Do Bigha Zameen is considered a gem in Indian movies, directed by Bimal Roy the movie has a slight socialist theme as did most movies of that time. Do Bigha Zameen won the first ever Filmfare award. The movie got a special mention at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie is about a farmer Shambhu (Balraj Sahni), who has been hit badly by a famine in Bengal. The real reason of his sorrow is that the Zamindaar (land owner) wants to acquire his land on the pretext that Shambhu had taken some loan from him. Shambhu has to pay back and hence he moves to the city.
The movie paints a very true picture of pre-independence (and early post independence) India. The society is agrarian yet the farmers are poor mainly because of the fact that they have very small land holdings and they are unlettered. The farmers were gullible while the land owner, money lender, and the Brahmins were guile. A lot of people moved to the cities either in the anticipation of turning there fortunes or because they could not survive the atrocities of power holders. The movie has a theme that can be found in works of notable Indian authors Munshi Premchand or Sarat Chandra Chaterjee.
The most memorable scene from the movie is when Shambhu pushes himself to his limits pulling a hand pulled rikshaw. The rider on the rikshaw offers Shambhu more and more money to pull faster because he is chasing (probably) his girlfriend in another rikshaw. Note Shambhu's emotions, his smile in anticipation of getting more. Compare this with the rich class which is not worried the least about the lower class' plight. The lower class is no more then a machine that can be operated by putting in quarters. The rikshaw looses a wheel and Shambhu is injured.
In all these hardships Shambhu does not loose his righteousness which is the moral of the movie. Shambhu's son steals money to help his father only to be reproached by his father. Shambhu's morality is the only thing that remains his own till the end.
The movie is notable for Balraj Sahni's performance. Like other movies by Bimalda, art and commercial form of cinema are merged to produce a movie that is still looked upon as a benchmark.
Finally the name of the movie means Two Bigha of Land. Bigha is a unit of measuring land. Bigha varies from state to state. In Bengal where the movie is based 3 Bigha is one Acre. So Shambhu owns only 0.003 sq. kilometres.
