Sabitri Chatterjee the actor who would later perform as "Harihar Roy", in Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali" and "Aparajito". Sabitri also acted the film version of the play which was released in 1953. She made her big screen debut in Uttam Kumar starrer "Sahajatri" (1951) directed by Agradoot and appeared as her first female lead in Sudhir Mukherjee's comedy film "Pasher Bari" (1952) which was a major success at box office. Sabitri Chatterjee's next film assignment was "Subhada" (1952) – a film based on a novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay and directed by Niren Lahiri along with Chhabi Biswas and Pahari Sanyal. In
Pather Panchali number of critics attended. Although some were initially unenthusiastic at the prospect of yet another Indian melodrama, the film critic Arturo Lanocita found "the magic horse of poetry ... invading the screen". "Pather Panchali" was subsequently named Best Human Document at the festival. Lindsay Anderson commented after the Cannes screening that "Pather Panchali" had "the quality of ultimate unforgettable experience". In subsequent years, critics have given positive reviews. A 1958 review in "Time" described "Pather Panchali" as "perhaps the finest piece of filmed folklore since Robert Flaherty's "Nanook of the North"". In her 1982 book "5001 Nights at the Movies",