A new book “Suhana Safar” documents the nearly 30-year journey of the Bimal Roy Memorial Committee (BRMC), founded by writer-filmmaker Rinki Roy Bhattacharya, to honour the enduring legacy of her father and iconic director Bimal Roy.Blending personal reflections, critical essays, rare photographs and archival material, “Suhana Safar” moves between past and present—becoming both archive and meditation on film societies, collective memory and the fragile continuity of cultural heritage.Roy, a legendary filmmaker, directed celebrated classics including the likes of “Do Bigha Zamin”, “Devdas”, “Bandini”, “Parineeta”, and “Madhumati”. He died in 1996.The book is presented by Bhattacharya with contributions from filmmakers Roopa Barua and Sanjit Narwekar, film critic Maithili Rao, and other voices from the world of cinema and culture.Filmmaker-archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur has written the forward to “Suhana Safar”.The BRMC is mainly working to recognise unsung heroes of the film industry as well as hold retrospectives, musical evenings, festivals and masterclasses from directors, actors from the 1950s to the present day, says Bhattacharya.These annual events began in 1997. Renowned music arranger Manohari Singh orchestrated evocative evenings steeped in nostalgia, celebrating composers like Salil Chowdhury, S D Burman and Jaydev.Concerts dedicated to lyricists such as Shailendra, Majrooh Sultanpuri and Kaifi Azmi held audiences spellbound, evoking a time when music and poetry were inseparable from the emotional fabric of cinema.In March 2001, BRMC paid tribute to Waheeda Rehman with a curated selection of her rare films. Alongside these were mini retrospectives featuring emerging voices such as Sabiha Sumar (“Khamosh Paani”), as well as international intersections with artists like Matthew Modine, with Ismail Merchant in attendance.A retrospective of Nutan’s films in 2019 continued this dialogue.The committee’s vision is to celebrate not only iconic figures but also the unsung architects of cinema—the technicians, lyricists, and craftsmen whose contributions often remain unacknowledged.This began with cinematographer Dilip Gupta, and extended to figures such as R D Mathur, film historian Father Gaston George and poster artist Diwakar Karkare.The BRMC jury has also recognised emerging voices such as Vikramaditya Motwane, Neeraj Ghaywan, Juhi Chaturvedi and Gitanjali Rao with a jury composed of practitioners like Amol Palekar, Maithili Rao, Sanjit Narwekar, Amole Gupte and Tigmanshu Dhulia.Over these years, BRMC has played an important role in valorising key figures in the landscape of Hindi films. It has curated retrospectives and musical evenings celebrating luminaries of Indian cinema and acknowledged the contribution of both unsung heroes as well as emerging talents to cinema, writes Dungarpur.Barua says the BRMC musical gatherings, screenings and retrospect contribute a significant tome of knowledge of India’s cinematic past, adding memory and nostalgia have given momentum in furthering the works of societies like BRMC.