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Simple yet dynamic
This is the centenary year of filmmaker Bimal Roy, a milestone figure in Indian cinema. His films stress the importance of the universality of the language of cinema. Shoma A. Chatterji remembers
Born in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh) in July 1909 into a land-holding family, Bimal Roy began as camera assistant to Nitin Bose for New Theatres in Kolkata. His independent work as cameraman was for P.C. Barua’s Devdas (1935) which became a hit in those days. He was cameraman for several other New Theatres’ productions such as Grihadaha, Maya (both in 1936), Mukti (1937) and Amar Mullick’s Bari Didi(1939) and Abhinetri (1940.)
Roy’s directorial debut was with New Theatres’ production Udayer Pathey which introduced a new era of post-2nd World War romantic-realist melodrama that was to pioneer the integration of the Bengal School style with that of Vittorio De Sica. He also wrote Manoj Bhattacharya’s Tathapi in 1950. Roy left New Theatres in 1950, migrated to Mumbai, worked for some time at Bombay Talkies and then set up his own Bimal Roy Productions in 1952. The banner made 13 films in 11 years, including some of his best-known socials in Hindi, especially films like Sujata and Bandini. His Madhumati, with story, script and some directorial input by Ritwik Ghatak, became a box office grosser in the 1950s with a popular music track by Salil Choudhury.
The most significant film that bears the stamp of the Italian neo-realism school from Bimal Roy’s films is Do Bigha Zamin (Two Acres of Land, 1953). It is a realist drama based on a story by Salil Choudhury who loosely adapted this from a Tagore long poem of the same name. The story is about a small land-owner Sambhu (Balraj Sahni). It opens with a song celebrating the rains. Sambhu and his son Kanhaiya (Ratan Kumar) are forced to go and work in Kolkata to repay their debt to the merciless local zamindar (Sapru) to retain their land. There , Sambhu becomes a rickshaw-puller, facing numerous hardships that lead to his near-fatal accident, the death of his wife (Nirupa Roy) and the loss of his land to speculators who build a factory on it. The film’s neo-realist reputation is augmented by Balraj Sahni’s extraordinary performance. Also remarkable is Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s editing, virtually eliminating dissolves in favour of unusually hard cuts from the falling wheel of the film’s famous rickshaw race sequence to Kanhaiya coming to the bedside of his injured father.
"Bimal-da’s work is poetry in motion," says music director and music archivist Tushar Bhatia. He classifies the music in Bimal Roy’s films into four categories – (a) as a cinematographer in New Theatres Studio, Kolkata (b) as director in in the same palce , (c) as an independent producer-director in Mumbai with Bimal Roy Productions and (d) as freelance director with production banners other than his own. "Bimal-da’s aesthetic sensibilities were shaped and honed in New Theatres which spilled over to the films he made in Mumbai," says Bhatia, throwing light on background sound effects and the use and placing of song situations in his early films. P.C.Barua’s Mukti (1937) was cinematographed by Bimal Roy. It was the first film to use Tagore songs in films.
Every single film from Bimal Roy films directed by Roy himself, had a social message interwoven into the script, or, the storyline was chosen for its social relevance. From Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay to Munshi Premchand to Rabindranath Tagore, Roy's films stand testimony to a celluloid transliteration of some immortal classics of Indian literature. Women in Bimal Roy's films had an identity of their own and their stature was unimpeachable. They were emotionally 'independent' in the sense that they were not mere foils to the men or to the other characters in the film. They created a niche for themselves in the mind of the audience. Their images continue haunt us long after the film is over.
He set up his own sound stage and office at Mohan Studios in Mumbai’s Andheri and went on to direct Baap Beti, Naukri and Biraj Bahu under his own banner. The films that followed were – Devdas, Madhumati, Sujata, Parakh, Yahudi, Bandini and Prem Patra. Eight more films from Bimal Roy Productions are – Amanat directed by Arabindo Sen, Apradhi Kaun, a thriller, Pariwar, a family comedy, Usne Kaha Tha directed by Moni Bhattacharya, Kabuliwalla directed by Hemen Gupta and Benazeer, starring Meena Kumari. The other two were documentaries – Gotama the Buddha and Swami Vivekanand.
Bimal Roy, a chain smoker, passed away of lung cancer in January, 1966. Bimal Roy Productions, teetering under heavy debts incurred following a fire at Mohan Studios that left almost everything in cinders, limped for a while and then stopped. Do Dooni Char was completed and released after his death but flopped at the box office.
From Udayer Pathey (1936) to Benazeer (1965), the Bimal Roy era spans three decades of dedicated filmmaking. He was one of the first Indian directors noted for simplicity and understatement in his films. He spoke very little, shunned superlatives, kept himself away from parties and avoided a garish lifestyle. His name found place in every film delegation that went abroad. He won many awards but they mattered little to him. Members of his technical crew and his acting cast won awards too, and during his time, were considered among the best in the industry.
Remembering Bimal Roy
, a 55-minute documentary film made by his son, Joy Bimal Roy, collating his memories of a father he lost when he was only ten, talking to people in the industry who worked with this great filmmaker, such as Dilip Kumar, Nabendu Ghosh, Kamini Kaushal, Gulzar etc. Also, among the interviewed are are Javed Akhtar and Ashutosh Gowarikar who admitted that his Lagaan was a tribute to Bimal Roy and his Do Bigha Zamin. Bimal Roy’s wife, the late Manobina Roy talked about the filmmaker as husband and father. Joy has created an effective celluloid collage. "I got to know him mainly through his films," he says. "For me, they are pure magic …haunting, evocative and timeless yet simple and easy to understand. I discovered that the man was like his films. His life mirrored the purity of his films like a clear reflection of his beloved river Padma in Bangladesh."
(Shoma A. Chatterji is a National Award-winning film writer and critic)
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