'Do Bigha Zameen' runs to packed house at Biffes

Bimal Roy, the acclaimed filmmaker of yesteryear, is quite popular even today. One of his films ran to a packed house during the on going sixth Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes).

‘Remembering Bimal Roy,’ a documentary film directed by the filmmaker’s son, Joy, was screened on Saturday. And on Sunday, ‘Do Bigha Zameen’ (1953) was screened at Sulochana auditorium where large number of cine buffs watched it and relived the past.
The viewers wanted more of Bimal Roy films to be screened at the festival so that they could enjoy real cinema and not the modern commercial entertainment.

Joy said, “While making the documentary, ‘Remembering Bimal Roy’, I was able to learn a lot more about my father. Not only as a director and film celebrity but also as a person. I have studied his films and I regret not being able to spend more time with him and know him personally. It was very difficult to make a film on my father, because there were many moments where I would get emotional. I have tried my level best to make it an objective film.”

Joy further said that his father was a perfectionist, something which could be easily seen in his works. Giving the example of a scene in one of  his films, he said that the leaf was to twirl and with it the actress had to twirl. Around 10,000 takes were taken for the 10-second shot to get the scene right. This shows the dedication of the director. Another most important aspect of Roy’s films was that they were women-centric. ‘Madhumati’ (1957), ‘Sujata’ (1959) and ‘Parineeta’ (1953) are some examples of this.

Additional movie show

The management of Lido theatre in the City had to screen Kannada movie ‘Jatta’ twice on Sunday as part of the ongoing Bangalore International Film Festival (Biffes).

A large number of people came to the theatre to watch the movie on Sunday afternoon. The rush was attributed to the weekend and the holiday season. The audience entered into an heated argument with the management as the theatre capacity was limited.

The Ulsoor police intervened and the audience calmed down after the management
decided to have an additional show of the film so that everybody can watch, police said.
Around 340 persons wanted to watch the movie, but the seating capacity was limited.

The show, which was scheduled at 12.15 pm, began at 1.45 pm. The second show started around 4.15 pm. There was no untoward incident as such, police said.