Satyajit Ray's debut film, Pather Panchali, is the first film of his 'Apu Trilogy'. It represents the beginning of an alternative tradition in Indian cinema, and is the first in a long line of exceptional works that earned Ray a place amongst the world's greatest filmmakers. Enormously touching in its simplicity and visual beauty, Pather Panchali was the first Indian film to achieve widespread international acclaim. Its freshness, its lyrical visual and narrative style and poetic tension established Ray as a master filmmaker and brought Indian cinema into international limelight. The time is early 20th century. In a remote village in Bengal, a Brahmin family - a priest. Harihar, his wife Sarbajaya, daughter Durga, son Apu and his aged cousin Indira Thakrun - struggles to make ends meet. Though the film deals with a poor family's grim battle for survival, it has no trace of melodrama. What is projected instead is the respect for human dignity. Without any experience in filmmaking, Ray started shooting the film in 1952 but was forced to stop for more than a year because of financial constraints. Dr B. C. Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, was shown the portion of film which had been shot till then. He agreed to give the money but misunderstood the film's nature, seeing it as a documentary promoting rural upliftment and development! Photographs by Nemai Ghosh from the Tuli Family Library & Archive Collection.