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Open Forum
New Delhi, 12 May 2015
Land
Acquisition
REMEMBER DO BIGHA ZAMIN
By Nikhil
Gajendragadkar
Land is a contentious subject, from the time human being
started to ‘claim’ ownership of even a piece. Industrialisation and urbanisation
added complexity to this issue. The Land acquisition Bill is now a hot topic in
India.
And, it is surprising that hardly anybody thought of a classic film which has
handled the subject of land and its effect on human life magnificently.
‘Development’ is a tricky word and concept. It has various
shades of meaning. Is it about development
of mind or soul of a person? Or is something else? Most common meaning is
‘building’ something --dams, factories, houses, roads, etc. It is also called
‘creation of assets’. But whom do these belong to? This question leads to the
other side of this ‘development’ story, which may be tragic, most of the times.
The Indian economy once described as ‘closed’ was ‘opened’
in the early 90’s by the then Central government. The move was to attract more
investment, both foreign and domestic, for the development of the nation. This liberalization,
it is said, created massive demand for land in India from the mid 90’s. Was it
really so? The British rulers had created a law to acquire land way back in
1894. When the British government took or captured anybody’s land or if any
other entity did so, the ‘Law’ justified that action and made it look ‘legal’.
A memorable Hindi film ‘Do
Bigha Zamin’ tells one such story. The setting was Bengal (or West Bengal) in the late 40’s or early 50’s. In a small
village one farmer Shambu Mahato is living with his wife, son and an aged father.
The village is hit by severe drought for a couple of years. Finally it receives
rain and the villagers rejoice. But Shambu gets a rude shock when the zamindar
(feudal landlord) asks for his land. Shambu holds mere ‘Do Bigha’ (two bighas -- two third of an acre) land but that is
all he and his family has, their only source of livelihood. He refuses to part
with his ancestral land.
The cunning zamindar then asks Shambu to repay his debt in just
one day to keep his land. Further, as per Shambu’s calculation he owes Rs 65 to
the zamindar, but is told that he actually has to pay Rs 235, a very large sum
in those days. It is abundantly clear that the zamindar and his accountant have
tricked Shambu, like many other gullible farmers. Even the court orders Shambu
to repay the money but in three months. To earn that princely amount and save
his land, he is left with no option but to go to the big city, Calcutta (now Kolkata) with his son.
While Shambu becomes a rickshaw (cart for passengers) puller,
his son tries to help by polishing shoes. Soon they realise that the city is as
merciless as the zamindar. (The film was distributed outside India titled ‘Calcutta- The Cruel
City.) Shambu and his
son face many hardships hoping to save enough money to get hold of their land
again. But the situation gets bad to worse; they lose all the money in Shambu
and his wife’s treatment. Eventually, his wife dies and Shambu returns to see a
factory being built upon his land. He has lost the struggle.
This is not an old story; it is even more relevant today. ‘Do Bigha Zamin’, directed by Bimal Roy,
is a classic film inspired by the Italian Neo Realism. The story was written by
Salil Choudhury, the great music director, who has also composed music for this
film. Hrishikesh Mukherjee had written the screenplay and edited it. Bimal Roy
touches the very core of human nature in the film, which is not just about a
small piece of land, but the very existence of poor people. The film shows how the
capitalist ‘system’ swallows everything it wants. In fact, everything has a
price tag except human life.
An excellent script and great, naturalistic performance by
Balraj Sahni as Shambu have made the film memorable. In particular, the rickshaw
chase scene is one of the finest in world cinema, where top quality acting and
editing have culminated to create a sense of tragedy. However, it is not the
tragedy of a Shambu but millions like him. It portrays the evil system of
Sahukar (private moneylender) which sucks blood and life out of poor illiterate
people. This system is in force in many parts of India
including Maharashtra even today.
The scenes in Calcutta
also depict the darker side of human nature. At one point, Shambu suspects his
son of theft and hits him. But the boy had actually earned a little by polishing
shoes to help his father save more money. The city life and tension of earning
sufficient money and respect for value had made Shambu suspicious.
The film also reveals the vicious cycle of
poverty-illiteracy or lack of education-exploitation and more poverty. It
doesn’t stop there but throws up critical questions. Why the zamindar and his
businessmen friends want Shambu’s and others’ fertile land? Why cannot they
find suitable land nearby? The answer is simple. It is to save money. As the farmers
are debt ridden it becomes very easy for the zamindar to formally ‘acquire’
their land. The film was branded as one with a ‘socialist approach’ but that is
wrong. It portrays the condition of poor farmers exploited by the system in a compassionate
way.
Much before this film, Nitin Bose made a film called ‘Desher Mati’ in Bengali, literally
meaning ‘Soil of the Nation’. It was titled in English as ‘Mother Land’. Legendary singer-actor K L
Saigal had portrayed the protagonist. The theme of the film centered round the
conflict between saving fertile land (which supports the farmers) and instead giving
it to mining. Indeed, this conflict is visible in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and
many other parts of the country even today, and so we can call it a ‘visionary’
film. It had greatly influenced ‘Do Bigha
Zamin.’
The film raised important questions about ‘development’ and
its real beneficiary. Several dams, factories have been built on the land given
by the farmers and small land owners. They were forced to give up their land, their
home, rather everything and at the end what happened to them? While they are
called stake holders they end up being a neglected lot! ‘Do Bigha Zamin’ touches this very point in a poignant way: Shambu
loses his land for whose ‘development’?
Apart from the fantastic editing, the film has great ‘sound
editing’, which in a way is a pioneering effort in that direction. It won many
awards including first ‘Filmfare’ awards for ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’, first
National Award for Best Film. ‘International Prize’ at the 7th
Cannes Film Festival and an award for a film related to Social Progress at
Karlovy Vary Film Festival
Undeniably, ‘Do Bigha
Zamin’ is a film about the struggle and conflict taking place even today. It’s about people displaced by the
‘development’ mantra and forgotten
thereafter. Sadly, we don’t remember this topical film anymore. A re-run is
crucial. --- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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