For 20 years, I had read so many great things, so much praise about this movie, and then finally I had a chance to watch this movie on DVD in as late as 2004! My God!! I wish I had not watched Vittorio De Sica's "The Bicycle Thief", in which case I could have applauded "Do Bigha Zamin".
Sadly, I could not! It's not an original idea (though perhaps a path-breaking one, going by the trend of the day, 1953), but just a over-sentimentalized, melodramatic version of an Italian movie made 5 years ago. I'm surprised that the Late Balraj Sahni, who had studied at Oxford and lived in england for a few years, could not see the hundreds of glaring similarities "Do Bigha Zamin" had with "The Bicycle Thief". Maybe the socialistic appeal of "Do Bigha Zamin" made the Late Sahni, himself a communist/socialist, overlook this aspect. Who knows!
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