Bimal Roy is a legendary filmmaker and a pioneer of sorts in Bollywood. His portrayal of women in his films and the metaphors he used continues to be relevant to the study of cinema.
Here are things you probably didn’t know about the legend:
1. His first film was made from leftover reel…
Roy made Udayer Pathe in Bengali from leftover reel that B.N Sircar allowed him to use. Roy was assisting Sircar at the time and the film became a smashing hit!
2. He used Jana Gana Mana…
before it became our National Anthem. Rabindranath Tagore‘s Jana Gana Mana much before it became the national anthem of the country in 1950.
3. Hrishikesh Muherjee was a huge fan…
Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anupama was dedicated to Bimal Roy just after his death. Many characters and conflicts felt straight out of Bimal Da’s films like Sujata.
4. He was a legend-curator…
His biggest commercial hit Madhumati was once in a lifetime coming together of many legends: Ritwick Ghatak as the writer, Hrishikesh Mukhejee as editor, Salil Chowdhury as composer and Dilip Kumar as actor.
5. His last film was his most ambitious project…
Just before his death, he was working on a bi-lingual film titled Amrit Kumbh Ki Khoj Mein based on Samaresh Basu’s novel. Many years later, his son Joy Bimal Roy restored and released 11 minutes of the footage.
I’m really excited about Zee Classic showing five key films of his career – Devdas, Madhumati, Do Bigha Jameen, Sujata and Bandini. Boman Irani is presenting this amazing film festival and during the breaks, he’ll be sharing some super fun and insightful stories from back in the day.
Don’t forget to tune in to Dettol Presents ‘The Bimal Roy Festival presented by Boman Irani’ co-powered by State Bank of India and Good Knight Advanced Active +, every Saturday at 8 PM starting this Saturday, 6th Feb with ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ only on Zee Classic.
This post is in partnership with Zee Classic. You can check out their website, Facebook and Twitter.