Cinema
Dharti Ke Lal
धरती के लाल
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas · 1946
Synopsis
During the war, in Bengal, the old sharecropper Samaddar lives with his two sons, Niranjan and Ramu, and their wives. Despite a good harvest and rising grain prices, he loses his land to a crooked landlord who speculates on rice. Ramu, his wife Radhika and their newborn leave for Calcutta, soon followed by the rest of the family and by thousands of dispossessed peasants; in the city, Ramu desperately looks for work.
Context
His first film, it is the only one produced by the Indian People's Theatre Association, founded in 1943, whose troupes were then travelling the country performing for the benefit of famine victims. It was written with Bijon Bhattacharya from his plays Nabanna and Jabanbandi and a short story by Krishan Chander. Balraj Sahni, Sombhu and Tripti Mitra, who came from the troupe, act in it; Zohra Sehgal made her debut in it. Ravi Shankar composed the music. Shot in the middle of the war, it was released on 30 August 1946 and opened the Soviet market to Indian films.
Who it is for
Two hours in Hindustani, with no French release; it is better to know that the famine owed more to the war and to the administration than to nature.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as one of the first films of Indian social realism; the New York Times hailed it as a harsh realist drama.
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