Bimal Roy

This article is about the movie director. For the cryptologist by the same name, see Bimal Kumar Roy.

Bimal Roy
Born	July 12, 1909(1909-07-12) Suapur, Bengal Presidency, Indian Empire
Died	January 7, 1966(1966-01-07) (aged 56) Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Website
www.bimalroy.org

Bimal Roy (Bengali: বিমল রায়) (12 July 1909–7 January 1966) was one of the most acclaimed Indian film directors of all time. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films like Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta, Biraj Bahu, Madhumati, Sujata, and Bandini, making him an important director of Hindi cinema. Inspired by Italian neo-realistic cinema, he made Do Bigha Zameen after watching, Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948). His work is particularly known for his mise en scène, which he employed to portray realism. He won a number of awards throughout his career, including eleven Filmfare Awards, two National Film Awards, and the International Prize of the Cannes Film Festival. Madhumati won 9 Filmfare Awards in 1958, a record held for 37 years.

Biography

Bimal Roy was born on 12 July 1909, to a zamindar family in Suapur, then part of the Bengal province of British India and now part of Bangladesh. Bimal Roy moved to the Calcutta and entered the field of cinema as a camera assistant with New Theatres Pvt. Ltd. During this time, he assisted director P.C. Barua on the hit 1935 movie Devdas, starring K.L. Saigal. In the 1940s and 1950s Roy was part of the parallel cinema movement in post-war India. He was famous for his romantic-realist melodramas that took on important social issues while still being entertaining. He was a filmmaker of great and in-depth understanding of human strengths and weaknesses.

He died of cancer at the age of 56.

A detailed biography by his daughter, Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, can be found here www.bimalroy.org/home.html.

Awards

Filmfare Awards

Won seven Filmfare Best Director Awards:

• 1953 for Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land)
• 1954 for Parineeta
• 1955 for Biraj Bahu
• 1958 for Madhumati
• 1959 for Sujata
• 1960 for Parakh
• 1963 for Bandini

Won four Filmfare Best Movie Awards:

• 1953 for Do Bigha Zamin
• 1958 for Madhumati
• 1959 for Sujata
• 1963 for Bandini

National Film Awards

• 1954: Certificate of Merit: Do Bigha Zamin
• 1955: All-India Certificate of Merit: Biraj Bahu
• 1956: Certificate of Merit: Devdas
• 1959: Best Feature Film in Hindi: Madhumati
• 1960: All-India Certificate of Merit: Sujata
• 1963: Best Feature Film in Hindi: Bandini

Cannes Film Festival

Won International Prize:

• 1953 for Do Bigha Zamin

Nominated for Grand Prize of the Festival:

• 1953 for Do Bigha Zamin

Nominated for Palme d'Or:

• 1955 for Biraj Bahu
• 1960 for Sujata

Music

Bimal Roy usually alternated between music directors Salil Chowdhury and S.D. Burman. His films featured beautiful and memorable songs, rendered by all the top playback singers of the day. Some of the notable songs from Roy's films include:

• "Jalte Hain Jiske Liye" from Sujata (1959), sung by Talat Mahmood
• "Chali Radhe Rani" from Parineeta (1953), sung by Manna Dey
• "Aa Ri Aa Nindiya" from Do Bigha Zamin (1953), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar
• "Ab Aage Teri Marzi" from Devdas (1955), music by S.D. Burman, sung by Lata Mangeshkar
• "Dil Tadap Tadap Ke Keh Raha" from Madhumati (1958), music by Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar
• "Suhana Safar Aur Yeh Mausam Haseen" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Mukesh
• "Aaja Re Pardesi" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar
• "Ghadi Ghadi Mora Dil Dhadake" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh
• "Zulmi Sang Aankh Ladi" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar
• "O Sajana Barkha Bahaar" from Parakh (1960), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar
• "Mora Gora Ang Lai Le" from Bandini (1963), music by S.D. Burman, sung by Lata Mangeshkar
• "O Jaanewale Ho Sake To Laut Ke Aana" from Bandini (1963), music by S.D. Burman, sung by Mukesh

Legacy

Bimal Roy's influence was far-reaching, both in Indian cinema and world cinema. In Indian cinema, his influence extended to both mainstream commercial Hindi cinema and the emerging Parallel Cinema. His film Two Acres of Land (1953) was the first film to successfully stradle art and commercial cinema. It was a commercial and critical success, winning the International Prize at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. The film's success paved the way for the Indian New Wave as a result.

In commercial cinema, the most influential film he directed was perhaps Madhumati (1958), his first and only collaboration with Ritwik Ghatak (who wrote the screenplay) and one of the earliest films to deal with reincarnation. It is believed to have been the source of inspiration for many later works dealing with the theme of reincarnation in Indian cinema, Indian television, and perhaps world cinema. It may have been the source of inspiration for the American film The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) and the Hindi film Karz (1980), both of which dealt with reincarnation and have been influential in their respective cultures. Karz in particular was remade several times: as the Kannada film Yuga Purusha (1989), the Tamil film Enakkul Oruvan (1984), and more recently the Bollywood film Karzzzz (2008). Karz may have also inspired the American film Chances Are (1989). The most recent film to be directly inspired by Madhumati is the hit Bollywood film Om Shanti Om (2007), which led to Roy's daughter Rinki Bhattacharya accusing the film of plagiarism and threatening legal action against its producers.

Bimal Roy's films continue to be screened at major national and international film festivals in India, Europe and North America. His films are currently being restored and digitized by the National Film Archives of India (NFAI) at Pune.

Bimal Roy's four children have recently launched a website, www.bimalroy.org, that will eventually contain much valuable and previously unavailable material on their father's life and career.

Admirers of Bimal Roy and his films should join the Facebook Group Bimal Roy Productions [1] which contains a wealth of articles, interviews, essays, videos, pictures and news on the director, his films and his children's work to keep his legacy alive.

Filmography

Director

• Bengal Famine (1943)
• Udayer Pathey (1944)
• Hamrahi (1944)
• Anjangarh (1948)
• Mantramugdhu (1949)
• Pehla Aadmi (1950)
• Maa (1952)
• Parineeta (1953)
• Do Bigha Zamin (1953)
• Naukari (1954 )
• Biraj Bahu (1954)
• Baap Beti (1954)
• Devdas (1955)
• Yahudi (1958)
• Madhumati (1958)
• Sujata (1959)
• Parakh (1960)
• Immortal Stupa (1961)
• Prem Patra (1962)
• Bandini (1963)
• Life and Message of Swami Vivekananda (1964)
• Benazir (1964)
• Gautama the Buddha (1967) - Produced by Bimal Roy [Director: Rajbans Khanna]

Bibliography

The Man Who Spoke in Pictures: Bimal Roy, ed. by Rinki Roy Bhattacharya. Penguin Books India, 2009.

External links

• www.bimalroy.org Bimal Roy Online Museum