Mumbai, Jan 8 (UNI) 56 years ago, Indian cinema lost a great gem, though his legacy continues to live on and inspires many would be film makers. Born in 1909 in Suapur, Bengal Presidency of British India (present day Dhaka, Bangladesh), Bimal Roy made several films in Hindi and Bangla.
Known for legendary films such as Devdas, Sujata, Madhumati, Parineeta and Do Bhiga Zameen, Roy’s films were known for their simple yet eloquent productions packed with aesthetic simplicity and raw surreal beauty, which he used to portray realism, making him a great figure in the development of Parallel Cinema in the India film industry.
Throughout his career, Bimal Roy worked with a number of great artists such as Dilip Kumar, KL Saigal, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Kamal Bose,S.D Burman, Gulzar, Shailendra, Ashok Kumar, Salil Chowdhury, Lata Mangeshkar, Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy etc.
Inspired by Italian neo-realistic cinema and marked by humanism and theatricality, Roy’s films more often than not centered around a romantic yet realist approach, creating great in depth dramas understanding of the human psyche with its strength, weaknesses, perfections and flaws, while never going too overboard. As such, entertainment was of prime value to him, while he tried conveying messages pertaining to the prevailing social reality of the times.
As a film maker, Bimal Roy was a man of imagination and an understanding of reality, as such he knew and understood what he wanted to create and thus, would never let his creations take themselves too seriously or too lightly. What made him such a great director, was his ability to let his scenes speak for themselves, without the need for much exposition, thus progressing the plot aesthetically, rather than just verbally, while further enhancing and spicing it up, which was, and is a key feature of dramas.
Bimal Roy won a number of awards in his lifetime, including 11 Filmfare Awards, two National Film Awards, and the International Prize of the Cannes Film Festival, as well as receiving various nominations.
He died on January 8, 1966 in Mumbai, aged 56 of cancer. In spite of this, however, he remains very much alive through his films, which not only entertained people, but also in their sheer display of creativity, ended up being revolutionary in the later stages of the development of Indian cinema, while he became a strong source of inspiration for generations of new India directors, writers and producers.
UNI ANV RJ
