Madhur Bhandarkar to take forward Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy with his maiden Bengali production Avijatrik

Satyajit Ray’s character of Apu, derived from Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s works, will return to the silver screen, state reports. The iconic protagonist of Ray’s arguably most famous trilogy — Pather Panchali (1955), Aparajito (1956) and The World of Apu (1959) — will be brought back with another Bengali period drama titled Avijatrik (The Wanderlust of Apu). [caption id=“attachment_5920361” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Madhur Bhandarkar will be presenting Avijatrik, directed by Subhrajit Mitra[/caption] Ray’s films were based on Bandopadhyay’s novels Pather Panchali and Aparajito. The new feature will be helmed by Subhrajit Mitra and will be presented by Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar. The makers released a statement which said that the new film would focus on areas that Apur Sansar (The World of Apu) did not deal with. Avijatrik will delve into the ‘sublime bond’ between father and son, between Apu and his son Kajol. The feature will be filmed in black and white to retain the authenticity of the 1940s Kolkata. It will also delve into characters which were integral part of the novel but were not treated in the films. Lila is one such character while Apu’s adventurer friend is the other. Bhandarkar weighed in on the subject stating that he was more than excited to be part of such a project. “As a director and a film buff, I have been a great admirer and fan of Satyajit Ray, and the journey of Apu always fascinated me,” says the Fashion director to Scroll.