Some of the essays in this book, which is a eulogy, are only sentimental tosh. The best pieces are by people who didn’t know Bimal Roy.
He was a woman’s director. The leading ladies of that time gave some of their best performances in Bimal Roy films—Nutan in Sujata, Meena Kumari in Parineeta, Kamini Kaushal in Biraj Bahu, Sadhna in Parakh and Vyjanthimala in Devdas.
Bimal Roy was born in a zamindar family in East Bengal. He started as a cameraman in New Theatres in Calcutta. Later, he turned to direction and made several films for that production house. He came to Bombay in 1950.
Bimal Roy did not quite shake off his Bengali roots though. Many of his Bombay films were based on Bengali novels, the music had a strong Bengali influence and his characters dressed in Bengali style. And, by all accounts, he spoke Hindi badly.
This is the year of his hundredth birthday. This book, edited by his daughter Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, has both eulogistic elements and insight into the great director and his films. She has put it together with a great deal of love. But, as one would expect in a publication of this sort, a number of essays are sentimental tosh. These are mostly from our Bengali friends.
However, if you separate the chaff from the wheat, you will be rewarded with some fine critique and appreciation of the films. The best pieces, you might find, are from contributors who did not know Bimal Roy.
There is healthy disagreement on the films. Naseeruddin Shah is of the view that Sujata (1959) and Parakh (1960) are the high points of his career. Meghnad Desai carries the torch for Do Bigha Zamin (1953) and Devdas (1955). Biraj Bahu (1954) too has its staunch supporters. I tend to agree with Shyam Benegal that Parineeta, based on Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s novel, was his best film. It is exquisite. This difference of opinion goes to show that Bimal Roy has left behind a formidable body of work.
Towards the end, he made some bad films. Blame it on lung cancer (Roy was a heavy smoker). Sujata (1959) was his last great film. Prem Patra (1962) and Benazir (1964), as Naseeruddin Shah points out, were mediocre. Both starred Shashi Kapoor who, according to Bollywood lore, has acted in more flops that any other hero in the history of Hindi cinema!
Bimal Roy died in 1966. Meghnad Desai sums up the filmmaker best: “Bimal Roy made modern cinema possible. He brought Saratchandra to the screen more than anyone else. His legacy as a serious, pioneering filmmaker is safe with films like Do Bigha Zamin, Devdas, Parineeta and Biraj Bahu. There are also other films such as Sujata, Bandini and Parakh. Bimal Roy has us all in his debt for what he has left behind for us to see and see again and again.”