[Reader-list] Bimal Ray Remembered in Kolkata

[Sagnik Chakravartty]

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Bimal Roy
Bimal Roy Memorial Committee (BRMC) recently
celebrated a weeklong festival at Kolkata to
commemorate the works of legendary filmmaker Bimal
Roy. The organisation has hosted a seminar, a Tapan
Sinha Film Festival at Chaplin and a special screening
of Do Bigha Zameen at SRFTI. 

Though they had also planned to present a musical
evening called Smriti Sandhya with Mumbai stars like
Sonu Nigam, Abhijit, Shaan, Antara Choudhury, Sagarika
at Nazrul Mancha, had to be deferred due to some
management problem.

In keeping with the liberal humanism of the filmmaker
Bimal Roy, (BRMC), an association set up in early
1997, decided to champion the cause for good cinema
and television committed to social reality. BRMC
organised programs that recapture the magic, the
nostalgia of an evergreen era. 

Speaking to the chairman of BRMC and daughter of late
Bimal Roy, Smt. Rinki Bhattacharya she said: "We’ll
not only focus on Bimal Roy’s classics, but revive
memories of other evergreens from black and white
era." The organisation felicitates living legends with
Bimal Roy Trophy. 

Last year Rituparno Ghosh received the award for
Bariwali. This year the award went to veteran actress
Sova Sen, singer Supriti Ghosh, director Aurobindo
Mukherjee, singer Dwijen Mukhopadhyay and director
Tapan Sinha. Bimal Roy’s first film Udayer Pathe was
also screen on this occasion at Chaplin theatre.

Regarding Bimal Roy’s Udayer Pathe noted director
Satyajit Ray said, "With his very first film Bimal Roy
was able to sweep aside the cobwebs of the old
tradition and introduce realism in cinema. He was thus
undoubtedly a pioneer. He reached his peak with a film
that still reverberates in the minds of those who saw
it when it was first made. It refer to Do Bigha
Zameen, which remains one of the landmarks of Indian
Cinema."

Internationally acclaimed director Mrinal Sen had also
stated that, "Udayer Pathe (Humrahi in Hindi) took the
city by storm. As the film started, the statue with
the arrogance of imperial might flashed on the screen
and instantly characterised the time and place in
which the story was set. What was striking was the
remarkable way it was shot, the incredibly precise
moment of the camera gave the image a very special
distinction."

R.K. Mitra
5.4.2002
 
                                   
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