When Bimal Roy inspired Academy Award winner director Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray, a director who had a unique vision for the art of filmmaking, won an Oscar at the 64th Academy Awards in 1992. Ray received an honorary award in recognition of his lifelong contributions to filmmaking. Although Ray was always a poet from the heart, his films also make allusions to the Vietnam War, Bangladesh's struggle for independence, and the moral depths to which capitalism may drive the desperate.

While the filmmaker might have found his inspiration from various places, one of the people who influenced his work was: Bimal Roy. Ray has expressed his appreciation for the Do Bigha Zamin director on several occasions. 

Satyajit Ray on Udayer Pathe

Bimal became known in the Kolkata film scene for his debut film Udayer Pathe, which followed the tribulations of a writer. Talking about this film Ray had said, “With his very first film Udayer Pathe (Hamrahi in Hindi), Bimal Roy was able to sweep aside the cobwebs of the old tradition and introduce realism and subtlety that was wholly suited to the cinema. He was undoubtedly a pioneer. He reached his peak with a film that still reverberates in the minds of those who saw it when it was first made. I refer to Do Bigha Zamin, which remains one of the landmarks of Indian Cinema,” according to Bimal Roy Memorial. 

Later, in 1953, Bimal made Do Bigha Zamin and dealt with a peasant family's plight. Although featuring professional actors, such as Balraj Sahni, who introduced natural acting to mainstream Indian cinema, the movie followed the tradition of neo-realist filmmaking. The film went on to win the Prix International award at the 1954 Cannes Film Festival. 

Influence of Do Bigha Jamin on Satyajit Ray

Do Bigha Jamin and Rashoman by Kurosawa boosted Ray's confidence in the genre of movie he was making. Just a few years later, the then-aspiring director made Pather Panchali (1955), a movie with a similar concept to the Bimal’s film. 

While speaking of Do Bigha Zamin, Satyajit Ray had said, "It is a film that still reverberates in the minds of those who saw it – and it remains one of the landmarks of Indian cinema. He was thus undoubtedly a pioneer."