Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film adapted from Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name. The debut film of the Indian director Satyajit Ray, it depicts the lives of a family from a poor Indian village with two children, Apu (Subir Banerjee) and his elder sister Durga (Uma Dasgupta). The film, shot mainly on location in rural India, took nearly three years to complete. Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar composed the score. After a screening in May at New York's Museum of Modern Art, it was officially released in Kolkata on August 26, 1955, and was enthusiastically received after a slow start. Many critics have praised the film's realism and humanity, though a few have found fault with its slow pace; other critics have condemned it, claiming it romanticizes poverty. The tale of Apu's life is continued in Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu, 1959). The three films constitute the Apu Trilogy. Pather Panchali was a pioneer film of the Parallel Cinema movement and was the first film from independent India to attract major international attention, winning a number of awards and establishing Ray as a major director. It has been featured in lists of the greatest films ever made.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pather_Panchali

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1071:

Byzantine–Seljuq Wars: Seljuk Turks led by Alp Arslan captured Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manzikert

1789:

French Revolution: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, defining a set of individual and collective rights of the people, was approved by the National Constituent Assembly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen

1883:

A massive eruption destroyed the volcanic island of Krakatoa, ejecting so much ash that average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 °C (2.2 °F) over the next year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa

1968:

The US Democratic Party's National Convention began at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes between anti–Vietnam War protesters and police. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention

1977:

The National Assembly of Quebec declared French to be the only official language of Quebec. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

yeasayer: 1. One whose attitude is positive, optimistic, confidently affirmative. 2. (pejorative) One who habitually agrees uncritically. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yeasayer

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I often feel that worse than the most fiendish Nazis were those Germans who went along with the persecution of the Jews not because they really disliked them but because it was the thing.   --Christopher Isherwood https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood