This is the final installment of "The Apu Trilogy." Just when Apu thinks he is finally free to live his own life, now that his mother has died, wouldn't you know it, he gets invited to a wedding by Pulu, a friend of his, and ends up having to marry the bride himself, because the groom turns out to be crazy, and if she does not marry by the appointed hour, she is ruined for life and no one will ever marry her. Don't you just hate it when that happens?
Her parents are rich, so you figure that since this is India and everything, there should be a sizable dowry. But no, not a brass farthing. However, Apu and Aparna, for that is her name, end up being poor but happy. She gets pregnant, and so, after about the seventh month, she goes home to her parents to have the baby. When one of her relatives shows up to tell Apu that she died giving birth, Apu punches him right in the mouth. So, if you are ever in India and have to tell someone his wife died, just send a letter.
Apu writes to Pulu that because he is now free to live his own life (here we go again), he intends to travel. Presumably, he has learned his lesson about accepting wedding invitations. Of course, we wonder how free he can be, inasmuch as Aparna's baby lived. No problem, he just dumps the kid on her parents.
Apu apparently contemplates suicide, standing near the tracks as a train approaches, but it runs over a pig instead. In the end, he settles for just throwing away the manuscript of the novel he had been working on, presumably because he realizes that love as he imagined it turned out to be different from the real thing.
After five years of wandering around aimlessly, Apu's father-in-law is getting a little ticked that Apu is not taking care of his own son, Kajal. Pulu, who was Aparna's cousin, goes looking for him. Apu says he cannot take care of Kajal (whose name he did not even know), because Kajal would remind him of Aparna. Of course, Kajal probably reminds Aparna's parents of their deceased daughter every day, but Apu only thinks of his own grief, not what others may be feeling. Five years is a long time to grieve, but Apu thinks it is a good excuse for not doing his duty as a parent when Pulu reminds him of it. Being so reminded angers Apu, and knowing how Apu has a way of punching people out when they tell him something he does not want to hear, we are surprised Apu does not hit Pulu as well. I guess we can call it "maturity."
He finally relents and goes to see his father-in-law, not to take care of Kajal personally, but to make arrangements for Kajal to go to a boarding school so that Apu can continue to wander around, wallowing in the great suffering of his soul. And then, just like your basic Hollywood melodrama, there is a total narrative rupture at the last minute, when Apu decides to take his son with him and care for him himself, the two of them living happily ever after.
Her parents are rich, so you figure that since this is India and everything, there should be a sizable dowry. But no, not a brass farthing. However, Apu and Aparna, for that is her name, end up being poor but happy. She gets pregnant, and so, after about the seventh month, she goes home to her parents to have the baby. When one of her relatives shows up to tell Apu that she died giving birth, Apu punches him right in the mouth. So, if you are ever in India and have to tell someone his wife died, just send a letter.
Apu writes to Pulu that because he is now free to live his own life (here we go again), he intends to travel. Presumably, he has learned his lesson about accepting wedding invitations. Of course, we wonder how free he can be, inasmuch as Aparna's baby lived. No problem, he just dumps the kid on her parents.
Apu apparently contemplates suicide, standing near the tracks as a train approaches, but it runs over a pig instead. In the end, he settles for just throwing away the manuscript of the novel he had been working on, presumably because he realizes that love as he imagined it turned out to be different from the real thing.
After five years of wandering around aimlessly, Apu's father-in-law is getting a little ticked that Apu is not taking care of his own son, Kajal. Pulu, who was Aparna's cousin, goes looking for him. Apu says he cannot take care of Kajal (whose name he did not even know), because Kajal would remind him of Aparna. Of course, Kajal probably reminds Aparna's parents of their deceased daughter every day, but Apu only thinks of his own grief, not what others may be feeling. Five years is a long time to grieve, but Apu thinks it is a good excuse for not doing his duty as a parent when Pulu reminds him of it. Being so reminded angers Apu, and knowing how Apu has a way of punching people out when they tell him something he does not want to hear, we are surprised Apu does not hit Pulu as well. I guess we can call it "maturity."
He finally relents and goes to see his father-in-law, not to take care of Kajal personally, but to make arrangements for Kajal to go to a boarding school so that Apu can continue to wander around, wallowing in the great suffering of his soul. And then, just like your basic Hollywood melodrama, there is a total narrative rupture at the last minute, when Apu decides to take his son with him and care for him himself, the two of them living happily ever after.