The best Satyajit Ray films
The top 3 according to 806 votes from people: Pather Panchali (1955) · The World of Apu (1959) · Charulata (1964). (Updated Jul 7, 2022.)
The Apu trilogy, Charulata, The Music Room: Satyajit Ray's most acclaimed films according to critics and audiences (MovieWeb, The Cinemaholic, IMDb).
Top 12
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1
Pather Panchali (1955)
Apu's childhood in a Bengal village, the start of the trilogy.
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2
The World of Apu (1959)
Apu as a young man, marriage and loss; ends the trilogy.
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3
Charulata (1964)
A lonely wife in 1870s Calcutta, from Tagore.
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4
The Big City (1963)
A Calcutta housewife takes a job selling door to door.
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5
Aparajito (1956)
Apu leaves for Calcutta; Golden Lion in Venice.
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6
The Music Room (1958)
A ruined landlord clings to his music salon.
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7
Days and Nights in the Forest (1970)
Four city friends on holiday in the jungle.
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8
Nayak (1966)
A film star on a train journey.
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9
Distant Thunder (1973)
The 1943 Bengal famine; Golden Bear in Berlin.
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10
The Chess Players (1977)
Two nobles play chess as the British annex Awadh.
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11
Agantuk (1991)
His last film: a mysterious uncle comes to stay.
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12
Devi (1960)
A young wife is worshipped as a goddess.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 12… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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13
Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1969)
A musical fairy tale for children, a huge hit in Bengal.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (1)
Charulata over the Apu films for me, but honestly the whole top 5 is perfect