Bimal Roy - Part 7 - Madhumati (concluding part)

 Bimal Roy is usually perceived as a director of serious films, light-hearted comedy is something that most do not associate with him. Though he never did direct a full length comedy film, at least I am not aware of any such film, he handled the comedy scenes in his films with the same finesse he did the serious scenes. I remember several comedians complaining how they never got well –written scenes, often directors would tell them “Aap kuch kar dijiye”, that means, 'please do something yourself.' Obviously doing something without any direction can be quite painful for anybody.

Bimal Roy – Part 6- Madhumati

When Madhumati was launched my father was nowhere close to being in the film industry. According to what  a  former assistant of Bimal Roy  told me, Madhumati was under production for six years. Bimal Roy had staked almost everything on this film, had the film flopped it would have more or less sounded the death knell for Bimal Productions. Thankfully the film was a huge box-office hit and the entire Bimal Roy Production team heaved a huge sigh of relief, not only that a bonus was also declared. I remember my mum often telling us, " We purchased this (now I do not remember the item) with Madhumati’s bonus". Yes dad too received the bonus, because he too received a salary from Bimal Roy Productions; he was perhaps the only actor then to be employed by a production house. Although technicians were employed, actors had begun freelancing for quite some time. My father had requested Bimal Roy to pay him a salary, as he was a little nervous about exchanging his secure government job for the uncertain world of films.

Bimal Roy - Part 5 Sujata (concluding part)

Managing two blogs is akin to sailing in two boats. I know many bloggers do it with ease but I guess I am not adept at multi-tasking. I do not want to give up either, I would like to take this blog to its logical conclusion, no matter what it takes, therefore those of you who have been supporting me with your comments and visits, I request you to bear with me for I cannot help the long intervals between my posts.

Continuing the Sujata story, I would like to show you how well Bimal Roy handled children. There are very few directors who present children in a heartwarming manner.

Baby Farida in Sujata

 Children in Hindi films are sometimes quite precocious  and made to mouth high flown dialogues, what gets on my nerves is when they are made to deliver silly dialogues like, “Woh badmash uncle” (that bad uncle). I have yet to hear any child referring to a bad person as bad uncle.

Bimal Roy Part 4 - Sujata

 

After the brief interruption caused by my unlocking some sweet memories, I am now continuing with my posts on Bimal Roy. This time I shall discuss Sujata.

Before I go on to Sujata, I would like to share something with my readers; some jerk has been commenting anonymously on this blog (older posts). The comments have no relevance to this blog or to any film blog for that matter and has been giving links to his or her blog (I do not know if I should call the person a jerk or a 'jerkie' since I do not know if it's a male or female), I have therefore been compelled to enable my moderation option for the older posts. So please understand my predicament in case  any of you find your comments going for moderation. Thanks. Having now got that out of the way, let me go back to Sujata.

Unlocking Memories

My father passed away on March 8, 1972, the day following my birthday. One day our house was full of people and laughter and the following day too it was full of people and film stars only this time there was no laughter only tears. Recently my neighbour was telling me," I remember Rajesh Khanna crying, I was trying to console him, your father was truly loved by everyone". Yes he was. Since March 8 just went by I thought it was okay to interrupt my posts on Bimal Roy and unlock some personal memories. I raided the cupboard and decided to post some of those precious memories right here.

My father was born on September 14, 1928, that is a long time ago, those days cameras were not as ubiquitous as they are now, therefore we have only a few photos of his childhood.

Bimal Roy- Part 3- Bandini (the final chapter)

To begin with I would like to say a big Thank You to you my dear readers for the positive feedback to my previous post.
So without wasting any more time I will continue the Bandini story. Continuing from where I left off in my last post I will now move on to one of the most talked about sequences – the murder sequence. It has drama, excellent acting (Nutan) ,wonderful photography (Kamal Bose). Bimal Roy built up the scene gradually without resorting to any melodrama.

Bimal Roy –Part 2- Bandini (continued)

In my last post I did say  that I would not be reviewing Bandini, in fact this post and all the future posts on Bimal Roy will be a sort of film appreciation- appreciating Bimal Roy - the director.

 Bimal Roy’s vision was that of a true artist. He never over dramatized or over emphasized a scene, his direction was understated and he handled the emotional scenes with utmost sensitivity and in a subtle manner. His brilliance as a cinematographer was reflected in his brilliant shot compositions. There are some directors, who, in their bid to show off their directorial skills, indulge in some peculiar shot compositions – almost telling the audience, “Look what a great director I am, just look at this brilliant shot composition”. Roy refrained from such directorial stunts- if I may put it that way. Before I delve deep into Bandini, I have to give a brief synopsis of the film for the benefit of those who haven’t seen the film.