Talk:Pather Panchali

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Contents 1 Director 2 Plot? 3 Quality Improvement 4 Indir sister-in-law? 5 WikiProject class rating 6 Nishchindipur? 7 Kaash 8 Poster 9 A suggestion: GA...?

[edit] Director

Am I missing something? The article says the director is unknown but the table on the right hand side names the director. Fkh82 22:09, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

By "unknown", the article means the director was previously not famous or well-known - AKeen 22:27, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

aha, makes sense, didnt see the hitherto ...Fkh82 03:48, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Plot?

Hasn't anybody seen the film so we can add a Plot/Summary section which tells what's it about? --euyyn 22:34, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh! Sorry! Done a while ago (but may be improved)! --Kuaichik 02:13, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Quality Improvement

I propose that, in order to improve the quality of the article:

1. the sentence "this indicates the extent of the first film's cultural impact" be replaced by a more elaborate explanation,
2. the "Critical Reception" section contain fewer quotes and more details, and
3. more detail be added concerning Ray's encounter with Pather Panchali and its influence on the film (instead of just "(h)e...cut away what he thought were unnecessary elements...").

Regarding "1," some questions that could possibly be considered: How many theaters featured it around the world? How much money did Ray earned from it? If he actually didn't earn much, how much less time did it take him to get the Government of West Bengal to fund his films before and after the making of Pather Panchali? How much longer (and/or how many more times) did he have to rely on government funds for making more films?

We could probably mention (if there is a source to support this claim, which I'm currently guessing there is) that it is still played on television in West Bengal along with some of his other films.

An explanation on "3": according to Satyajit Ray.org, Ray first read an abridged version of the original novel. This suggests that he may not have voluntarily "cut away...unnecessary elements"; he may have simply been unaware that these "elements" even existed. After all, it was the abridged version that D.K. Gupta (see Satyajit Ray.org) recommended as a book that "would make a very good film." --Kuaichik 02:34, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Indir sister-in-law?

The article says so in respect to Sarbajaya, but I saw the movie and her husband calls her mother and Durga calls her grandmother. Her age (and her ways), of course, doesn't indicate that she could be the sister of Harihar (the husband). Am I right or I missed something? Nazroon 05:45, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

You missed something. But please give me a little bit of time to figure out what exactly you missed :-D --Kuaichik 22:56, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Durga doesn't call Indir "grandmother" - she calls her pisi, i.e. paternal aunt. Also, I can't recall Harihar ever calling Indir "mother." --Kuaichik 14:32, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 19:08, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nishchindipur?

The first sentence of the second paragraph of the "Plot" section currently reads:

Pather Panchali is set in the Bengali village of Nishchindipur in the 1920s.

But the name "Nishchindipur" is not mentioned in Pather Panchali (at least not in the film version!). In fact, as I recall, that was another village Apu and Sarbajaaya moved to in Aparajito after Harihar dies in Varanasi, right? --Kuaichik (talk) 03:49, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Nischindipur is once mentioned in the film,, almost towards the end when the family is packing for their journey to the new destination (so far as I remember, Harihar, while talking to the elderlies of the village, mentions the name). However, I am not 100% sure. So, for teh time being, the name can be removed. However, in the novel, it has been clearly mentioned as "Nischindipur".

In Aparajito, Sarabajaya and Apu moves to another village, yes.--Dwaipayan (talk) 05:19, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Ah, I just watched the film again (particularly the end). This time, I noticed Sarbajaya mentioning "Nischindipur," when her neighbor is helping her pack. The neighbor regrets that she could not prevent Durga's death, but Sarbajaya says it is not the neighbor's fault and something about other people Nischindipure being happier. --Kuaichik (talk) 06:27, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I also remembered the name being uttered somewhere towards the end of the film, but could not exactly remember who said it. Anyway, this is solved :)--Dwaipayan (talk) 06:53, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Kaash

Now here's something that's always irked me about practically every movie summary of Pather Panchali. All of them make this reference to the field of kaash flowers.

OK, that's nice. In a beautifully timeless scene, Apu and Durga are running through the lush Bengali landscape filled with kaash flowers and towards the train, a sign of the outside world, modernity, etc. But as an ignorant non-Bengali, I always have to wonder: just what is this kaash flower everybody talks about? And isn't that particular type of flower somehow important to the movie as a whole? (I could almost swear that I'd seen the answer to that last question somewhere on SatyajitRay.org :))

Obviously, not all of the readers of this article will know the answer to that! So, if the kaash flowers are important enough to be included, perhaps someone should clearly explain what they are and their significance. --Kuaichik (talk) 03:47, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

No idea whether the kaash flowers are important to the movie as a whole. Kaash flowers appear in the autumn, and usually heralds Durgapuja (see this).

No idea about its English and scientific name. Yes, almost every plot summary of the film mentions the flower. May be its just due to the visual impact of the train billowing black smokes in the white kaash field... Dunno :( --Dwaipayan (talk) 04:49, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Its a grass-family plant, here is the wikipage: Kans grass, but no photo of flower there. One photo can be found here. GDibyendu (talk) 06:09, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

This is a great find, GDibyendu. thanks a lot. Wikilinked kaash in the article. Indeed there are some images available in the internet.--Dwaipayan (talk) 06:32, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Poster

Would anyone mind if I replaced the dvd cover here with the title screen for the film? I can't find any image of the film poster online, so for historical interest I think the title card would be more appropriate. Andrzejbanas (talk) 12:05, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

For the time being, that's fine. Please go ahead. Regards.--Dwaipayan (talk) 18:21, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] A suggestion: GA...?

This article is still listed as a B-class article, in spite of the recent edits which seem to have really made the quality much better. Probably the motivation behind most of these edits is making it an FA, but should we try getting it nominated as a GA first? --Kuaichik (talk) 03:33, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

The article is being improved in considerable speed with a goal of, as you have said, FAC. The problem with GAC is in case it get stuck there, it may take a long time to get the result (pass or fail). FAC is not possible while the article is in GAC. My plan is, going for FAC straightaway, following the peer review (which, IMO, is often much more productive than GAC). If the article fails FAC, well, GAC can be tried :)--Dwaipayan (talk) 07:44, 31 May 2008 (UTC)