Bimal Roy has immense influence on me: Ashutosh Gowarikar

Mumbai, Feb 24 (UNI) 'Lagaan' director Ashutosh Gowarikar has said legendary filmmaker Bimal Roy had an immense influence on him and it was over a period of time that he understood the profound nature of his movies.

During the inauguration of an interactive workshop 'Enduring Images' on the cinema of Bimal Roy here yesterday, Gowarikar said, as a child, his parents used to deliberately ask him to sit and watch a Bimal Roy film. ''Roy's films have always enthralled me and as I grew up, I came to understand the true nature of his films,'' he said Bimal Roy was not only a thinker, but a great visionary and ''his films are a text book in cinema.'' Noted Tamilian writer C S Lakshmi talked about the themes of Bimal Roy's films, which ranged from class discrimination, caste struggle, untouchability ('Sujata'), displaced peasants ('Do Bigha Zameen'), love ('Bandini') and the sensitive portrayal of the protagonists.

She said Bimal Roy's work has no parallel and there was no social cause or emotional threshold which his work did not cover.

FTTI alumni and Pune-based teacher Vikas Desai said, ''Filmmaking is not a child's play. It takes a lifetime. Stalwarts like Bimal Roy designed their films. Treatment is the only thing that differentiates Bimal Roy from other filmmakers. His films touch you in your sub-consciousness.'' UNI LS GK AG LS RS1632