Feb 02, 2005 08:32 PM
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(Updated Feb 02, 2005 08:32 PM)
1953? a sensation ran through the entire Indian Cinema with a movie that jolted the masses and classes out of their slumber?. A movie, that showed India what was meant by the art of movie making?.
Can we forget the pathos of a poor landowner who has come to town and become a rickshaw puller so that he can repay his loan? Can we ever ever in our dreams, erase of the scene where he is pulling the rikshaw faster and faster to earn a paisa (?) more?
That was Do Bhiga Zameen and the director was Bimal Roy?. A name, that inspires quality movie making even today.
His career can be divided into two parts.... Early Period and Peak Period..... there was no lean or fall for this legend.
Early Period
Bimalda started his career as a cameraman with New Theatres. Those of you, who take interest in the pre independence Indian Film Industry, will recognize the fact that New Theatres was probably the most respected name in film making that time. This was the time when he photographed movies like Devdas and Mukti.
His directoral debut was Udayer Pathey (1944) in Bengali which was remade as Humrahi in Hindi. With this movie he promised the industry that he was there to stay and to show what meaningful cinema was all about.
The first major movie after he moved to Mumbai was Parineeta (1953). This movie was based on a Sarat Chandra novel. From here on, Bimalda heavily used the classic Bengali Literature to bring out social messages in his films.
The very next movie was probably his career best in the form of Do Bhiga Zameen. This movie owned him awards at Cannes and at the Karlovy Vary Film Festivals. From there on, he never looked back and remained at the peak of the industry for a very long time.
The Peak Period:
After that, it was his turn to bring the glamour of Devdas back on screen. He photographed the first Devdas (1935 ? KL Saigal) and was the director for the second one (1955 ? Dillip Kumar). Devdas and Biraj Bahu failed to get him much box office success, but Yahudi was a different story.
1958 saw him coming with his next master piece: Madhumati. The movie, which was a reincarnation story saw Dillip Kumar giving one of his caree best performances. The music has been unforgettable, both critically as well as by popular choices. The film bagged the highest number of Filmfare Awards, the record to be finally equaled by 1942- A Love Story and broken by Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, 45 years after Madhumati. But interestingly, Madhumati won the record number of awards from nearly half the number of awards to be given as compared to HAHK. (Of course, it?s a gross injustice to compare these two movies)
Then what followed was a series of movies, which were excellent in quality, set high standards of movie making and brought social meaning into movies.
He died at a phase when he was still making quality movies. His last movie was Benazir (1964) that came 2 years after another masterpiece ? Bandini.
In his career, he holds the record for winning maximum filmfare awards (13?), more than any other personality, though Gulzaar was just 1 award behind a couple of years back.
Theme in Movies:
Bimal Roy touched upon the social themes in his movies. May it be the indebtedness of the rural farmer in Do Bhiga Zameen or the untouchability in Sujata, or even may it be the tragic life of a woman pisoner in Bandini, he never hesitated to send strong social message through his movies.
He also made honest attempt to bring forth the rich literature available in India, especially the Bengali literature and showed that with quality movie making, audience will be in a position to accept these.
At the same time, he also understood the commercial cinema and delivered as per that requirement as seen in Madhumati or Yahudi.
His Team
Salil Chaudhury was the most regular music director for Bimal Da. He never disappointed as seen through various range of movies like Madhumati, Sujata and Parakh. He also used SD Burman in many movies, such as Bandini and Devdas.
He chose his actors carefully and was never biased towards anyone. He selected the cast based upon the need. For more tragic roles like Madhumati and Devdas he preferred Dillip Kumar. For a more romantic role in Sujata he went with Sunil Dutt.
However, it was Nutan who brought out his dream images to reality.
My Favourite 5
Each movie of Bimal Roy is priceless for me. Still, if I make a list of my favourites, the list will be as follows.
Sujata
Do Bhiga Zameen
Bandini
Madhumati
Devdas
There never was and never will be another movie maker like Bimal Roy? a true genius, who excelled the art of movie making, both commercial as well as artistic.
