Bimal Roy's Do Bigha Zamin To Be Screened In 4K Restored Version At Venice Film Festival

July 12, 2025, marks the 116th birth anniversary of Bimal Roy, one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Some of the Roy's classics includes Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta, Devdas, Madhumati, and Bandini, among others. The 2025 edition of the Venice Film Festival is set to showcase a 4K restored version of 1953 film Do Bigha Zamin.

Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) is behind the restoration of the cult classic in collaboration with The Criterion Collection, and Janus Films, reported PTI.

The film is presented under the Venice Classics section, and is titled Two Acres of Land in English. The Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy starrer has been selected among a distinguished lineup of restored cinematic masterpieces, including Pedro Almodovar's Matador, Giuseppe De Santis' Roma Ore 11, Krzysztof Kieślowski's Przypadek, and Stanley Kubrick's Lolita.

The screening will be presented by Roy’s children - Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, Aparajita Roy Sinha, and Joy Bimal Roy, along with Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, director of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF).

Renowned lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar called the film "historic". "It’s amazing that Do Bigha Zamin is restored and will be shown in Venice. This film is historic as it changed the way films were made in India. After Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar which won an award at the Cannes Film Festival, this was the second Indian film to win at the Cannes Film Festival and receive international recognition," he said.

Recalling the time of working with Roy in 1961 film Kabuliwala, Gulzar said, "The most important element is that all his films right from the Bengali ones which he made and the Hindi films which he made, all these films were based on literature. Not many people know that Do Bigha Zamin is from a poem by Rabindranath Tagore, which was also called Do Bigha Zamin. The script was done by Salil Choudhury."

Gulzar also said that Bimal Roy was the "coolest director" he has ever seen. He learnt not only filmmaking from him, but also the "art of patience and stamina".

The family of Roy said the screening of the film at the Venice Film Festival is a "dream come true for us".

They thanked the Film Heritage Foundation and Fumiko Takagi of the Criterion Collection for the restoration. "Do Bigha Zamin is especially fitting for this prestigious platform, as it holds a unique connection with Italian cinema," Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, Aparajita Roy Sinha, and Joy Bimal Roy said in a joint statement.

They also said that their father was deeply inspired after watching Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 film Bicycle Thieves.

"Do Bigha Zamin, is an unspoken autobiography of Bimal Roy who was cast off from his home in East Bengal in a similar episode as the hero, peasant, Sambhu Mahato. He never recovered from this cruel separation from his beloved birthplace," they said.

They also said that Roy "transformed the profile of Indian cinema and was able to stir collective consciousness with his cinematic parables." They called their father a "silent cinema poet and a visionary of profound humanism whose work shall continue to act as a beacon whenever dark forces threaten."

The restoration process of Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zamin began in 2022 and took over three years to complete. Missing portions were sourced from a 1954–55 dupe negative preserved at the British Film Institute (BFI).

The 82nd Venice International Film Festival is scheduled to take place from August 27 to September 6, 2025.