Bimal Roy : A forgotton centenary
In 1953, when Do Bigha Zameen was released and became an instant classic, winning rave reviews across the world, Raj Kapoor remarked “How I wish I made this film!” This July 12 marked the centenary of Roy and a pity it was that the media did not even care to brush past the legend for it is too busy with pseudo swayamvars of item girls and the umpteen possibilities of MJ’s death.
It is easy to ride on a trend and come out successful. But it is a legendary feat to create a trend. By introducing neo-realism in India, Bimal Roy did exactly the same, paving path for many others like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Shyam Benegal. He set the records on fire with two hatricks in Filmfare awards through the 1950s.
What was special about Roy’s cinema? He introduced new dynamics in storytelling. He gave us a variety of effable characters, whose lives we lived and empathised with. When the farmer Shambhu Mitro in Do Bigha Zameen migrated to the city to save his ancestral land, we could see his story in every rickshawallah of our cities. When the untouchable girl Sujata led us through the tapestry of her life, we too saw, in a genteel manner, the evil behind the practice. When Kalyani, in a shocking scene, kills her lover’s wife in Bandini, we too identified with the wounded ego of a wronged woman. We drank to death with Devdas and saw Hindi cinema’s first reincarnation saga with Madhumati. Very few filmmakers understood women the way he did. Their portrayals were not pandering to the ideals of a man, but were independent of all chauvinistic labels. In a career spanning over two decades, he had showcased the profundity of life in its truest sense.
He picked up his skills under the watchful eyes of P.C.Barua, in whose Devdas (1935) he worked as a cameraman. The actors of the time gave their best under him. Dilip Kumar gave us the definitive portrayal of Devdas, Balraj Sahni moved the nation to tears in Do Bigha Zameen and Nutan was at her passionate best in Bandini. His assistants and associates like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Kamal Bose, Nabendu Ghose, Gulzar, Asit Sen, and Salil Chaudhry went on to mark their names in letters of gold in the pages of cinema. No other director perhaps made Sarat Chandra Chatterjee as popular as he did.
Roy had a fetish for perfection. His son recalls him spending the early hours of the morning by the window of his study, religiously recording the sound of chirping birds for the background score of Sujata. Nature was a storyteller in his movies and spoke volumes for the characters. Every moment of day to day life was celebrated in the frames of his creations and gave voice to a million souls.
What made him project the injustices meted out to the creations of a lesser God? Perhaps, his upbringing in a family of Zamindars exposed him to the injustice, which reflected in his works as well. But Roy’s movies never talked of a violent upheaval to redress those wrongs. A strong believer in Gandhian ideals, he merely projected a problem without preaching it. The problems he presented continue to remain relevant in today’s times. Melodrama was curbed and drama flowed smoothly like honey-drenched poetry on the screen.
Bimal Roy was a director who knew music too well and integrated it with his script. Needless to say, the songs of Madhumati, Parakh, Bandini and Sujata refuse to fade away. Who, but Bimal Roy could pull off a melancholic romance out of the song Jalte hai jiske liye sung over the telephone in Sujata? His most commercial venture was Madhumati, a musical blockbuster which swept the Filmfare awards that year.
His swansong Bandini was arguably his greatest work. In the year 1966, Hrishikesh Mukherjee dedicated his movie Anupama in the memory of his mentor, who had by then left an indelible legacy through his protégés.
Simplicity is a key to excellence. Very few filmmakers understood that after Roy. Like the gentle flowers Nutan nurtures in Sujata, his centenary too passed quietly without any ostentation, but its fragrance continues to fill the halls of brilliance.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Excellent! Memories Rebrewed!!!
This was a pleasure to read! Very true about the sounds of nature being an integral part of his movies– be it Madhumati, or Sujata, or Parakh… That is very Bimal Roy. And simplicity of course. I particularly like his Parineeta.
Bimal Roy, Raj Kapoor, K. Asif and Khwaja Ahmed Abbas were great filmmakers of their times. But you are right–we hardly seem to remember them except Mr Raj Kapoor. We are blinded by the marketing and hype of our current icons. Thanks for posting this tribute.
Aah! that SD Burman song from Bandini haunts me everyday.
The picturisation and awesome acting by Nutan – really created an unforgettable itching on my mind’s glass. One special film maker!! Thanks for the awesome rekindling of fond memories of a true legend.
A well deserved post for Bimal Da.
Thanks Arjun.
Bimal Da was a legend in every right.I loved the themes he chose for his movies.The performances and the music was always special in his films.Even in a commercial flick like Madhumati his class was very much apparent.Great tribute Arjun.
Times of india published an aritlce on Bimalda,one can find that here.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/OPINION-Edit-Page-TOP-ARTICLE-Remembering-The-Master/articleshow/4763656.cms
Great article, Arjun, on one of the finest movie makers. For me Bimal Da’s legacy goes beyond his movies, it is the talents he introduced to Hindi cinema, Hrishida, Gulzar, Salil Choudhury, Basu Bhattacharya who all have contributed immensely. Here is a small humble tribute of mine to Bimal Da.
http://scorpiusmaximusindicus.blogspot.com/search/label/Bimal%20Roy
really loved his films. Star plus long ago played a tribute to him and I got the chance to watch all his movies.. I like Sujata especially.. It touched upon caste system in a very subtle way…
Loved Bandhini too..
nice article
Thoda aur bataao yaar, padhne me bada mazaa aa raha tha.
Thanks a lot to all of you. Thanks Yatri for sharing the article on on Bimal Da. Bimal Da’s genius deserved a more organised centenary from the film fraternity and the media.