''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'' () is a 1957 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

-language

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film directed by V. Shantaram, who also starred. It is considered to be one of the classics of Hindi cinema and is based on humanistic psychology. It won a Silver Bear at the

8th Berlin International Film Festival The 8th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 27 June to 8 July 1958 with the Zoo Palast as the main venue. The festival was opened by then West Berlin's newly elected mayor Willy Brandt. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Swed ...

and a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

in the new category Samuel Goldwyn International Film Award for best film produced outside of the United States. The film is also remembered for the song "Aye Maalik Tere Bande Hum", sung by

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

and written by

Bharat Vyas Bharat Vyas (1918–1982) was a noted Indian lyricist who wrote the songs for Hindi films in 1950s and 1960s. Biography Bharat Vyas was born in Bikaner in British India on 06 January 1918 in Pushkarna Brahmin family. He studied B.Com. at Calcutt ...

. The inspiration for this movie was a real experiment conducted by

Maurice Frydman Maurice Frydman (''Maurycy Frydman'' or ''Maurycy Frydman-Mor'' in Polish), aka ''Swami Bharatananda'' (20 October 1901 in Warsaw, Russian Empire – 9 March 1976 in Bombay, India), was an engineer and humanitarian who spent the later part of his ...

, who refused to have his name credited at the end of the film. He went so far as to tell the movie maker, V Shantaram, that he would sue him in court if his name were to appear anywhere in the credits. This incident is related in an interview of David Godman, who talks about Maurice Frydman's extraordinary life and connection to India. The film was inspired by the story of an "

open prison An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...

" experiment: Swatantrapur in the princely state of

Aundh Aundh may refer to * Aundh State, a princely state in British India ** Aundh Experiment, an early test of village-level self-government in British India * Aundh, Satara The town of Aundh is situated 26 mi. S.E. of Satara. Population (in 2 ...

near Satara. Now, Swatantrapur is part of

Atpadi Atpadi is an administrative town of the Atpadi Taluka of Sangli District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Atpadi is located north-east of Sangli District and shares borders with the adjacent Solapur and Satara Districts. The town has a tal ...

tehsil in

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks ...

district of Maharashtra. It was recounted by screenwriter

G. D. Madgulkar Gajānan Digambar Mādguḷkar (1 October 1919 – 14 December 1977) was a Marāthi poet, lyricist, writer and actor from India. He is popularly known in his home state of Mahārāshtra by just his initials as Ga Di Mā (गदिमा). He ...

to V. Shantaram. In 2005, ''Indiatimes Movies'' ranked the movie amongst the ''Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films''. During filming, V. Shantaram fought with a bull and injured an eye, but his eyesight survived. The film was later remade in 1975 as the

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory o ...

film ''

Pallandu Vazhga ''Pallandu Vaazhga'' () is a 1975 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed and edited by K. Shankar. A remake of the 1957 Hindi film ''Do Aankhen Barah Haath'', it stars M. G. Ramachandran and Latha. The film revolves around a prison warden ...

'' and in 1976 as the

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken ...

film ''

Maa Daivam ''Maa Daivam'' () is a 1976 Indian Telugu-language drama film, produced by Maniyan and Vidyas Lakshman under the Udayam Productions banner and directed by S. S. Balan. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao and Jayachitra, with music composed by K. V. ...

''. The core plot line is thematically similar to the 1952 movie ''

My Six Convicts ''My Six Convicts'' is a 1952 American film noir crime drama directed by Hugo Fregonese. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Blankfort from the autobiographical book ''My Six Convicts: A Psychologist's Three Years in Fort Leavenworth'', written ...

''.

Plot

The film portrays a young jail warden Adinath, who rehabilitates six dangerous prisoners released on

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

to persons of virtue. He takes these notorious, often surly murderers and makes them work hard with him on a dilapidated country farm, rehabilitating them through hard work and kind guidance as they eventually produce a great harvest. The film ends with the death of the warden at the hands of the oxes of a corrupt enemy who wants no competition in the profitable market he controls. The film takes the viewers through several scenes that set a strong moral lesson that through hard work, dedication and concentration a person can accomplish anything. It also explains that if people focus their energy on a worthy cause, success is guaranteed. In the final scene, all six thieves became hardworking persons and decided to live at that hut where they learn all things because they think the two eyes of Adinath are observing them whether they are doing good things or bad and they raise their hands to salute the positive energy of Adinath and film ends with the song sung by Champa and one of the favourite songs of Adinath, "Aye Maalik Tere Bande Hum".

Promotion

Noted painter

G. Kamble Gopal Balwant Kamble (22 July 191821 July 2002) was an Indian painter known for painting Bollywood movie posters and realist portraits of people from Maharashtra. Early life Kamble was born on 22 July 1918 in the Mangalwar Peth neighborhood of ...

was hired by Shantaram to paint the movie posters. Kamble produced a 350-ft banner at Bombay's Opera House in 1957.

Cast

* V. Shantaram as Adinath * Sandhya as Champa *

Baburao Pendharkar Baburao Pendharkar (22 June 18968 November 1967), was an Indian actor, director, film producer and writer. Personal life Baburao Pendharkar was born on 22 June 1896 in Kolhapur in a Brahmin family. Born to Radhabai and her patron Dr Gopal Pendha ...

as Superintendent * Ulhas as Shanker Passi * B. M. Vyas as Jalia Nai

Soundtrack

Awards

References

External links

*
Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957)
on YouTube {{V. Shantaram 1957 films 1950s Hindi-language films Indian epic films Indian prison films Films directed by V. Shantaram Best Feature Film National Film Award winners Films scored by Vasant Desai Hindi films remade in other languages Indian drama films 1957 drama films Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners