Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 7 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as and making him an important director of. Inspired by cinema, he made Do Bigha Zamin after watching  (1948). His work is particularly known for his which he employed to portray  He won a number of awards throughout his career, including eleven two and the International Prize of the won 9  in 1958, a record held for 37 years.

Biography

Bimal Roy was born on 12 July 1909, to a  family in Suapur,, which was then part of the province of  and is now part of  He produced many movies 

Career

Bimal Roy moved to and entered the field of cinema as a camera assistant with During this time, he assisted director  as Publicity Photographer, on the hit 1935 film starring  In the 1940s and 1950s Roy was part of the parallel cinema movement in post-war India. He collaborated on Anjangarh (1948), one of the last major films of the New Theatres, however, the Kolkata-based film industry was now on the decline, thus Roy shifted his base to Bombay (now Mumbai), along with his team in 1950, which included   (editor),  (screenwriter), (assistant director), (cinematographer) and later,  (music director), and by 1952 he had restarted the second phase of his career with Maa (1952), for He was famous for his romantic-realist melodramas that took on important social issues while still being entertaining. He was a filmmaker of great and in-depth understanding of human strengths and weaknesses. In 1959, he was a member of the jury at the 

He died of cancer on 7 January 1966 at the age of 56. He was survived by four children: daughters Rinki Bhattacharya, Yashodhara Roy and Aparajita Sinha, and his only son, Joy Roy. His eldest daughter,  married the director against the wishes of both their families. The marriage collapsed within a few years, but resulted in the birth of a son, the actor and screenplay writer Rinki Bhattacharya now heads the Bimal Roy Memorial Committee. and his great granddaughter Drisha Acharya married Karan Deol 

Legacy

Bimal Roy's influence was far-reaching, both in and  In Indian cinema, his influence extended to both mainstream commercial  and the emerging   His film  (1953) was the first film to successfully straddle art and commercial cinema. It was a commercial and critical success, winning the International Prize at the  As a result, the film's success paved the way for the 

In commercial cinema, the most influential film he directed was perhaps  (1958), his first and only collaboration with(who wrote the screenplay), and one of the earliest films to deal with  It is believed^[ to have been the source of inspiration for many later works dealing with the theme of reincarnation in Indian cinema, and perhaps world cinema. It may have been the source of inspiration for the American film  (1975) and the Hindi film(1980), both of which dealt with reincarnation and have been influential in their respective cultures. Karz in particular was remade several times: as the (1989), the  (1984), and more recently the film (2008). Karz may have also inspired the American film  (1989).The most recent film to be directly inspired by Madhumati is the hit Bollywood film (2007), which led to Roy's daughter  accusing the film of plagiarism and threatening legal action against its producers.

Bimal Roy discovered and gave a break to many children, such as  Sona Mastan Mirza, , & Baby Sonu (Bablani), who would later become quite famous

Bimal Roy's films continue to be screened at major national and international film festivals in India, Europe and North America. His films are being restored and digitised by the (NFAI) at Pune. In July 2014,  Mumbai hosted an exhibition; Bimal Roy: Life & Times, organised in collaboration with his children. The exhibits included screening of the films; Madhumati, Sujata and Bandini, besides film posters, costumes and memorabilia, including an Arriflex camera used to shoot Devdas and Sujata

The has been awarded every year since 1997, by the Bimal Roy Memorial & Film Society to honor both experienced artists and other contributors from the Indian film industry as well as new and upcoming outstanding young filmmakers.

A postage stamp, bearing his face, was released byto honour him on 8 January 2007.