Aparajito trailer captures Satyajit Ray's struggle to make cult film Pather Panchali

The makers launched the film's trailer on Apr 23, the day which marks Ray's death anniversary.

Not revealing much, Dutta in the trailer showed Ray, essayed by young actor Jeetu Kamal, struggling to get funds to make the film.

In one scene, Ray's wife, played by Saayoni Ghosh, talks about his attempt to sell books and recordings to get the funds.

Cast and crew of Aparajito

In one of the last scenes, Ray is seen surprised to learn that the West Bengal government wanted to fund the film, which was released in 1955.

Reflecting on Ray's journey to make the film, which is the basis of Aparajito, Dutta tells India Blooms, "A lot of people would have given up. Even he (Satyajit Ray) was very frustrated and disturbed at a point of time when the film was not getting made... But he had a strong self confidence."

"I didn't even try to show Ray's life as a whole. I just selected one portion of him overcoming all the odds, remaining undefeated and achieving what he had to," he added.

Anik Dutta

Pather Panchali, for which Ray faced hurdles in attracting funding due to lack of songs, love stories, emotions, is a tale of the protagonist Apu whose growing up was shown in the second and third installments, Aparajito and Apur Sansar respectively.

One of the key ingredients of Pather Panchali was Apu's relation with his sister Durga, who has been essayed by young actress Anusha Viswanathan in Dutta's Aparajito.

On her research work before playing Uma in the film, Viswanathan tells India Blooms, "I definitely watched the film again and also the specific scenes which we had to recreate.

"We would constantly check the scenes and try to recreate them as close to the original as possible. We tried to remember the minutest of details."

(Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS)