As noted, the cinematography, by Subrata Mitra, is excellent, but the film’s score, by Ravi Shankar, is not quite as memorable and emotionally evocative as in Pather Panchali; yet another instance, out of a dozen or so facets, that, taken one by one, lend no significant dropoff in quality, but, as a whole, make this film definitively a notch or two below its predecessor. Owing mainly to middle filmitis, it does little to make it stand on its own, and mainly seems to set up the final film. The abrupt and disappointing ending is merely the most manifest sign of this tendency to rely on the fact that the viewer will have seen Pather Panchali. If coming to Aparajito on its own, most viewers will be a) lost, or b) more likely simply not as prone to care for either Sarbajaya nor Apu.
That stated, this is an excellent film which, aside from the death scenes, contains excellent poesy and metaphors, such as a scene where Apu enters Calcutta on a train, holding a small globe, given to him as a gift by the headmaster at the school in his mother’s employer’s village. The film also makes good use of humor, such as scenes where the young Apu plays around with monkeys and bells, and later, as a student, in an English class, where he falls asleep (due to working a job and his studiousness) during a lecture on synecdoche and metonymy.
It also has moments of universality, such as when the mother and son reacquaint after a long stay at school, and the first thing Sarbajaya says is that Apu has grown taller and doesn’t appear to be eating well, despite the fact that neither is true. But, the film’s greatest strength is its depiction of fortuity. Despite its flaws, Aparajito is a great "what if" movie; had his sister and father not died early, would Apu have ended up in college? Had his mother not been emotionally devastated by both losses, would she have domineered her son into submission when he wanted to go abroad?
All of his family’s losses and deaths — his auntie, his sister, his father, his mother — all serve Apu’s benefit. In short, death has been very, very good for Apu, both in allowing him to grow and removing obstacles to his own self-fulfillment, which may be the most damning (and tangential) criticism of religion (and its fetishizing by religion) that Ray makes in this whole film (as well as in the first film).
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