Maa Bhoomi: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}

{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}

| screenplay    = [[B. Narsing Rao]]<br />Partho Banerjee (dialogue)

| editing        = Raj Gopal

| music          = [[Vinjamuri Seetha Devi]]

| studio        = Chaithanya Chithra International

| distributor    =

| released      = {{Film date|df=yes|1980|03|23}}

'''''Maa Bhoomi''''' ({{trans|Our land}}) is a 1980 Indian [[Telugu language|Telugu]]-language [[social problem]] film written and produced by [[B. Narsing Rao]], based on the novel ''Jab Khet Jage'' by [[Krishan Chander]] on the [[Telangana Rebellion]] in [[Hyderabad State]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/films/story/19890615-award-winning-b.-narasinga-rao-brings-quality-to-telugu-cinema-816201-1989-06-15 |title=Award-winning B. Narasinga Rao brings quality to Telugu cinema |work=India Today}}</ref> The directorial debut of [[Goutam Ghose]], depicts a typical life of villagers under feudalistic society in the Telangana region. The features [[Sai Chand]], [[Rami Reddy (actor)|Rami Reddy]] and [[Telangana Shakuntala]] in pivotal roles. The plot follows Ramaiah, a landless peasant who joins the [[Telangana Rebellion]] of 1948.

Released on 23 March 1980, the film was a commercial success and had a theatrical run of over a year.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kishore|first=E Sai|date=15 March 2015|title=35years on, still a benchmark|url=https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Hyderabad-Tab/2015-03-15/35years-on-still-a-benchmark/137481|url-status=live|website=[[The Hans India]]}}</ref>  Maa Bhoomi was India's official entry in the "Opera Primo" section at the ''[[Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]]'' of June-July 1980, and the ''[[Cork Film Festival]]'', October 1980,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/141_IPCatalogue1980-81.pdf |title=Filmtsav' 80 Pg 17 |publisher=DFF}}</ref> the ''Cairo and Sidney Film Festivals'' 1980.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm8IIFAAward.aspx?PdfName=8IIFA.pdf |title=8th IFFI Archived copy |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180101233112/http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm8IIFAAward.aspx?PdfName=8IIFA.pdf |archive-date=2018-01-01 |access-date=2018-01-11}}</ref> The film was showcased at the ''Indian Panorama'' of the 1980 [[International Film Festival of India]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/142_IPCatalogue1979-80.pdf |title=Indian Panorama 1979–80 |publisher=DFF}}</ref> ''Maa Bhoomi'' won the state [[Nandi Award for Best Feature Film]], and the [[Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu)]].<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Narsing Rao's films regale Delhi |date=21 December 2008 |publisher=webindia123.com |url=http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20081221/1134082.html |access-date=2012-08-25}}</ref> It is featured among [[CNN-IBN]]'s list of hundred greatest Indian films of all time.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/13200.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424003536/http://ibnlive.in.com/photogallery/13200.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 April 2013 |title=100 Years of Indian Cinema: The 100 greatest Indian films of all time |access-date=14 September 2016}}</ref>

The film follows the story of a young landless [[Telangana]] peasant named Ramaiah (Sai Chand) from Siripuram, Nalgonda, a region under foreign rule. The [[United Kingdom|British]] have appointed the [[Nizam]] as the region's governor. The Nizam, in turn, has appointed the [[Reddy]]s and the [[Patil (surname)|Patils]] as the Zamindars (Known locally as ''Doras'') of the region who collect taxes among various other things for the Nizam. Further, the Nizam has granted them with titles, [[Jagir]]s and judicial rights enabling them to seize thousands of acres of land from the peasants, turning them into tenants.

Ramaiah rebels against the corrupt Nizam leadership in Hyderabad. When his wife has to submit to sexual coercion by the officials, he befriends the Communists and participates in the independence struggle. The peasants formed various paramilitary groups and launch guerilla warfare attacks across the region with country-made weapons. They raid and take over regional ''Dora'' bases across rural Telangana at night and burn all the land documents found in the bases in the open yard symbolising their triumph. Eventually, they take over the village after the Indian Independence.

The ''Doras'' manage to escape to [[Hyderabad]] reporting the events to the Nizam leadership. The Nizam commands the [[Razakars (Hyderabad)|Razakars]], a private Islamist militia, which perpetrates a massacre of the Telangana peasants. After months of burning, looting, rapes and killings, the Indian army marches into Hyderabad and suppresses the Razakars and the Nizam with [[Operation Polo]] in September 1948 and annexes the Telangana region back into the Indian Union. In independent India, the Zamindars (''Doras'') are returned to power by joining the Congress government. The ''Doras'' have abandoned the Nizam and pledged allegiance to the Congress Party.

* [[Sai Chand]] as Ramaiah

;[[Nandi Awards]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ipr.ap.nic.in/New_Links/Film.pdf|title=నంది అవార్డు విజేతల పరంపర (1964–2008)|trans-title=A series of Nandi Award Winners (1964–2008)|publisher=[[Andhra Pradesh (magazine)|Information & Public Relations of Andhra Pradesh]]|access-date=21 August 2020}}(in [[Telugu language|Telugu]])</ref>

*[[Nandi Award for Best Feature Film|Second Best Feature Film]] - [[B. Narsing Rao]] & G. Ravindranath

*[[Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer|Best Screenplay Writer]] - [[B. Narsing Rao]] & Pran Rao

[[Category:Indian docudramas]]

[[Category:Telugu-language films]]