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Drama

Aparajito

Year
1956
Director
Satyajit Ray
Length
110 minCriterion presentation Version sources ↓

As Apu grows from child to student, education opens a future whose distance from home becomes increasingly painful for his mother.

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Country
India
Language
Bengali
GentleBleak Great first watch · Easy Drama
An open book rests beside broad stone steps descending to a river, with buildings lining the water.

Image: Monocurator · source · Original Monocurator artwork

What to expect

The second Apu film joins intellectual discovery to family separation without making either side a moral error. Ray and Subrata Mitra find drama in thresholds, journeys, letters, and the unequal speed at which a child and parent experience change.

How to ease in

It follows Pather Panchali, but the family’s new circumstances are clear enough to begin here. Notice how each new place expands Apu’s world while reducing the time he can see from his mother’s position.

For the trilogy’s viewing order and edition choices, see our Apu Trilogy guide.

Heads-up

A quick, non-exhaustive note Includes illness, bereavement, poverty, family separation, loneliness, and a painful parent-child relationship.
Momo's Note May contain spoilers Who is Momo? →
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Apu’s future arrives as light, books, and movement; his mother experiences the same future as waiting. I feel the distance grow because both truths remain visible at once.

— Momo

Momo thinking about this film

Credits & versions

Credits
Cast
Kanu Banerjee — Harihar · Karuna Banerjee — Sarbajaya · Smaran Ghosal — Adolescent Apu · Pinaki Sengupta — Young Apu
Screenplay
Satyajit Ray

Version map

Criterion presentation 110 min 110 minutes is attached only to the named Criterion presentation. No unsupported cut, score, territory, frame rate, source element, or restoration detail is inferred. Source: The Criterion Collection — Aparajito Runtime reference · Checked 2026-08-21

Where to go next

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