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After completing his widely acclaimed Pather Panjali and Aparajito, the first two films in his "Apu Trilogy," Bengali director Satyajit Ray squeezed in time for this modest drama before finishing his trilogy in 1959 with The World of Apu. Possibly analogous to a broader picture of existence or even modern India, this compelling tale traces the deteriorating life of an old country nobleman. He lives in the past, in a slowly decaying villa, and cannot adjust to the fast-changing, vastly different modern world that surrounds him on all sides. Melancholy and inward-turning, he remembers the grand old days of societal soirées and political power and mourns the death of his wife and his son, deaths which he survived only to live alone in a house filled with memories. In a last-gasp effort, the old man opts for one grand gesture to recall past glories.