfit, Apu is convinced to marry the young Aparna (Sharmila Tagore) to save her the shame of a failed marriage. Moving back to the city with his young bride, Apu takes a steady job and a romance blooms between him and Aparna, with the possibility of a family in the future. Director Satyajit Ray’s humanism is on full display here as Apu deals with multiple generations of loss and personal responsibility.