Deux yeux, douze mains

During a phase of my life, I had a roommate who had used to sing "Ai malik tere bande hum" (O Lord, we're thy servants!) pretty often, and that was the only reason I watched this movie (the song was from this movie, he had told me!), when it was broadcast by Dordarshan, the National Television Channel of India, a few years later. And I must admit, it was a good movie. Sure, it had all those mandatory songs, but yet the songs didn't intrude into the movie, at least for an Indian such as I, used to heavy and endless dose of songs in movies.

To me, the most impressive point of this movie was its simple yet nice story (apparently based on a real-life incident), which was devoid of many so-called masalas (spices!)in spite of the era in which it was made (Compare Do Bigha Zamin for cheap sentimentality, for example) and yet executed well.

It's long-enduring impact can be seen from the spoof enacted by Annu Kapoor for a T.V. series (I don't remember its name, though) which used to be in Zee TV as recently as in 2003.

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.

The master piece of all times .Nothing more to add

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.

Do Ankhen Barah Haath is a drama movie directed by Late V. Shantaram and stars Late V. Shantaram, Sandhya, Late Baburao Pendharkar and late B.M. Vyas.

This movie is one of the milestone of Hindi cinema and has attained a status of cult classic. With great direction, superb acting and beautiful music. The song 'ae malik tere bande hum' was super hit at the time of it's release and is still used as prayers in Indian schools in many parts of India.

The plot of the movie is fresh and execution is superb, the best part of the movie is that the director hasn't wasted much time on character development introduction and kept his primary focus on the plot.

Screenplay is good and will keep you engaged to the movie, acting is great and music is superb. The songs of the movie were chartbusters. Climax of the movie is emotional but has perfect ending.

This is one of the greatest movies ever made and a must watch. An Indian classic.