Pather Panchali Ray thus had to borrow money to shoot enough footage to persuade prospective producers to finance the whole film. To raise funds, he continued to work as a graphic designer, pawned his life insurance policy and sold his collection of gramophone records. Production manager Anil Chowdhury convinced Ray's wife, Bijoya, to pawn her jewels. Ray still ran out of money partway through filming, which had to be suspended for nearly a year. Thereafter shooting was done only in intermittent bursts. Ray later admitted that the delays had made him tense and that three miracles saved the film: "One, Apu's voice
Aparajito Ghosal who played the role of adolescent "Apu", at the age of 14, did only one more film, documentary "Rabindranath Tagore" (1961), also made by Ray, where he played young Rabindranath Tagore. Smaran died in 2008 in Kolkata, at the age of 64. "Aparajito" was preceded by "Pather Panchali" (1955) and followed by "Apur Sansar" ("The World of Apu") in 1959. Together, the three films constitute the Apu trilogy. "Pather Panchali" portrays the childhood of Apu in their ancestral house. "Apur Sansar" depicts Apu's adult life, his reaction to his wife's premature death, and his final bonding with his son