Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai

A simple innocent guy with a heart of gold is abducted by bandits; and he is determined to raise the bandits from their bad deeds and make them good people. A single man against hundreds of bandits seem to be a bit preachy and unrealistic, but the story somewhat works in "Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai" which is considered one of the classics of Raj Kapoor, which won several awards including Best Picture of the year.

Well, there are certain flaws in the film, which can be overlooked for the goodness and time period of the film. The innocence of Raj Kapoor or the heroine, Padmini is a bit overdone; but Raj Kapoor gives a brilliant performance, just like the one Aamir Khan did in "Pk", asking simple innocent questions whose answers convert lives of many. The music and camera work deserves a huge applaud and captures the mood of patriotism effectively with memorable songs like "Aa Ab Laut Chalein," "Begani Shadi Mein Abdullah Deewana," or the title song itself. The camera work is superb in capturing the landscapes full of caves and gorges portraying the areas of bandits.

Pran as usual appears a regular villain; but Lalita Pawar, in her very small role, leaves her impact. Overall, the film despite being overlong, never bores you and by the end, you leave your seats with a gratitude. Besides a simple lovable story, the film carries a nice message that bandits are also human with a loving family who need to be awaken from their bad deeds, for which the film deserves to be considered a classic.

Rating: 3 stars out of 4