Adapting a popular novel by Bhibuti Bashan Bannerjee and finding inspiration in Italian neorealism, the films of Jean Renoir, and the work of writer/philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, Ray set out to establish a new artistic cinema for India. Telling the story of a poor Bengali scholar and his wife and two children, Pather Panchali employs real-life exteriors and an array of professional and nonprofessional actors to take us deep into the world of the family and its children, who venture out to discover the wonders and difficulties of life, the pettiness of humanity, and the violence of nature.