By Gitika Sharma
Bimal Roy’s timeless masterpiece Do Bigha Zamin which won the Prix International at the Cannes Film Festival in 1954, is returning to the global stage in stunning 4K restoration. Seventy-two years after its release, the 1953 classic will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 4 under the Venice Classics section.
The presentation of Do Bigha Zamin in Venice will be led by members of the Roy family, his daughters Rinki Roy Bhattacharya and Aparajita Roy Sinha, his son Joy Bimal Roy, as well as Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, director of FHF (Film Heritage Foundation). The film was restored by the Criterion Collection and Janus Films in collaboration with the Film Heritage Foundation at L’Immagine Ritrovata and Resillion, in association with the Bimal Roy Family. Apart from the premiere, the film is going to have two more screenings.
The Venice Film Festival is the apt platform for the screening of the film due to its connection with Italian cinema. “After watching Vittorio De Sica’s film Bicycle Thieves, our father hoped Indian Cinema would follow its deeply moving humanist vision. Do Bigha Zamin is the unspoken autobiography of Bimal Roy who was cast off from his home in East Bengal in a similar episode as the hero, peasant Sambhu Mahato (essayed by Bajraj Sahni). He never recovered from this cruel separation from his beloved birthplace. In the brief lifetime accorded to our father, he transformed the profile of Indian cinema and was able to stir collective consciousness with the cinematic parables,” said Roy’s family in a joint statement.
Roy is regarded as a visionary director who was one of the stakeholders during the Golden Age of Indian Cinema from 1950s to 60s. His illustrious filmography includes several acclaimed movies such as Parineeta (1953), Biraj Bahu (1954), Devdas (1955), Madhumati (1958), Sujata (1959) and Bandini (1963).
After starting filmmaking career in Kolkata, Roy established his own production banner under the name of Bimal Roy Production Company and made his directorial debut with Do Bigha Zamin.
Gulzar who began his career in films as an assistant to Roy, said, “It’s amazing that Do Bigha Zamin has been restored and will be shown in Venice. Not may know that Do Bigha Zamin is from a Bengali poem by Rabindranath Tagore Dui Bigha Jomi and the short story Rickshawala by composer Salil Chowdhury.”