World of Apu, The, is the concluding motion picture in a trilogy of films about Indian life directed by the great Indian director Satyajit Ray. The film was released in 1959. The earlier movies in the trilogy were Pather Panchali (1955) and Aparajito (1956). They are known as the Apu Trilogy, after Apu, a central character in all three films. Ray wrote the screenplays for the trilogy. The noted Indian musician Ravi Shankar composed the music.
The Apu Trilogy introduced modern Indian motion pictures to the rest of the world. All three films were praised for their truth, humanity, simplicity, and realism.
The World of Apu, like the two earlier films, follows the life of Apu and other members of his family in a poor Bengali village. Pather Panchali introduces Apu as a boy growing up in the impoverished village. From childhood, the boy dreams of becoming a writer. He finally moves with his family to the city of Benares (also called Varanasi). In Aparajito, Apu’s father dies and his mother helps him study for admission to a university. In The World of Apu, Apu finds work as a clerk. After his wife dies in childbirth, he destroys a novel he had been writing and abandons the baby son who had survived his wife’s death. After five years of wandering, Apu and his son are reunited, and the man starts to rebuild his life.
Before Ray became a filmmaker, he was an art director for an advertising firm and illustrated books on the side. While illustrating the novel Pather Panchali (1928) by the Bengali writer Bibhuti Bhusan Banerji, Ray became fascinated by the idea of filming the novel and its sequel, Aparajito (1932). Ray financed the film himself. He was ready to drop the project after 18 months of work when the government of the state of West Bengal agreed to sponsor the motion pictures.
See also Ray, Satyajit .
