Emanuel Levy said: "Made in 1956 (and released in many countries a year later), 'Aparajito' indicates India’s processes of modernization and industrialization and their inevitable impact on both individual and culture. Nonetheless, in his upbeat outlook, Ray suggests that individuals can rise to the occasion and might not be compromised by the corruption that characterizes the society at large." Bosley Crowther, who had earlier given a lukewarm response to "Pather Panchali", saying that the film was so amateurish that "it would barely pass for a rough cut in Hollywood", praised it, saying that "Mr. Ray's remarkable camera catches beauty in so many things, from the softness of a mother's sad expression to the silhouette of a distant train, that innuendos take up the slack of drama. Hindu music and expressive natural sounds complete the stimulation of the senses in this strange, sad, evocative film." At Rotten Tomatoes, "Aparajito" has a 94% fresh rating based on an aggregate of 18 reviews with an average rating of 8.7/10.