Time magazine names best movies of past 100 years; ‘Pather Panchali’ only Indian film on list

Time magazine has recently unveiled a list of the best movies of the past century, and only one Indian film made the cut – Satyajit Ray’s Bengali-language film ‘Pather Panchali’ (Song of the Little Road, 1995).

The list, put together by film critic Stephanie Zacharek, aims to trace the evolution of cinema from the 1920s to the 2010s. The list starts with the 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and ends with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from 2019.

Although the list features only one Indian title, that one title is of great significance. Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali made it onto the list and is the only Indian representation in the list. The movie is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s 1929 Bengali novel of the same name and marked Ray’s directorial debut. It is part of Ray’s Apu trilogy, which also includes Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu).

Pather Panchali was the first Indian film to receive international attention, also started a trend known as ‘parallel cinema’, which would change the landscape for Bengali filmmaking – and Indian filmmaking at large – for the decades to come.

Pather Panchali won ‘Best Feature Film’ at the 3^rd National Film Awards, competed for the ‘Palme d’Or’ at Cannes, and was featured in Time magazine’s list of the ‘100 best movies of all time’ in 2005. The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) also declared it to be the best Indian film ever, and it was recently the only Indian film to make ‘Sight & Sound’ magazine’s list of the best films of all time.

‘Films chosen touched me deeply’: Time magazine list on choosing ‘Pather Panchali’

Zacharek explained that she chose the films based on craftsmanship, spirit, and striking performances. “For whatever reason, they touch me deeply,” she wrote. The list is not ranked but is a chronological tabulation of films that Zacharek believes to be the best of all time.

In her citation of ‘Pather Panchali’, the film critic cited an oft-quoted line from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, where he said, “Not to have seen the cinema of [Satyajit] Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.”

The list also includes classics such as Bicycle Thieves, Breathless, Gone with the Wind, Seven Samurai, Taxi Driver, and The Godfather Part II, as well as blockbuster movies like ET the Extra-Terrestrial and The Empire Strikes Back. The list also features two films by Wong Kar-wai, In the Mood for Love and Chungking Express, and the most recent entries are Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women.