Unearthed, Bimal Roy's last film

Unearthed, Bimal Roy's last film

Legendary film maker Bimal Roy's last film he shot before he fell sick, Amrit Ke Khoj Mein has been unearthed just two months ago which was lying in one of the dozen trunks lying at his office at the Mohan Studios where he had office. Bimal Roy was toying with an idea of answer to Sajyajit Ray as the film dealt with a story of a single man's spiritual journey. It was based ona Bengali novel written by Samresh Bose. The film was scripted by Gulzar who was then Bimal Roy's assistant along with Basu Bhattacharya, Rajbhans Khanna, to name a few.

Bimal Roy's camera pans on people, alighting from trains from different parts of the country and the devotees leading procession of their Gurus and Sadhus sitting in pelanquins and on elephants convulge on the banks of Ganga which look like a sea of humans. The film also shows people in boats offering prayers as the background song Ganga Aye Kahan Se so aptly applies.

Bimal Roy, a botony student, who turned cameraman had photographed the most celebrated New Theatre'sfilm, Devdas, starring K.L.Saigal. It was in the early Fiftees he migrated to Bombay along with Hrishikesh Mukherji and his other team members to direct Bombay Talkies' Maa and Ashok Kumar's Parineeta. It was while shooting for Maa that he decided to start his own production with Do Bigha Zameen which became a classic.

Bimalda, as he was popularly known had made many memorable films like Do Bigha Zameen, Sujata, Madhumati and Bandini.