Runtime: 131 minutes
Genre: Drama
Film Language: Hindi
Director: Bimal Roy
Cinematography: Kamal Bose
Screenplay Writer: Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Paul Mahendra
Editor: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Where to watch: Mubi In, Jio Cinema, Mx Player In
Hailed as the first neorealist film in India, Do Bigha Zameen derived the work of an Italian neorealist and made it completely Indian in its sensibility. The film is based on a short story ‘Rickshaw-wallah’ by Salil Chowdhury. The film is a dark parable of a degrading and exploitative society and captures a pragmatic portrayal of abject poverty in the rural countryside. Another striking feature is how it substantiates the grassroots effects of agrarian and economic changes in the wake of the Indian Government’s introduction of laws and industrial expansion in the 50s.
The story revolves around a farmer Shambu Mahato (Balraj Sahni), who lives with his wife Parvati `Paro’ (Nirupa Roy) their son Kanhaiya (Rattan Kumar) and Dhangu Mahato (Nana Palshikar)who is the father of the protagonist in a small village that has been hit badly by a famine. The film opens with images of parched and barren land. The country had just suffered a two-year drought. The film is highly cinematic in its powerful and moving images. It's a character-driven movie and often the audience could find the lack of subtlety jarring but there is no point in the movie where the audience doesn't connect to its characters.
Scene after scene, sympathetic portrayal of Shambhu and his family draws you in so intensively that one would smile when any of the characters in the movie smile. Shambhu thinks of his land as 'mai- baap' (mother and father) and would not sell it at any cost so he tries everything to keep this land out of the village's Zamindar.
Roy is relentless and offers no respite through his storytelling. The film becomes overbearing as the characters find themselves with their backs against the walls and facing insurmountable odds.
Roy very deliberately equilibrates the picture of misery (rural and urban) with examples of cohesion, of the poor helping the poor, whether on the level of the adults or of the street-boys. Perhaps the most touching and most innocent part of Roy's film - and something that owes nothing to De Sica and other Italian neorealists - is his portrayal of the street-kids of Calcutta and their stories. These children often humm 'Awara Hoon' and it perfectly portrays street life which is their only home. The movie also emblematically portrays the mad race of life in cities which alters the individual to earn more and more. Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "shock-cut" editing techniques are best seen when Shambhu chases another rickshaw and hurts himself badly.
Do Bigha Zameen is especially remembered by the masses for its heartening as well as heart- rendering performances. Balraj Sahni's towering performance is the pivot around which the film moves. The film's moral issues are largely played out by Kanhaiya who steals when his boot polisher job is snatched. Nirupa Roy too has given one of her career-best performances here. The conviction and vulnerability of each character is beautifully portrayed. However, at some points the movie halts the narrative and saturates the screen with melodrama, leaving little space for the audience to infer and becomes heavy. The last act, in particular, is undone by this issue.
The soundtrack of Do Bigha Zameen has given the unrivalled and evergreen peasant song 'Dharti kahe pukar ke', intriguingly derived from Soviet Red Army's marching tune. Another song that stimulates with its melody is a lullaby 'Aaja ri aa Nindiya tu aa' performed by Lata Mangeshkar which also serves as the cameo scene for Meena Kumari in the movie. The movie has other songs performed by Mohammed Rafi and Manna Dey.
The film ends with the family returning to their land only to witness a factory already standing on their land and father of Shambhu, Dhangu Mahato declared mentally ill.
The chimney's black smoke, literally and substantially blowing away all their hopes they had for their 'Do Bigha Zameen' to recover. It is then that Shambhu takes a handful of soil from there but is driven out by the factory's official. The title can also be seen as a metaphor for the protagonist's ability to live a life of his choice --- which is denied to him both in the village as well as in the city.
The story itself can take a backseat during a revisit of the film as what it leaves behind is deep disparity and horror of its poignant images. In fact, the inevitability of the ending of the film makes it much more haunting.
The film was in a way the first breakout film to reach the international circles from India. It was critically acclaimed in its time and has now become a cinematic reference point in Indian cinema.