Bimal-Roy-directing-Suchitra-Sen-and-Dilip-Kumar-for-Devdas
Bimal Roy directing Suchitra Sen and Dilip Kumar for Devdas

Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1965) was a well-acclaimed film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films like Do Bigha ZaminParineetaBiraj BahuMadhumatiSujata, 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.

Dilip Kumar Talking About Bimal Roy

Bimal Roy moved to 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 film Devdas, starring K.L. Saigal. In the 1940s and 1950s, Roy was part of the parallel cinema movement in post-war India. He made with Anjangarh (1948), one of last major films of the New Theatres, however Kolkata-based film industry was now on the decline, thus Roy shifted base to Bombay along with his team in 1950, which included Hrishikesh Mukherjee (editor), Nabendu Ghosh (screenwriter), Asit Sen (assistant director), Kamal Bose (cinematographer) and later Salil Chaudhury (music director), and by 1952 he has restarted the second phase of his career with Maa (1952) for Bombay Talkies. 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. In 1959, he was a member of the jury at the 1st Moscow International Film Festival.

Video Courtesy: – Doordarshan National (youtube)

 

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