Karuna Banerjee ( aka Karuna Bandhyopadhyay ) had an acting career of more than two decades in Bengali cinema and theatre . She is best known for her memorable performance as Sarbajaya , the mother in the first two parts of Satyajit Ray 's '' The Apu Trilogy '' : '' Pather Panchali '' ( 1955 ) and '' Aparajito '' ( 1956 ) . Her performance in the latter earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 1959 BAFTA Awards . She went on to act in a few more films , including two more by Ray , one by Mrinal Sen , and one by Ritwik Ghatak that was never officially released
1959 BAFTA Awards
12th British Academy Film Awards
Karuna Banerjee