Subir Banerjee Subir Banerjee Subir Banerjee is an Indian actor who played Apu in Satyajit Ray's Bengali film "Pather Panchali" ("Song of the Little Road", 1955), the first installment of "The Apu Trilogy". During the pre-production of "Pather Panchali", Satyajit Ray advertised in newspapers seeking boys between five and seven years of age for the role of Apu. Several boys arrived for audition, but none of them met the expectation of the director. Finally, Ray's wife Bijoya Ray spotted a boy playing on the roof of a neighbouring building of their apartment. This boy, Subir Banerjee, was eventually cast for the role
Pather Panchali spectator". The soundtrack of the film was composed by the sitar player Ravi Shankar, who was at an early stage of his career, having debuted in 1939. The background scores feature pieces based on several ragas of Indian classical music, played mostly on the sitar. The soundtrack, described in a 1995 issue of "The Village Voice" as "at once plaintive and exhilarating", is featured in "The Guardian"s 2007 list of 50 greatest film soundtracks. It has also been cited as an influence on The Beatles, specifically George Harrison. Shankar saw about half the film in a roughly edited version before