Bimal Roy – synonymous with the aesthetics of cinema… evolved into a legend in his lifetime, writes Shoma A Chatterji in her book which is an in-depth account of the great filmmaker’s work in Indian cinema. She chooses to use the word ‘cinema’ because it “encompasses an entire socio-cultural history” and so did Roy’s movies. His career span from 1944 to 1963, “overlaps the colonial cultural and political ambience and the ambience in Independent India” – major events shaping his ethos and vision. Films like Do Bigha Zamin about the displacement of peasants due to industrialisation and, Sujata and Parineeta on the tragedies of the caste system, stirred audiences far from just being films with moving images and sound effects.