Do Bigha Zamin 1953

Do Bigha Zamin is a 1953 Indian Bollywood social film released on 1953. The film is directed by Bimal Roy, produced by Bimal Roy under banner named Bimal Roy Productions.

After years of drought, the region finally gets rain, leading to the farmers to rejoice. The Zamindaar wants to build a mill and thus to create employment for the villagers, and also wants to bring electricity to the village. He wants Shambu (Balraj Sahni) to give up his farm land. Shambu refuses. Thakur claims that he is owed Rs. 235/- and he takes Shambhu to court. As per court decision Shambu is given 3 months to come up with money. Shambhu (with his son Kanhaiya) go to Calcutta and to search for a job. Soon he finds a job but his money got stolen. One man gives his Rickshaw to Shambu to earn money. Then he ears money and even Kanhaiya starts polishing shoes, which helps his father to earn more. One day, Shambhu meets with an accident, thus jeopardising the chances of paying the Thakur.

Realist drama about a small landowner, Shambhu (Sahni) which opens with a song celebrating the rains that put an end to two seasons of drought, Hariyala sawan dhol bajata aaya. Shambhu and his son Kanhaiya (R. Kumar) have to go and work in Calcutta to repay their debt to the mericless local zamindar (Sapru) in order to retain their ancestral two acres of land. The sentimentally portryed peasants bid farewell to the departing Shambhu and his son with the song Bhai re, ganga aur jamuna ki dharti rahe pukar ke. In Calcutta, Shambhu becomes a rickshaw-puller, facing numerous hardships that lead to his near-fatal accident, the death of his wife (N. Roy) who joins him in the city and inevitably, the loss of his land to speculators who build a factory on it. Although promoted as the epitome of Indian neo-realism, the film is even more melodramatic than, e.g., De Sicas work (sometimes claimed to have influenced Roys work). The script and the humanist acting styles, including a hard but kind landlay in the Calcutta slum and the happy-go-lucky shoeshin boy (Jagdeep) who takes Kanhaiya under his wing while humming Raj Kapoors Awara hoon number, all find their ancestry in Nitin Boses ruralist socials at New Theatres (of Desher Mati, 1938) enchanced by IPTA overtones in Choudhurys music. The films neo-realist reputation is almost solely based on Balraj Sahnis extraordinary performance in his best-known film role. Also remarkable is Hrishikesh Mukherjees ending, virtually eliminating dissolves in favour of e.g, the unusually hard cut from the falling wheel in the films famous rickshaw race seqence to Kanhaiya coming to the beside of his injured father. Mukherjee claims that such a cut from day to night was unprecedented in Indian cinema. Check out this page for more updates on Do Bigha Zamin.