Amidst a flood of remakes in Bollywood the recent news about the remake of Bimal Roy’s timeless classic DO BIGHA ZAMIN (1953) is heartening because the movie is a milestone and a ‘Must Watch’ for today’s younger generation, who unfortunately are being dished out by mindless and absurd remakes like HIMMATWALA!
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According to latest news actor RajKumar Yadav, who rose to fame with movies like KAI PO CHE! and SHAHID has been roped into play the protagonist in the remake which was excellently essayed by the great actor Balraj Sahni in the original.
The movie titled CITY LIGHTS is supposed to be directed by SHAHID director Hansal Mehta and produced by Bhatt Camp in association with Fox Star Studios. After watching SHAHID, it seems Hansal Mehta has the ability to make a good movie, if not like the original by master craftsman Bimal Roy. If Mehta is able to do justice to the original then it can open a flood gate to intellectual cinema better known as parallel cinema.
Speaking about the original, DO BIGHA ZAMIN brought realistic cinema on the Indian screen. The movie exceptionally depicted the trials and tribulations of a farmer striving to earn money to save his farmland in his village from the clutches of the Zamindar who aspires to make a mill on the same land. In over six decades nothing has changed in India as the movie is very much relevant even today. With thousands of farmers committing suicide in Vidharbha, other parts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh etc. the movie focuses on the grave issue of the corrosion of the agriculture industry and the swelling of capitalism.
Film legend Bimal Roy treated the movie at par with international standards thus placing Indian cinema into global market. The movie was widely praised in the West for its realism and won the Prix International, Cannes Film Festival (1954) and the Prize for Social Progress, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The movie also began the trend of awards in India as both National and Filmfare awards were initiated in 1954 with DO BIGHA ZAMIN winning the accolades of Best Picture at both the awards ceremony.
