Load of rubbish!!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Calling Satyajit Ray a genius is a mere understatement. Can someone believe that Pather Panchali is a debut for this creator? Pather Panchali, is truly a remarkable masterpiece that is carved with brilliant film making. It leaves us awestruck and scene by scene is a sculpture. I do not recollect when was the last time that I watched an Indian film that portrays reality to this extent. It's been almost 60 years since the release of Pather Panchali but no other movie can inch closer to this marvel. Epic performance from the entire cast. Editing was top notch, so was the cinematography. If you want to become a film maker, you don't have to go to a film school, just watch the trilogy. This movie is very precious for the Indian cinema and will be cherished forever.

It is a wonderful film, but it is sad to see that IMDb is using a wrong cover picture for the film. the cover pic is actually from "Aparajito", NOT "Pather Panchali" and this mistake actually tells public attitude about this film. More people would rather talk about this film than watch it carefully. The film misses the "Ballali Balai" part of the novel by Bibhutibhushan which is a must read for a complete picture of the background of the film. Bibhuti's novel consists of three parts, a) Ballali Balai, b) Aam anti-r bhnepu, c) Akrura Sangbad. Ray covers Aam aanti-r bhnepu in "Pather Panchali" film and the "AKrur Sangbad" deals with the first half of "Aparajito" which ends with Harihara's death.

The above title is not mine, rather than the great giant of cinema, Akira Kurosawa's. (creator of The Seven Samurai, Rashomon.) I can't help but quote a few from Andrew Robinson's Book "The Apu Trilogy - making of an epic" "(after describing the 'wobbling sweet seller' sequence) The brief wordless interlude of lyrical happiness belongs uniquely to the cinema; it is the kind of peak in Ray's work that prompted Kurosawa to conclude;'Not to have seen the cinema of RAY means existing in the world without seeing sun and moon.'" What can the 'humble' I say about one of the all time best films produced by world. There are lyricism, a lot place of poetry, from Marie Seaton to our critic Amitava Chattapadhyay..they are the renowned man who described about this. One can read the books by those I've mentioned, and also by Andrew Robinson's. Personally I can say, Ray is the man from whom I learned everything and still I'm learning. I'm learning not only how to read a film, but also how to write English! I am far younger than him, probably my age is similar to age of his grandson, but he's my Teacher, of all kind..from cinema to literature to painting to photography and music. He's the man whom I respect most.

In 1956, "Pather panchali" opened to the least possible fanfare at the Cannes Film Festival. It was shown at midnight the same time there was a party in honor of Akira Kurosawa, and only a handful of film critics bothered to attend the screening. We can be thankful for the ones who did, among them Bazin, Moskowitz and Anderson. They demanded the film be shown again, and the rest is history. I paraphrase from the essay "Distant Music" written by Philip Kemp, available in the booklet for "Jalsaghar" ('The Music Room', 1958), released by the Criterion Collection.Ray is absolutely amazing. "Charulata" (1964) was my first love, after which I was able to see this and then "Jalsaghar". Now I've been going through his select filmography, and I'm going to have to visit Charu again in the near future.Just like "Jalsaghar", the three films that are the Apu trilogy are an overwhelmingly sober account of life and death, and everything in between. Each film is structured around death, and normally we would have reconciliation. But here we have perceived reconciliation through death, "perceived" in the sense that each time it's short of complete; something is left unsaid, something is amiss. It's all quite shocking, really. Emotionally very draining, and this is Ray's absolute gift. He is able to touch upon a subject like this and examine it whilst retaining a sense of vitality, allowing him not to succumb to heavy-handed melancholy (something I feel Bergman occasionally swerved to) but instead stay rooted in life – bittersweet, full of hope, sometimes unanswered.There are some iconic and haunting images in this film that are yet to be matched in their intensity. A beautiful death poem, and a life poem, as well.