An overview of Bimal Roy Memorial
Since its
inception fifteen years ago the BIMAL ROY MEMORIAL BRMC (February 7th, 1997) –
our passionate endeavour has been to raise the
consciousness of viewers about the Indian cinema’s
immense legacy. The first Smriti
Sandhya Program at St Andrew’s auditorium began as an interlude of musical memories. The event was
conceived as a musical biography of film maker Bimal Roy,
quite literally creating the mood
and tradition for remembrance through his unforgettable film music. Against the
backdrop of that first nostalgic evening, we honoured the stalwart director of
photography, 82 year old Dilip
Gupta who shot MADHUMATI, BIRAJ BAHU and other
masterpieces. More than being a
DOP, Shri Gupta was Bimal Roy’s childhood friend and aptly
deserved the very first honour
from us.
In 1998 we honoured Kidar Sharma, the veteran film maker who had become almost a recluse. From the third year, BRMC’s gently raised the number of recipients. We graduated from honouring veteran filmmakers into other fields of the medium. We decided to honour a renowned photo journalist, Kumtakar of Screen. Adding to the list an emerging filmmaker who imaged Indian society with the same social concern as Roy. And so was born a tradition of commemorating film peers from the past, but also recognising contemporary filmmakers who work in the same social vein as the master moviemaker Bimal Roy.It was in 1999 we honoured film maker Ram Gopal Varma for his genre-making film SATYA. This too has since become an annual tradition. Every year BRMC honours a young director. The list of BRMC’s includes today’s most prosing filmmakers like Soojit Sarkar, Ashutosh Gowrikar, Nagesh Kuknoor, Vikramaditya mitawni, Rituporno Ghosh BRMC also to provide support to forgotten figures from cinema’s yesteryears. Too often the dazzle of celebrity leaves those who are no longer in the immediate frame behind. We set up a benevolent fund to aid and assist artists in need. In 2001, we honoured ailing playback singer, Mubarak Begum through this fund. The same year we had a film festival at the House of Russian Culture where four leading directors presented their films. In the same venue we honoured the Pakistani director Sabiha Sumar for KHAMOSH PAANI.
In 2002 we honoured Shri Hariprasad Chaurasia who has played in most of Roy’s films. BRMC ventured to Kolkata the same year, bestowing honour on Roy’s Bengali colleagues like Tapan Sinha among others. Later that year we hosted a tribute festival to Waheeda Relunan who was honoured by us laterin 2006, the DEVDAS screenplay published the DEVDAS was released by Dr Vyjanthimala Bali and Kathak Queen Sitara Devi.
In 2009, our Chairperson’s anthology, BIMAL ROY, THE MAN WHO SPOKE IN PICTURES was published by Penguin India. In 2003 the Indian Posts & Telegraph Department celebrated the legend of this unique legacy and brought out a Special Cover on Bimal Roy, and again in 2007, the Government brought out a First Day cover at the Convocation Hall, Mumbai University. In 2014, the CSMVS held a two week exposition of Bimal Roy’s film memorabilia. RUPA books published the MADHUMATI book the same year.
The SMIRM Sandhya is unique as it brings forth the contribution of gifted lyricists – Sahir, Shailendra, Majrooh, Kaifi Aznti. Each year has been memorable for its achievements with mellifluous concerts, honouring veterans along with emerging directors. And this year we salute Neeraj Ghayal, the maker of MASHAN. We are also proud to honour screenplay writer Juhi Chaturvedi for bringing a piece of life on the screen. As we salute Bimal Roy on his 50th death anniversary, I acknowledge my selfless team. For behind the magnificent work of archiving Indian cinema lies the enthusiasm and integrity of our members who have sustained the work. We invite every lover of Indian cinema to join that force to save our legacy from perishing. We have lost so much – it is time to restore our film legacy.