Pather Panchali

Pather Panchali poster for sale.

Featured here for sale is an original Satyajit Ray movie poster of one of the greatest films ever made in world cinema, Pather Panchali (1955).

Pather Panchali is a Bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by the Government of West Bengal, India. The cult film is based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s 1929 Bengali novel of the same name and depicts the harsh childhood of the protagonist Apu.

Following its premiere in mid 1955 at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Pather Panchali was later released in Calcutta the same year.

Printed and circulated during the NFDC release commemorating 50 glorious years of the film (somewhere in 2004), this Pather Panchali poster was originally designed for publicity of the film subtitled in English but never ended up being used.

Pather Panchali established Satyajit Ray as one of India’s finest filmmakers. The film is featured in several lists of the greatest films ever made, making this Pather Panchali poster, highly collectible!

Before venturing into film making, Satyajit Ray worked as a graphic designer. It is widely believed that he designed posters and other publicity material (such as billboards, ads and newspaper flyers) of quite a few of his films himself, including this beautiful Pather Panchali original poster.

A black and white photographic still from the film appears in a circle at the center. Hand drawn icons are seen inside the still photo. The color of the background used in this Pather Panchali poster is a very catchy light shade of fluorescent green. The title of the film is written in a very artistic font. Typography used in this Satyajit Ray poster appears in both English as well as Bengali.

Pather Panchali has made an indelible mark on the history of cinema with its soul-stirring realism. Such was the film’s appeal that a special screening was attended by the Chief Minister of West Bengal and the Prime Minister of India. The first installment of Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy, Pather Panchali was followed by two subsequent film’s made by Ray, namely Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959), which continued to chronicle lead protagonist Apu’s life.

Pather Panchali is considered one of the biggest landmarks (a turning point) in Indian cinema to the extent that critics labeled the film as “pure cinema” and refused to compare it against any other film. The film pioneered the parallel cinema movement in India and was one of the earliest films to generate major international attention, placing India on the world cinema map. The film won several national as well as international awards, most notable being National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1955 and the Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.