Do Ankhen Barah Haath

I recently got the opportunity to see this movie (was airing on a movie channel), and felt really blessed and privileged to see it.

It may not be a technically perfect movie, but V.Shantaram has crafted a masterpiece in terms of portraying the characters and the plot to the audience in the simplest way. The movie is high on emotions as it tries to dig into some hard to call humans (convicts of single/multiple murders) and a warden who believes that with forgiveness and love, they can be cured to live in a civilized society.

In a lot of scenes the movie uses metaphorical representation/dialogues to convey the underlying emotion to the audience and I found this to be very very intriguing. The end specially I feel is unmatched on it. Something that a non-interested movie goer can understand, and something that an enthusiast can really appreciate.

I think the movie is not way ahead of it's time, but way behind. Something like Ramayana and Mahabharata, timeless.

A real classic. I watched it about 25 years back and watched again yesterday. I did the magic both times on me, as a child and as a middle aged man. A jailer fights the eternal battle of good against evil when he decides to make 'men' out of 6 hard-core criminals.

Story doesn't meander. Plot is simple and filled with surprises and mythological grandiose. At times movie becomes sheer art and work of genius when V Shantaram through his spectacular framing and simple screenplay details talk about the psychology of a common man or uncommon man in dynamic society. Scenes like grandmother, Shankar walking out, first night sleep etc are just mind blowing. My favorite scene is when Jailer drags the barbed wire woods.

Making of the film is extremely artistic. All the scenes are thoroughly conceived. You can make out each and every actor moves from spot to spot. Camera moves in spots. Every single frame is detailed to its last frame. Acting is extremely animated but works in favor in a film like this. Background music is extremely provocative as lots of drums are used. Very entertaining drama. 9/10.

1st watched 10/14/2001 - 8 out of 10(Dir-V. Shantaram): Very interesting story about a reformer who takes six murderers out of jail to try and prove that they could function working their own fields and taking care of their own farm despite their evil pasts. Filled with up-tempo musical numbers despite it's very serious story make for a varied movie experience. The basic theme here is forgiveness over and over again and how the kindness displayed to them eventually changes them but not without many trials. These trials make up the rest of the movie and fill in where the musical numbers are not there. I would have liked to see the English subtitles in place during the music just so I could understand instead of guessing what they were singing about but this isn't the fault of the movie just those who distributed it to English speaking audiences. If there is a copy with this added I'll watch the movie again and enjoy it that much more. But even without this, this is a movie that should not be missed by those who wish to expand their movie-viewing horizons to other countries that are not seen often in the movie world.

I was indeed lucky to have seen this movie on big screen,that too in Japan. Do Aankhen Barah Haath, should be viewed keeping in mind that the movie was made in 1957, when melodrama played a huge part in acting (as opposed to say, a "Dil Chahta Hai" made recently).

The initial credits of DABH shows that the movie has been based on a real story..The movie, apart from being an extremely pleasant one (its optimistic tone and the chosen subject of reforming 6 hardened murderers into honest,non-violent farmers), shows a picture of the social milieu that covered India during the times the movie was made.

Some particular scenes really touched me , most predominant of which was when one of the convicts' mother , a frail old lady brings her grandchildren to meet her son. It was one of the most natural,real and effusive show of affection shown on the big screen, that I had seen, and the scene immediately made me remember the people in my grandfather's village.

V.Shantaram has used a simple screenplay without complex reactions to show the pathos and feelings experienced by the convicts. Still, certain scenes such as the one showing the Barber-convict requesting the Jailor to have a shave are very natural.

To put it in a nutshell, Do Aankhen Barah Haath is an extremely optimistic movie that can endure beyond eras and times.

In an attempt to reform a group of murderers a jail warden takes them to farm in a barren land. There they are free and earn their daily bread by learning to farm. Slowly they are integrated into the society.

Inspired by a true story, this film is a reflection of a new independent India. This film has great music and the songs are superb. Being a period piece it has some over the top moments. It also has one of the greatest shot where the warden is sitting on a cot and the murderers sitting in front of him with a pistol in between and a lullaby being sung in the background. This film deserves a watch for that moment alone.