Bimal Roy film society to honour Naseeruddin Shah, Farida Jalal, Kundan Shah

Actor Naseeruddin Shah, filmmaker Kundan Shah and actress Farida Jalal will be honoured by the Bimal Roy Memorial Committee & Film Society (BRMC) on 19 August at the Sylvan Sanghamitra auditorium in Thane.

The film society was founded by Bimal Roy’s daughter, Rinki Roy Bhattacharya who had repeated requests to show Bimal Roy’s films over the years. They've had a regular tradition of honouring Indian cinema veterans and screened world cinema classics, along with Indian films, old and new films alike.

Speaking to Cinestaan.com through email, chairperson Rinki said, “It suddenly occurred to the society that several veterans of the Indian movie industry remained unrecognised. There is the single (Dadasaheb) Phalke award each year. This does not suffice. Bimal Roy Memorial began to honour, acknowledge industry veterans. It began with one recipient. The first BRMC award was given to the renowned Director of Photography, Dilip Gupta — best known for Madhumati (1958). With that small step, BRMC moved on to honour several stalwarts. It was also rightly decided to honour an emerging filmmaker who works in the genre where social concerns ride high.”

Furthermore, she added, “There was no question that both Kundan Shah and Jalal deserve to be richly honoured on a public platform. Naseeruddin Shah was more privileged — he has been feted several times. However, the BRMC Jury 2017 were unanimous in their decision. It is unfortunate that we did not have a positive response from the emerging filmmaker. This is in the pipeline.”

Last year, they honoured veterans Dharmendra, Helen, Saroj Khan and Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan. This year, the society has chosen Naseeruddin Shah and Kundan Shah who worked together in the cult classic, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983) and Jalal won the Filmfare Critics award for best actress for her work in Shyam Benegal's Mammo (1994).

In a press note, the society stated, “BRMC reaches out to lovers of Indian cinema in its pursuit to preserve the its extraordinary legacy that is precariously threatened by age and neglect from official indifference and absence of care, of funds. We have lost invaluable history, it is time to save these cinematic treasures.”

In previous years, filmmaker Kidar Sharma, cinematographer VK Murthy, stars Shashi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, and Suraiya were honoured. The society also names emerging new talents and in the past, Shoojit Sircar, Ashutosh Gowariker and Vikramaditya Motwane were feted.