The 1953 cult film Do Bigha Zamin, directed by Bimal Roy, was recently restored in 4K and returned to the international scene victoriously, premiering on September 4 as part of the Classics of the Venice film festival. Roy is now 70 years old, and his masterpiece of cinema still holds a mirror to society, integrating realism, empathy, and acute social commentary into a story that is incredibly relevant.
The Venice screening was a touching family affair as 21 members of the Roy family, three generations, aged between 83 and 8 years old, attended the screening. The family, headed by the children of Roy-Riniki Roy Bhattacharya, Aparajita Roy Sinha and Joy Bimal Roy, came together in various parts of the globe to celebrate the long legacy of the filmmaker. They attended with an emotional and cultural sense of the event.
This release also marked the end of a three-year restoration planned by the Criterion Collection, Janus Films and the Film Heritage Foundation. The original camera negative (now housed in the National Film Archive of India) was found to have been badly damaged by mould, water and damaged frames, and the film in some areas is completely lost. These problems were solved by the restoration team using a 35mm duplicate negative, which was kept in the British Film Institute, and they considered other missing parts of the movie, including the opening titles and the final reel.
Despite its strong Indian roots of the 1950s, Do Bigha Zamin still resonates with the viewers of today. Its themes of displacement, the country-city migration, and the sharpness of the contrast between the rural agrarian impoverishment and the urban hopes are all still acute. Film theorist Amrit Gangar underscores this attention to detail on Roy’s part: he also tells Balraj Sahni not to enter the haveli of the zamindar without first wiping his feet, a minor gesture with a profound sense of symbolism.
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