Bimal Roy

His work is particularly known for his mise en scène which he employed to portray realism. He won a number of awards throughout his career, including eleven Filmfare Awards, two National Film Awards, and the International Prize of the Cannes Film Festival. Madhumati won 9 Filmfare Awards in 1958, a record held for 37 years.

Bimal Roy was born on 12 July 1909, to a Bengali Baidya family in Suapur, Dhaka, which was then part of the Eastern Bengal and Assam province of British India and is now part of Bangladesh. He produced many movies in Bengali and Hindi. He married Manobina Roy in 1936. His daughter, Rinki was married to film director Basu Bhattacharya (1934–1997). The couple had three children: a son Aditya Bhattacharya (b. 1965), who is a film director, and two daughters, Chimoo Acharya and Anwesha Arya, the latter a writer. Chimoo Acharya is married to Sumit Acharya, a Dubai-based corporate executive. Bimal's great-granddaughter and Chimoo's daughter, Drisha is married to Karan Deol, son of Sunny Deol and grandson of Dharmendra.

Bimal Roy moved to Calcutta and entered the field of cinema as a camera assistant with New Theatres Pvt. Ltd. During this time, he assisted director P.C. Barua as Publicity Photographer, on the hit 1935 film Devdas, starring K.L. Saigal. 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 Hrishikesh Mukherjee (editor), Nabendu Ghosh (screenwriter), Asit Sen (assistant director), Kamal Bose (cinematographer) and later, Salil Chaudhury (music director), and by 1952 he had restarted the second phase of his career with Maa (1952), for Bombay Talkies. 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 1st Moscow International Film Festival. 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, Rinki Bhattacharya, married the director Basu Bhattacharya 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 Aditya Bhattacharya. Rinki Bhattacharya now heads the Bimal Roy Memorial Committee. and his great-granddaughter Drisha Acharya married Karan Deol

Bimal Roy usually alternated between music directors Salil Chowdhury and S.D. Burman. His films featured beautiful and memorable songs, rendered by all the top playback singers of the day. Some of the notable songs from Roy's films include: "Jalte Hain Jiske Liye" from Sujata (1959), sung by Talat Mahmood "Chali Radhe Rani" from Parineeta (1953), sung by Manna Dey "Aa Ri Aa Nindiya" from Do Bigha Zamin (1953), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar "Ab Aage Teri Marzi" from Devdas (1955), music by S.D. Burman, sung by Lata Mangeshkar "Aan Milo Aan Milo Shyam Sabere" from Devdas (1955), music by S.D. Burman, sung by Manna Dey, Geeta Dutt "Dil Tadap Tadap Ke Keh Raha" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Mukesh, Lata Mangeshkar "Suhana Safar Aur Yeh Mausam Haseen" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Mukesh "Aaja Re Pardesi" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar "Ghadi Ghadi Mora Dil Dhadake" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar "Zulmi Sang Aankh Ladi" from Madhumati (1958), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar "O Sajana Barkha Bahaar" from Parakh (1960), music by Salil Chowdhury, sung by Lata Mangeshkar "Mora Gora Ang Lai Le" from Bandini (1963), music by S.D. Burman, sung by Lata Mangeshkar