With the 4K restoration of Master Bimalroy’s “Do Bigha Zamin” (two-acre land), Sevendra Sindangarpur, the director of Indian film heritage, a classic section of this year’s Venice Film Festival, is intended for the world premiere.
“Bimal Roy made ‘Biga Zamine’ two years before Sathyajit Ray’s ‘Pazaar Panchari’,” Dungarpur told Variety. “Satyajit Ray said that Bimal Roy was able to abandon the cob depth of the old tradition and introduce realism and subtlety that is perfectly suited to cinemas.”
For Dungerper, Roy’s films represent the power of film that can survive generations. “The deep humanism and compassion he showed in the film highlighted the light-form of marginalized people, the issues of migrant labour, and urban disparities that are still very relevant today.”
The restoration, completed in collaboration with Criterion Collection and Janus Films, presented some horrifying technical challenges over the course of the three-year journey. “The original camera negativity in the national film archives in India was not perfect and not in a big state,” explains Dungarpur. “We checked with the British Film Institute and it was finished with a 35mm combination of dupe negative from 1954 to 1955.”
Audio has proven to be particularly problematic. “Sound was a challenge because there were a lot of noise missing and there were a lot of obstacles. We had to do a lot of work to restore the sound.”
Inspired by Vittorio de Sica’s “Bike Thief,” Roy’s film tells the story of a poor farmer moving to the city and being forced to move to the city as a rickshaw sailor. The relationship between Italian neorealism and Indian social films was not lost in Dungarper.
“The ‘bicycle’ had a profound influence not only on Bimal Roy, but also on other Indian filmmakers like Raj Kapoor,” he says. “The Italian neo-realist movement was born out of the devastation of World War II, but Indian social realism emerged after the division in a newly independent India, addressing its own issues of migration, displacement, urbanization, poverty and corruption.”
The film marked a fundamental departure from the Indian cinema studio-bound tradition. Up until “Do Bigha Zamin,” films at the time were usually shot in the studio, with polite acting in melodramas being the order of the day,” Dungerper said. “In “Do Bigha Zamin,” he showed his contemporaries that he could shoot a film from the studio on the streets. ”
“Do Bigha Zamin” fits the Film Heritage Foundation’s broader mission to preserve endangered Indian films in multiple languages and regions. Recent repairs include the ODIA film Maya Miriga (1984), Aribam Syam Sharma’s manipuri film Ishanou (1990), and Shyam Benegal’s Manthan (1976).
“Do Bigha Zamin is a groundbreaking Indian film and I’ve always been very enthusiastic about the Bimal Roy film being restored,” says Dungarpur. “Each of his films is Indian cinema milestone film, whether it’s ‘Madhumati’, ‘Bandini’ or ‘Devdas’. ”
The collaboration between Criterion and Janus will ensure that the film reaches an international audience with the right context and presentation. “We are pleased that Criterion Collection/Janus Films has agreed to restore and distribute Bimal Roy Films,” he says. “In this way we have ensured that Bimal Roy’s legacy will survive for future generations.”
He praises his partner’s approach. “Criterion Collection/Janus Films plays a key role not only by restoring films, but also by celebrating work with quality of repairs, special features and excellent packaging, attracting new audiences’ interest and allowing future generations to be accessed.”
The film will be presented in Venice by Roy’s family, including daughters Rinki Roy Bhattacharya and Aparajita Roy Sinha, sons Joy Bimal Roy and Dungarpur.
Looking ahead, Film Heritage Foundation has a full slate of upcoming restorations, including John Abraham’s Malayalam film “Amma Ariyan” (1986), Pradip Krishen and Arundhati Roy’s “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” (1989), Pattabhirama Reddy’s Kannada film “Samskara” (1970), and Kamal Amrohi’s “Pakeezah” (1972).
The restored “Do Bigha Zamin” won the Prix International held in Cannes in 1954, serves as both a historic artifact and a modern mirror. Dungarper suggests that, according to his core, there is a universal truth. “The heart of neorealist cinema and the social realism of Indian cinema is a humanistic and compassionate view of humanity and its frailty.”
Founded in 2014, the Film Heritage Foundation is a Mumbai-based nonprofit specializing in film preservation and restoration, with a growing collection of 700 films and 200,000 film-related memorabilia.
