Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's feature Pather Panchali has been declared as the best Indian film of all time by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) — an association of national organisations of film critics and film journalists.
The 1955 film has received the number one slot in the list of top ten films in the history of Indian cinema. The list was announced after a poll conducted by the India chapter of FIPRESCI.
As per a press release issued by FIPRESCI-India, the poll was conducted in secret, and involved 30 members.
Based on Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, Pather Panchali was Ray's directorial debut. It starred Subir Banerjee, Kanu Banerjee, Karuna Banerjee, Uma Dasgupta, Pinaki Sengupta and Chunibala Devi.
This list also features Ritwik Ghatak's 1960 Bengali drama Meghe Dhaka Tara, Mrinal Sen's 1969 drama Bhuvan Shome (Hindi), Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 1981 drama Elippathayam (Malayalam), Girish Kasaravalli's 1977 film Ghatashraddha (Kannada), MS Sathyu's 1973 movie Garm Hava (Hindi), Ray's 1964 film Charulata (Bengali), Shyam Benegal's 1974 film Ankur (Hindi), Guru Dutt's 1954 film Pyaasa (Hindi) and 1975 blockbuster Sholay (Hindi), directed by Ramesh Sippy.
