THE ROAD SONG (Week 34 Theme: Recreate Any Movie Story)

A cult film is made only once in a lifetime,

We watch Ray’s Pather Panchali now, with a dash of lime –

Compared to the next films, it’s made on a budget of a dime,

All were new to the craft, hence energy exuded like a knife’s line.

Apu, Durga, Harihar, and Sarbojaya are immortalized in black and white –

This film of all films was shot with Boral village as the site,

The ‘kaash’ flowers amid the first sighting of the train, bloom in the night

Durga’s drenching herself in the rain is shown in an innocent light.

The death of the young girl is the most searing of such scenes –

Through the cinematic medium, Satyajit Ray conveyed a vision incomparable by all means;

The film ends with the family going to the city, leaving their village greens

One has to have sensibilities to grasp the film’s greatness that lay in the maker’s genes.

The music was composed by Ravi Shankar – the sitar virtuoso

The film smells of Bengal, compared to other Mumbai Alfonso

Even after decades, we can still enjoy the film now also

Rural life comes alive, as Partition does in lines of Manto.

Pather Panchali or The Song of the Road

Will remain alive as long as human tears can goad.