Subrata Mitra to a cameraman...Almost every shot of "Pather Panchali" posed a problem for me, innumerable problems, many sleepless nights spent on ruminating over the prospects of the next day's shooting..."Pather Panchali" had many excellent shots--both technically and artistically, but it had many bad shots too." From 1997 until his death, Mitra was an emeritus professor of cinematography at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) at Kolkata. Subrata Mitra Subrata Mitra (12 October 1930 – 7 December 2001) was an Indian cinematographer. Acclaimed for his work in "The Apu Trilogy" (1955–1959), Mitra is often considered one of the greatest of
Pather Panchali of rural Bengal to construct an image of the ideal village. In contrast to this idealism, Mitali Pati and Suranjan Ganguly point out how Ray used eye-level shots, natural lighting, long takes and other techniques to achieve realism. Mainak Biswas has written that "Pather Panchali" comes very close to the concept of Italian neorealism, as it has several passages with no dramatic development, even though the usual realities of life, such as the changing of seasons or the passing of a day, are concretely filmed. "Pather Panchali" has won many national and international awards. At India's 3rd National Film Awards