How did Satyajit Ray make Pather Panchali? Many people have been curious about this. Director Anik Datta’s new Bengali film Aparajito will show the making of Pather Panchali.

Jeetu Kamal plays the role of Aparajito Ray in this film. Aparajito was the second film in the Apu Trilogy.

Anik has begun the shooting for this film. Speaking about the film, he said “Ray did not like the films that were made then in our country. He wanted to make something different. He was immensely passionate about movies, music, and Western classical music. This is not simply an account of how that film was made. In this film, the character Aparajito Ray aka Apu makes a film called Pather Podaboli. With this film, I want to convey that dreams can be fulfilled if you believe in them and pursue them dedicatedly”.

For the role of Aparajito, the director was looking at different actors and he did not expect to find someone who will look close to Ray. He spotted a man on the street and after enquiring found out that he is an actor. He saw Jeetu closely and realized that he has features similar to Ray. After the look test when Jeetu came out of the make-up room, everyone was surprised. Somnath Kundu helped with the prosthetics. Jeetu Kamal did his own research for the role and he picked up things quickly.

The reactions from different people have been very positive and encouraging.  The director mentioned one memorable reaction. When a team member showed a photograph of Jeetu to his wife, she was convinced it was the man himself. He told her to look closely and it took her a while to realize it wasn’t the original stills.

With such positive feedback already, Datta’s Aparajito has created the right hype for such an ambitious film.

Priyanka Dutta