Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali only Indian movie to make it to new list of 100 greatest films of all time

Sight and Sound has revealed its poll of the 100 greatest films of all time, where the British magazine kept Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman’s 1975 drama Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles at the top spot. Only one Indian film made it to the list- Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali. (Also read: SS Rajamouli on RRR’s ‘unbelievable’ success: Usually when we release a film, everything is over in a month but…)

Unveiled in the year 1952, Sight and Sound releases the poll once every decade. This year’s poll was organized with 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics who each submit their top 10 ballot. When the poll was first declared in 1952, Vittorio de Sica’s Bicycle Thieves topped the list. Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane then went on to top the list in 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, and 2002. The last poll, that was declared in 2012, had Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo at the top.

Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (1955), that forms the first part of the acclaimed Apu Trilogy was placed at the 35th spot. It is the only Indian film on the list. The magazine declares, “Pather Panchali announced the arrival of a humanistic, Calcutta-centred Indian art cinema, distinct from the commercial product of Bollywood. Among the film’s intensely memorable moments is a scene in which Apu (Subir Banerjee) and his sister run through a paddy field to catch a glimpse of a passing train.”

Akerman’s inclusion at the top spot marks the first film by a female director to top the prestigious Sight & Sound poll in its 70-year history. Additionally, some of the most recent releases to have found a place on the list include most recent additions being Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight (2016), Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019), and Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017).

The top 10 list for 2022 are as follows:

1. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

2. Vertigo

3. Citizen Kane

4. Tokyo Story

5. In the Mood for Love

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey

7. Beau Travail

8. Mulholland Drive

9. Man with a Movie Camera

10. Singin’ in the Rain