Washington DC [US], August 31 : With the 4K restoration of master Bimal Roy's 'Do Bigha Zamin' (Two Acres of Land) set for its world premiere at this year's Venice Film Festival's Classics section, India's Film Heritage Foundation director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur is reflected on the efforts to restore the 1953 Indian cinema landmark and why the film remains essential viewing seven decades later, reported Variety.
"Bimal Roy made 'Do Bigha Zamin' two years before Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali. Satyajit Ray said about Bimal Roy that he was able to sweep aside the cobwebs of the old tradition and introduce a realism and subtlety that was wholly suited to the cinema," as quoted by Variety.
For Dungarpur, Roy's film represents cinema's power to endure across generations.
"The deep humanism and compassion that he showed in the film highlighted the plight of the marginalised, the issues of the migrant labour, and the urban-rural divide that are still so relevant today," said Durgapur as quoted by Variety.
The restoration, completed in partnership with Criterion Collection and Janus Films, presented formidable technical challenges over its three-year journey.
"The original camera negative that was at the National Film Archive of India was not complete, and it was also not in great condition," Durgarpur explains.
"We checked with the British Film Institute and found that they had a 35mm combined dupe negative from 1954-1955, which was complete," added Durgarpur as quoted by Variety.
Audio proved particularly problematic. "The sound was a challenge as there were many portions where the sound was missing and there was a lot of disturbance. A lot of work had to be done to restore the sound," said Durgarpur.
Roy's film, inspired by Vittorio De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves," tells the story of a poor farmer forced to move to the city as a rickshaw-puller to save his land from a rapacious landlord. The connection between Italian neo-realism and Indian social cinema wasn't lost on Dungarpur.
The film will be presented at Venice by Roy's family, including daughters Rinki Roy Bhattacharya and Aparajita Roy Sinha, son Joy Bimal Roy and Dungarpur.