In 1955, the year Satyajit Ray's beautiful first feature won the Grand Prix at Cannes, no less a humanist than François Truffaut walked out of a screening, declaring, "I don't want to see a film about Indian peasants." Time and critical opinion have been much kinder to this family melodrama—derived, like its successors in the Apu trilogy, Aparajito and The World of Apu, from a 30s novel by Bibhutibhusan Banerjee (sic)—than to Truffaut's remark. Yet there's no question that Ray's contemplative treatment of a poor Brahman family in a Bengali village, made on a small budget and accompanied by the mesmerizing music of Ravi Shankar, is a triumph of mood and character rather than an exercise in brisk Western storytelling.

Direction: Satyajit Ray.

Screenplay: Satyajit Ray, based on the novel Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhusan Bandapaddhay.

Photography: Subrata Mitra.

Editing: Dulal Dutta.

Art Direction: Bansi Chandragupta.

Music: Ravi Shankar.

Kanu Bannerjee.....................................Harihar, the father

Karuna Bannerjee............................Sarbojaya, the mother

Uma Das Gupta......................................................Durga

Subir Bannerjee.........................................................Apu

Chunibala..........................................................The Aunt