Satyajit Ray’s film, Pather Panchali, tops the all-time best Indian movies list by global film critics' body

International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) recently made a list of the ‘All Time Ten Best Indian Films’, listing the top 10 films in the history of Indian cinema across languages. Satyajit Ray’s 1955 classic film Pather Panchali was named the best Indian film of all time in the poll. Ritwik Ghatak's 1960 drama Meghe Dhaka Tara was placed in the second spot, followed by Mrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome (1969).

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According to reports, a total of 30 FIPRESCI - India members participated in the poll, which was conducted in secret. The top 10 films comprised five Hindi and three Bengali films, one from Malayalam and Kannada, while no films in Tamil were included in the list. 

The FIPRESCI, which was established in 1930, bestows prizes at film festivals including the International Film Festival of Kerala, the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, the Warsaw Film Festival, the Vienna International Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival.

Pather Panchali, which is based on Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name, marked Satyajit's directorial debut. It was also the first film of the Apu Trilogy and is regarded one of the most iconic films ever made. Pather Panchali depicts the childhood travails of protagonist Apu and his elder sister Durga against the backdrop of the harsh village life of their poor family. It was followed by two sequels, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959).

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Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 1981 Malayalam film Elippathayam, Girish Kasaravalli's 1977 film Ghatashraddha, and M.S. Sathyu's Garm Hava made it to number four, five and six, respectively. Satyajit's 1964 film Charulata was named seventh on the list. The eighth spot was taken by Shyam Benegal's 1974 film Ankur, while Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1954) and Ramesh Sippy's Sholay (1975) took the ninth and tenth positions, respectively.