I heard about this film from IndiaTimes list of 25 Must See Bollywood Movies (for the record, I’ve now seen seventeen of out twenty-five).
Directed by, and starring V. Shantaram, Do Ankhen Barah Haath is based off a true story of a young jailer who takes six convicted murderers into the country to barren land where they transform from cold-hearted murderers to honest farmers.
I think that 1957 was to Bollywood as 1939 was to Hollywood. In 1939 Hollywood had Gone with the Wind, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Wizard of Oz as big name memorable films. Bollywood in 1957 had Mother India, Pyaasa, and Do Ankhen Barah Haath.
After thinking it over, I realized that Do Ankhen Barah Haath and Mother India are polar opposites.
Mother India stars Nargis, Raj Kumar, and Sunil Dutt. After a husband becomes disabled and abandons his family, a mother raises her two sons through hardships. In the end she is forced to kill one of her sons after he is deemed irreversibly corrupt.
Do Ankhen Barah Haath – based on a true story – has an idealistic young jailer who sets out to turn six hardened criminals into honest farmers.
I think it’s quite fascinating how in the same year there could be two films with such radically different views on the topic of criminals. Mother India sees criminals as irreversibly corrupt and better off dead, while Do Ankhen Barah Haath shows how even in the worst of criminals there is a bit of humanity left. They can be saved and made into productive members of society.
I was greatly moved by Do Ankhen Barah Haath. About eleven minutes in I was on the verge of tears. The ending, I admit, is quite filmi and melodramatic, but touching nonetheless.
Screencaps and some overview ahead…
The title of the film – Do Ankhen Barah Haath – literally translates as ‘Two Eyes Twelve Hands’, obvious really – one jailer, six murderers.
We start out Do Ankhen Barah Haath in the place you’d think – a jail.
The warden treats the criminals as sub-humans. He abuses him with his stick and shiny shoes.
In one of the offices, an inmate (Kisan) cleans the floor. Spotting a knife, he grabs it when the jailer gets out of his chair. He lunges…
The jailer (Adnath) is quick. He struggles, but instead of reaching for his stick, he reaches for a bell to call in help.
Adnath hands Kisan the piece of paper he was working on.
Kisan begs Adnath to forgive him and thanks him for listening to him.
He feels for Kisan and doesn’t want this incident to ruin his chances of seeing his children.
Adnath has plans to take some of the worst murderers in the jail and reform them by having them work some land out in the country. The warden doesn’t have any faith in Adnath’s experiment.
He reluctantly informs Adnath that his experiment has been approved by a higher authority. Adnath picks his inmates, insisting that Kisan be one of the six.
The begin their journey to the country-side, passing through a bazaar where one of the inmates (Shankar) steals a tiffin full of food.
Adnath discovers that they have stolen food and tell them to throw the food away. They all drop it, except for Shankar…
Shankar begins to walk away.
Adnath draws his gun, but stops himself. He convinces Shankar to drop the food.
After reaching the house in the country, it is late and they’re told to retire for the night. Shankar says that it’s time for them to be locked in. They’ve exchanged one prison for another.
The idea of freedom hits the convicts like a ton of bricks, and they don’t know what to do with it. They aren’t used to being treated as people.
Not able to sleep without shackles, they tie themselves together with ropes and axes.
Before they begin their first day preparing the land, Adnath sits them down for a prayer. The words speak to them, and they’re drawn in, though too proud to admit it.
After asking for their names, the convicts put their hands in coal, and their prints on a paper.
Adnath assigns them tasks in what I see as one of the most unintentionally hilarious scenes I have ever seen:
You beat someone to death with a hammer? Here – take this crowbar and carve out this well.
You hit your wife over the head with a large rock? Here – move these stones and start building a bridge.
You’re a barber who sliced and diced some of your new in-laws on your wedding night and have yet to be with your bride? Here – take this scythe and cut this grass.
You chopped up two children with an axe? Here – take this axe and remove these shrubs.
One of the convicts is given the task of fixing a fence, but it is viewed as ‘trading one prison for another’. Adnath hears this, and tears down the fence completely.
However, as a young woman selling toys passes by singing, the convicts lift the fence in front of them as to resist temptation. Eventually the young woman (Champa) becomes the one and only source of snarky feminism in the entire film (SHE WAS AWESOME).
Days pass, and Kisen is called aside.
Adnath had tracked down Kisen’s mother who has been taking care of Kisen’s children (since Kisen was in prison for killing his wife with a large rock). Kisen’s mother is old and losing her vision. They’re all worried about the welfare of the children.
Adnath is touched (as am I), and decides to take care of the children. Kisen is happy to be with his children. Champa promises Kisen’s mother that she will watch out for them.
However, the other convicts do not feel the same joy as everyone else…
So much that they even go as far as to plot to murder Adnath and run away.
They decide to have Dalia (the barber who sliced and diced some of his in-laws on his wedding night) slice Adnath’s throat while he shaves him.
Dalia’s conscience gets the better of him, and he can’t go through with it.
Adnath is crushed, and understandably so. He’s trusted these convicted murderers. He believed in them. He tried to help them. Treated them with respect and what does he get in return? A murder attempt.
He emotes. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist showing the silent-film star part of him shining through.
He discovers that they have all run off. He’s crushed. He’s forced to report this to the police and the warden. The warden issues ’shoot on sight’ orders. While Adnath is crushed by the series of events, he still believes that they can be changed. He begs the warden to call off the ’shoot on sight’ orders.
The warden tells him that he would only do that if Adnath would write that his experiment failed, thus Adnath would be giving up everything he had and everything he believed in.
At first, he can’t do it. But his desire for non-violence wins out over his belief that he can still change them, and…
… He signs.
Now, this is where I got completely confused. I believe that there is a big scene missing here on this DVD. Because at one minute the convicts are on the run and Adnath is giving up his dignity and ideals, and the next…
… They’re all happy together singing about the rain and the warden comes by to see how the experiment is going! They give him flowers and everything. I thought for a while that maybe, somehow the bit with them trying to kill Adnath was mixed up and supposed to go near the end, but as the film went on I realized that I was very wrong.
Is this the most complete copy out there? I hope not. I hope that there’s a better edition out there I can buy that has the missing scene, because I really have no idea how they got from being on the run to singing about the freaking rain!
Anyway, it’s time for harvest. They get all the produce on a cart which Adnath plans to take to sell. The convicts convince Adnath to let them take them to the bazaar and sell them. Adnath agrees, and tells them to be back before nightfall.
Champa doesn’t have any faith in them. I just love Champa. She was fierce and never backed down.
At the bazaar, they’re hassled by the vegetable dealer. He buys produce from everyone else and declares himself the only one allowed to sell vegetables. They don’t buy it, but the vegetable dealer convinces them to go back to his place for some drinks.
This, of course, leads them to be out long after dark. There was a clock shown and I’m guessing that they finally showed up back at the house around 2am.
Adnath is not pleased that they’ve come back so late, and add to that – drunk. He tells them to sleep it off, and they head to the sleeping room, only to see Champa sleeping along the way.
They grab at Champa and all drunkenly try to force themselves on her. Champa tries to fend them off, but even she is not strong enough to fight off all six of them.
Adnath bursts in and beats them down with a large stick, and it’s almost a “What the fuck is wrong with you?” kind of moment. He returns to his room to cool off. His experiment is falling apart and he’s being brought to the edge.
The convicts aren’t done yet…
… And that’s where I’m going to stop. I don’t want to spoil the rest of the film for anyone. It’s a really touching film. I left out quite a bit from this large chunk of the film, mostly having to do with Champa being awesome. I love her, but I didn’t want to put up like 200 caps in this post. I had a helluva time deciding what to put up and what not to.
I will leave you with this fabulous musical number:
There were a few songs in this film, but only a few actually involve full out dancing. It’s not like a Bollywood film nowadays with six points in time where they just stop and dance. It’s more artistic and doesn’t disturb the flow in anyway.
I’d highly recommend this film. You should all see it, then report back here so we can try to figure out how they got from being on the run to singing about the rain.
Rating: 5/5
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