Bimal Roy Film Festival - Do Bigha Zameen: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR BIMAL ROY FILM FESTIVAL...

The Bimal Roy Centenary Committee, in collaboration with Moving Images and the Hyderabad Film Club, is organising a film festival of the legendary director the late Bimal Roy, from 29th to 31st January, at Prasads IMAX and Cinemax.

A total of 9 films - Devdas, Do Bigha Zameen, Parakh, Yahudi, Madhumati, Bandini, Sujata, Udayer Pathey and Parineeta, and a documentary titled Remembering Bimal Roy will screened during the 3-day festival.

Do Bigha Zameen, a 1953 Bollywood film directed by Bimal Roy and starring Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy in lead roles, will be screened on 29th January, at Prasads IMAX. Do Bigha Zamin (meaning two acres of land) is known for its socialist theme, and is an important film in the early parallel cinema of India, considered a trend-setter. Like most movies by Bimal Roy, art and commercial cinema are merged to create a movie that is still looked upon as a benchmark, and that paved the way for future cinema makers in the Indian neo-realist movement and the Indian New Wave, that began in the 1950s.

The story revolves around a farmer, Shambhu (Balraj Sahni), who has been hit badly by a famine in Bengal. The real reason of his sorrow is that the zamindar wants to acquire his land on the pretext that Shambhu had taken some loan from him. Shambhu has to pay back the landlord, and hence moves to the city to look for some other source of money.

One of the most-remembered scenes from the movie is when Shambhu pushes himself to the limit pulling a rickshaw - the rider on the rickshaw offers Shambhu more money to pull faster because he is chasing (probably) someone in a horse-pulled carriage. Shambhu can not resist the temptation, and he keeps smiling in anticipation of getting more money. However, his wealthy customer is not worried the least about the lower class' plight. In this race, the rickshaw loses a wheel and Shambhu is injured.

The movie was named after a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, called Dui Bigha Jomi. Di Bigha Zameen was the first film to win the Filmfare Best Movie Award and the first Indian film to win the International Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, Indiatimes Movies ranked the movie amongst the Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films.

Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 - 7 January 1966) was one of the most acclaimed Hindi film directors of all time. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films like Do Bigha Zameen, Parineeta, Biraj Bahu, Madhumati, Sujata, and Bandini, making him a significant part of Hindi cinema.

Roy was born to a Bengali family in Dhaka, and after India's independence, moved to India. He entered cinema as a camera assistant with New Theatres Pvt. Ltd, during which time he assisted director P C Barua on the 1935 hit Devdas starring K.L. Saigal. He then went on to win a number of awards throughout his career - including 11 Filmfare Awards, a National Film Award, and the International Prize of the Cannes Film Festival.

Entry is free for everyone, and passes are available one hour before each screening. Please contact 98496-16063 / 93910-202 for further details.