KOCHI: The film director Bimal Roy decided to shoot ‘Madhumati’ (1958) at the hill station of Ranikhet, near Nainital. This was rare for noir films as they would usually be shot indoors, to give an image of foreboding. However, there were no monitors in those days.
Subsequently, when the footage was developed, Roy got a shock. Many rushes were found to be foggy.
Since a reshoot at Uttarakhand would go way over the budget, a set was created at Igatpuri, near Nagpur and in the Aarey Milk Colony, which is a forested area near Mumbai. To bring the film within the budget, Roy gave up his director’s fees.
In the end it all worked out well. Apart from it being a hit, the film won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film, and numerous Filmfare awards, including Best Director, Music Director, Female Playback Singer and Dialogue.
The film, with its theme of re-incarnation, had a powerful impact. Many directors in different regional languages made films on the same theme, including Subhash Ghai, who made the hit Hindi film ‘Karz’ in 1980. It also had an impact abroad. Some commentators stated that it was also the inspiration behind the Hollywood film, ‘The Reincarnation of Peter Proud’.
Another film which was inspired by the same theme was the Bollywood hit, ‘Om Shanti Om’ (2007), which starred Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. However, Roy’s daughter Rinki accused the makers of plagiarism.
Incidentally, this is the 51st death anniversary year of Roy (died January 8, 1966), who is now regarded as one of Bollywood’s greats. There is no doubt that some of his movies will be etched forever in Indian cinematic history. These include ‘Devdas’, ‘Yahudi’, ‘Sujatha’, ‘Bandini’, ‘Parakh’, ‘Kabuliwala’, ‘Parineeta’, ‘Madhumanti’ and ‘Do Bigha Zameen’.
In fact, ‘Do Bigha Zazmeen’, which is now regarded as a classic, was the first Indian film to win the International Prize at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. In India, it was a commercial and critical success. Following this film, the New Wave of Indian cinema began.
And Roy’s legacy continues. His films are screened often at national and international festivals all over the world. And he will be easily accessible to future film-goers as his work is being digitised by the National Film Archive of India at their centre at Pune.
Truly, when Roy was born in a landlord’s family in Suapur in Bangladesh, he could not have imagined his life would turn out the way it did.