Apur Sansar (Bengali: অপুর সংসার), also known as The World of Apu, is a 1959 Indian Bengali-language drama film produced, written, and directed by Satyajit Ray.
In the early 1930s, Apurba "Apu" Kumar Roy is an unemployed graduate living in a rented room in Tala, Calcutta.
He barely manages to get by providing private tutoring while trying to find a job, but his main passion is writing a semi-autobiographical novel that he hopes to get published some day.
He and the other villagers believe, according to a prevalent Hindu tradition, that the young bride must be wedded off during the appointed auspicious hour, or else she will have to remain unmarried all her life.
Soumitra Chatterjee, a radio announcer and stage actor, had auditioned, along with doyen of Bengali theatre Sisir Bhaduri, for the role of the adolescent Apu in Aparajito (1956).
[2] Chatterjee, unaware that he had been selected for the role, was invited to visit the set of Ray's fourth film, Jalsaghar, to watch the shoot, and, as he was leaving, Ray revealed the casting choice by calling Chatterjee over and introducing him to actor Chhabi Biswas with the words: "This is Soumitra Chattopadhyay; he's playing Apu in my next film Apur Sansar".
Then, Ray became aware of a girl, Sharmila Tagore, who had recently performed at a dance recital at Children's Little Theatre (CLT) in Kolkata.
[1] It was chosen as the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 32nd Academy Awards, but was not selected as one of the final nominees.
Its critics' consensus reads: "Achingly poignant, beautifully shot, and evocatively atmospheric, The World of Apu closes out Satyajit Ray's classic trilogy on a high note.
[11] In 1999, The Village Voice ranked The Apu Trilogy at #54 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list, based on a poll of critics.
In 2013, the video distribution company The Criterion Collection, in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Film Archive, began the restoration of the original negatives of the Apu trilogy, including Apur Sansar.