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Originally released in India as Apur Sansar, The World of Apu was the last of Satyajit Ray's "Apu Trilogy". Pather Panchali (1955) covered Apu's early years in his native village, while Aparajito (1956) detailed his school years, and the tragedy that temporarily brought him back home. Now Apu (Soumitra Chaterjee), having abandoned college due to lack of money, hopes to find success as a writer. He is sidetracked from this goal when he meets Aparna (Sharmila Tagore), whose impending wedding is cancelled when the groom turns out to be mentally unstable. To save Aparna from a custom-dictated life of spinsterhood, Apu marries her himself. When she dies giving birth, the grieving Apu cannot bring himself to meet his son, and in fact deserts the boy for five years before learning how to gracefully accept his lot in life. Like the other entries in the Trilogy, The World of Apu was based on Bibhutbhusan Bandopadhaya's semi-autobiographical novel Aparajito. In the manner typical of his earlier works, director Ray adopts a straightforward, realistic approach, avoiding any sort of attention-getting directorial techniques, the better to simply tell his story.
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