The small farmer Hari Mondal (Puri) supports an extended family working on his little plot of land. When he tries to obtain a loan from his absentee landlord living Calcutta, Mondal finds himself ensnared in a lengthy legal battle, lasting from 1967 to 1977, to preserve his political rights as a sharecropper. In the process, his family is destroyed. One of the better known of several films produced by the communist government of West Bengal to portray through fiction their political programmes: in this case, Operation Barga, a successful campaign of land for landless tillers. Benegal starts the film with Om Puri introducing himself, the cameraman, scenarist and other crew members who are to enact the performance to follwo. The rest of the film, however, once it starts, attempts no further alienation devices except perhaps a spectacular and stagey scene of lightning and floods.

Starring

Victor Banerjee, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapoor, more..

Director

Shyam Benegal

Language

Hindi

Genre

Release Date

Tue Jan, 01 1985

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Victor Banerjee

... Jotdar Bibhutibhushan Ganguly

Om Puri

... Hari Mondal

Pankaj Kapoor

... Village Teacher

Noni Ganguly

... Bolai Mandal, Hari's younger brother

Sreela Majumdar

... Panchi

Shama Zaidi

... Story / Writers

Purna Das Baul

... Music Director

Shyam Benegal

... Director

Govind Nihalani

... Cinematography