DO BOOND PAANI
In 1971
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas made ‘Do Boond Pani’. Title seems to be inspired from ‘Do
bigha zameen’ the outstanding film of Bimal Roy of early fifties. But the
inspiration seems the same- social responsibility. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas was a
legendary, committed film maker and a known Marxist. He made many films on
social issues of the downtrodden and though they did not make money but were
critically acclaimed , they did win National film awards such as –‘Dharti ke
Lal’, ‘Shahar aur Sapna’, ‘Do boond pani’, ‘Saat Hindustani’( Goa liberation).
He was primarily a writer/journalist who wrote life long the last page of the English
weekly ’Blitz’ edited by the charismatic ; Rusi Karanjia. He was also a script
writer and wrote some famous scripts for Raj Kapoor- ‘Awaara’,’Shri 420’, ‘Bobby’
and,’Mera Naam Joker’. He also directed Raj Kapoor and Nargis in the film ‘Anhonee’ in which Nargis gave a good performance in a double role. One
of the founding members of IPTA in the forties ( Indian Peoples Theatre association)
to which were attached many great artists such as Balraj Sahni, Damyanti Sahni,
Shambhu Mitra and many young talented people who had dreams about India and
devoted much of their time and energy in social causes.
The film is about a village in Rajasthan where
the water was scarce. People bathed on special occasions. The hero of the film
Ganga ( Jalal Agha ) is newly married to Gauri (Simi) but owing to water
scarcity people start leaving the village. But he stays back; as he does not
want to abandon his ancestral home . He is emotionally attached to his land.
However there comes a scheme to build a Dam and canal to bring water to Rajasthan.
Ganga leaves his village to enrol in the
Dam construction. His family is alone ; wife pregnant and sister raped by a
decoit. He too dies to save a disaster. Finally water arrives promising greenery;
his wife bears a son.
The film won
the Nargis Dutt award for national integration. It has nice music by Jaidev and
some of the songs such as ,’pital ki mori gagri dilli se mol mangayi’’and ‘ja re pawaniya piya ke des ja..’ were
popular.
Though the film did not intend to propagate at that time but what emerges now owing to the present times is that Ganga loved his village. To all of us it appeared as arid piece of land from where the people should move to fertile place. But Ganga never thought to leave his village . Perhaps because the bones of his ancestors were buried there. Perhaps he knew of no other place. This was his Nation/country/world. And therefore people have their own world their own cocoon from where they draw strength. Their world may not match with our ideas of Nation, but we must respect that. Further this emotion has been there in individuals and societies since the time the societies have formed. They do not need any prescription. It is different from others but it is in harmony with the other societies. We must learn to acknowledge their emotions
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