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After watching Pather Panchali, I watched the sequel Aparajito the next day. My only criticism with the first film was the slow pace, but it looks like Satyajit Ray improved on this aspect for the sequel and thus eliminated any pacing issues I may have had with the original. This time the story moved along at a fairly quick pace, as we see months and sometimes years go by in a matter of minutes.

Although I often hear about Pather Panchali being regarded as the best in the Apu Trilogy, I personally liked Aparajito even better than the first. The story was gripping throughout the entire film, Karuna Bannerjee gave a truly Oscar-worthy performance as Apu's mother (even though it was only her second film) and the ending was just as powerful as the original (although Pather Panchali had a more powerful theme music). In fact, I might even go as far as saying Aparajito could possibly be my favourite film of all time.

10/10

'Aparajito', the second film of Satyajit Ray's brilliant 'Apu Trilogy', is one of the great masterpieces of film. The gritty realism melds expertly with the beautiful shot selection and cinematography. In fact, I would say Ray's India is presented at least as well as John Ford's American West. What is essentially a simple tale of one particular family turns into an epic of emotion and the difficulties of growing up. Truly amazing.

I am always a bit dismayed by the attention that Pather Panchali and Charulata command in discussions on Ray because while they are fine films, they do not account for Ray's cinema as a whole. In fact, I would resist from picking one or even three films that 'speak for Ray'- but I would be lying if I said I didn't have a favourite. Aparajito is a wonderful work of art, an extremely moving melodrama and a remarkably accurate portrayal of adolescence. Of course, it would be shameful to give all the credit to Ray. Bibhuti Bhusan Bandhyopadhaya's novels (Aparajito is adapted from the last part of Pather Panchali and the first half of Aparajito) are meticulously descriptive and Ray's success with the film owes much to the simplicity and honesty of his source. But there is something in Aparajito that belongs exclusively to the cinema - something that has to do with the the mixture of distance and intimacy in the movies, of identification and unfamiliarity. You want to feel like Aparajito is a film about you, but you secretly admit that it isn't, it cannot be - because you experience it outside yourself, in Ravi Shankar's beautiful music, in the photography that oscillates between banality and the deeply metaphoric, in the wonderful performances (especially by Karuna Bannerjee), and finally in Ray's masterful vision in putting it all together. I couldn't say much else - you must experience it for yourself!

This is so much heart touching movie with extra ordinary acting. The acting of the mother of apurba by Karuna Bannerjee is marvelous. The relationship between mother and son, showing in the film is so much heart touching. I watched with my friend at 7 pm and before complete the movie i called the mom and again after completing i calling her twice. She wondered what happened to me ! Not only me, my friend also call his home now regularly. That's the effect of the Aparajito. Satyajit Ray is the greatest director of India. There have no mistake in this classic play. Apu, his father, the principal, everyone is perfect. If you still not watching this movie, you missing something in your life. Enjoy and feel it, still hurting me.

This is one of the few films that, ever since first viewing, have reverberated daily in my consciousness--and no doubt on a subconscious level as well.

If somebody wanted to acclaim "Aparajito" as the finest film ever made, I would not offer resistance, though of course that's a kind of meaningless claim to make. It's similar to calling Mozart the finest composer who ever lived--meaningless, yet somehow appropriate.

See "Aparajito" and find out if you don't agree. This film can change the way you look at life and human interaction--forever.

Only slightly weaker, in my opinion, is the first of the three films in this "Apu Trilogy," "Pather Panchali." "Pather Panchali" may be even stronger than "Aparajito" in that it repeatedly reaches heart-wrenching emotional peaks with the slightest of cinematic means. Both films are testimony to the great human heart of Satyajit Ray, surely one of the masterful geniuses of any day, in any medium.

I wish the third member of the trilogy, "The World of Apu," lived up to the standard of the first two. Unfortunately, it's flawed by an excess of sentimentality and melodrama. Still a fine film by ordinary standards, it does fail when measured against its two masterful predecessors. But that's often the way in multi-volume works.

All three films should be seen by anybody who considers film important as a means of human communication, or who cherishes learning about other cultures, or who simply feels in need of some affirmation of the occasional nobility of spirit and mysterious ways of the souls of ordinary human beings.