The World of Apu

Ray introduced two new actors here, and both became regulars in his films. Soumitra Chatterjee, who plays Apu, was a radio announcer who had done one small stage part. Sharmila Tagore, who plays Aparna, was fourteen and had never acted at all. The film's most famous moment comes out of that. Apu brings his new wife back to his untidy city room. Ray never let Tagore see the set beforehand and gave her one instruction: walk in and look around. The reaction on Aparna's face when the door opens is Tagore's own. She only understood later that Ray had withheld the set deliberately to get it. This is the last film of the Apu trilogy. Jobless and vaguely dreaming of being a writer, Apu travels to a village wedding; when the bridegroom turns out to be deranged, and local belief holds that a bride who misses the auspicious hour can never marry, his life changes in an afternoon. Who it is for: viewers who want one of cinema's quietest accounts of grief and recovery. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace. The film works through long silences and keeps most of its major events off screen.