Tejas Nair Bicycle Thieves is a very touching Italian movie. But this one is our own native version of that. With genuine plot and out-of-the-world cinematography, Do Bigha Zamin is Indian masterpiece.The actors are terrific, totally portraying the characters given to them. Music, direction, screenplay & the execution is all marvelous. Even today, this works because it talks about poverty, life, emotions, relationships & virtues. Fantastic. Moreover, the intricacy with which details are kept in focus should be the USP of this film. 9.1/10.BOTTOM LINE: Get that DVD right now. A must-watch.Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YESProfanity: No | Sex/Nudity: No | Violence: Very Mild | Gore: No | Alcohol/Smoking: No | Drugs: Mild (Hookah)

dbhattac I have seen Do Bigha Zamin many times ( at least five ) but never had a chance to write a review. Every time I see this movie I put my hats off to Mr. Bimal Roy as the director of this masterpiece. I have read comments about having the idea from a different film ( Vittorio Di Sica's Bicycle Thief ) But I can challenge a lot of director to copy any film they want and produce something like Do Bigha Zamin. The scenes of a village in Bengal and the streets of Calcutta ( now Kolkata ) in early fifties are so real - it just sends shivers through my body. I was a student in a Calcutta college during that period and the scenes from Esplanade area, with Metro Cinema, Chowringhee Road, the double decker buses, the trams and finally the human rickshaws were presented in such a way that I felt being there in that period. The poverty of the villagers and as well as the bustee dwellers were very realistic and the characters were portrayed and played extremely well. Some of the scenes like when Paro went to Meena Kumari to get a letter written, the short scene where Nirupa Roy complaining to Balraj Sahni that he does not love her are very touching scenes. One of the other wonders are the boot polish kid Laloo. I don,t know whether he is an actor or real boot polish kid in real life , but he displayed a wonderful piece of acting as the friendly companion to Kanhaiya ( Rattan Kumar ). Nirupa Roy as the wife of the peasant Balraj Sahani, Balraj Sahani himself and Rattan Kunmar all played their parts very well. I should also mention the role played by Rajlakhsmi Devi as the Bustee owner - what can be more realistic than that. Though the economic scene in India has changed over the last sixty years still there are a lot of poverty in India and peasants like Shambhu Mahato can be found all over India. I appreciate the director's last scene where it shows the family is still intact with hope for the future at the same time the struggle for survival goes on as they lost their land to the greedy landlord. I have the DVD and will watch it many more times.

yom_cule This film is supposed to be one of the best movies ever produced by Bollywood. The plot borrows a lot from Bicycle thief. A father son duo roams on the streets struggling for money and survival. Bimal Roy tries hard to copy De Sica, but he proves himself to be a bad director and a worse copycat. The plot becomes very predictable halfway through the film. All bad things seem to happen to the poor farmer Shambhu. Nothing can ever go right for him. There are good, helpful people in the movie too, but their role is frequently undermined and unexplained. The screenplay is overly dramatized and the actors are amateurish. The farmer's little kid over-acts and talks like an adult. The only savior is the cinematography and somewhat believable portrayal of the life the protagonist, played by the great Balraj Sahini, leads.If one wants to watch Bollywood there are many other much better, albeit unappreciated movies. A big Thumbs Down! 3/10

abdullah-belim This movie is a an Indian classic.... I don't know why so many people here are going on about how unrealistic it is...... I would wonder how many who commented as such have actually been to that part of India and witnessed the poverty there....The story may well have been copied but the film is no doubt still great. I cant think of many other copies which are actually good. This film does actually touch you with its sadness, and claims of melodramaticness will be gladly tossed aside because we are talking about Indian cinema here...All in all i think this is definitely a gem in Indian cinema, and fit the bill of an all time classic.