Pen To Paper: Do Bigha Zamin - Revisiting A Timeless Classic

Despite trying his best, one tragedy after the other befalls him and his family. In the end, he is unable to repay the loan and his land is taken away. 

The first half of the film was impressive and it seemed to have the potential to go places, but the screenplay in the second half was just alright. Some parts didn’t make sense. The social message, though absolutely relevant, was a bit on the nose. The characters didn’t feel deep and hence I wasn’t able to connect to the characters. Due to this, I wasn’t moved by the events at the end. 

Some scenes also seemed unnecessary in my opinion. Regardless, there were some elements that I did like and appreciate. For example, when the landowners meet the group of farmers for the first time, a crow’s cawing is heard. This symbolises that something bad might happen. When Shambhu is left hopeless by the landlord, a clock bell rings. This too symbolises “the end” or death.

There’s a scene where Kanhaiya (Shambhu’s son) buys bangles for his mother. He just says that he bought bangles. Towards the end, when his mother nearly dies after being hit by a car, he says he bought red bangles. 

I did feel like the whole land issue was left behind after Shambhu moved out of his village because it wasn’t brought up at all until the end. Now obviously, the whole story was driven by the land issue. He didn’t want to sell his land and so needed to earn money to hold on to the land. He never thought about selling the land even when he was at his worst. This does add to his character but it seems a bit unrealistic because, if given a choice, one would avoid going through hell to overcome any difficulty. In the movie, Shambhu was clearly having difficulty earning money. At some point the thought of giving up his land should have crossed his mind. He could have simply avoided going through all the pain, if he had agreed to give away his land.

Perhaps, the following scene could be added before he leaves his village: Shambhu goes back to the landlord and tells him that he is ready to sell his land because he cannot pay that large sum of money. But now, the supposedly infuriated landlord doesn’t want to give Shambhu a second chance because Shambhu declined his offer when the landlord asked him nicely. So now the landlord will buy the land but the conditions of the new deal are such that Shambhu is still at a disadvantage. Now, Shambhu has no choice but to earn money to pay to the landlord. 

What this scene does is add to the inevitability of Shambhu’s poverty. It leaves Shambhu with no choice. After this he goes to Calcutta and the story continues as it did.

 And now- as I write this review- I also realise that the above suggestion would completely alter the main theme of the movie, which is that the farmers are fond of their lands and would not give it up for anything. 

Other than the plot, the movie also played a significant role in shaping the culture of India in that era: 

The songs in the movie were thematic and matched the emotional state of the character at that instance. Poor people were shown as friendly. 

The females are more compassionate to the boy- they are more expressive of their love. You need a licence to drive a hand rickshaw. Children are friendlier than adults. 

The movie portrayed Classism-Workers of the landlord and farmers wore some sort of a headband or hat whereas the wealthy did not. There was Irony- The road outside Grant hotel is a shelter to the poor and homeless where the hotel itself was a shelter for the rich.

Sexism- The landlord compares farmlands to mother but a mill is like a father because it is more profitable. Happiness in little things- Farmers are so happy that they dance in the rain. Urban-Rural disparity- People in villages use hukka, city-people smoke cigarettes. Their clothing is different too. There’s a girls school in the city. The city of Calcutta has a lot of open spaces/gardens and tents are also put up. 

Nowadays, cities are rather cramped with concrete buildings. People in the village seem well connected to each other and they know each other well which is not the case in cities.

All-in-All the movie was decent and filled with all sorts of morals and values, which were reflected in the themes and in the characters. 

The author is a student at Somaiya School of Design and is one of the winners of FPJ's Pen To Paper Contest this year.