An Existential Journey: Finding Meaning through the Existential Crisis of Apu in the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray

Abstract

Existentialism is a quest to investigate personal freedom, choice, meaning of life, and the experience of one’s existence. Shedding light on the importance of movies in understanding life from a different perspective, the present study focuses on the character analysis of Apu from the movie Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray. The study explores the existential journey of Apus’s life experiencing existential crises to finding his life’s purpose. This article identifies Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential philosophy principles of 1) Facticity, 2) Bad Faith, 3) Responsibility, and 4) Transcendence to explore the Existential journey of Apu shown through the lens of legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.