Mere Desh Ki Dharti Movie Review: A Miscalculated Mixture Of Rural Farmers' Issues, Modern Agriculture & Urban Unemployment

One of the earliest films I remember that broke the silence on urban unemployment was King Vidor's silent drama The Crowd (1928). The film is largely known as a classic romantic drama, but it has remained in my memory as one of the finest pathbreaking films from the early days of cinema. Then came Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936). More like a satire — the film again broached the issue of unemployment and young chaps' depression. Chaplin made another film that spoke about unemployment with Monsieur Verdoux (1947) set in the depression era. From Do Bigha Zameen (1953) to a modern classic like Upkar (1965), Indian cinema has produced many classics about farmer's tragedies. For the unemployment issue, I remember Bimal Roy and Kishore Kumar's Naukari (1954), but in modern Bollywood we don't have any films immensely focused on these issues. Mere Desh Ki Dharti is quite a mix of these three issues: farmers' suicide, urban unemployment, and modern agriculture. However, it is a below par attempt, which has an honest subject but is dishonest in the storytelling.

Two working-class urban boys, Ajay (Divyenndu) and Sameer (Anant Vidhaat), lose their jobs while trying to grow in the forest of the corporate world. The two engineers decide to commit suicide, but then comes a new light in their dark lives, a second chance. Ajay and Sameer travel to an unknown rural village, see the happiness of living life, and decide to make the villagers free from basic farming issues.

It's a comedy and a drama, but it also has a little bit of romance and a social message too. The film also portrays the harsh realities of farmers in the villages of India. Like I said, it's quite a mix, but it's miscalculated. The screenplay is scattered and fails to stick to the matter, which was very serious and important. Actually, this topic needed a keen eye to look at it, and the same script could have been told in better ways.

Talking about performances, it's all about Dibyenndu and Anant's show. Dibyenndu is not a newcomer anymore, so I can say he is pretty mature in the school of acting. Well, he is decent, but I personally expected more. Anant Vidhaat has surpassed my expectations, though. He is damn freaking awesome in the outburst scene against his boss. He wasn't just representing his character in that scene, but he was representing every single engineer and every single corporate worker who deserves the promotion but doesn't get it. Anupria Goenka looks beautiful as Gaon Ki Chori, but performance-wise, she could have done better. Inaamulhaq as Pappan is a full-to-dhamaal show. Not a single moment of boredom. His character is so entertaining and those dialogues are so good that you even forget the script's faults for a while. In the supporting roles, Brijendra Kala, Rajesh Sharma, Avantika Khattri, Farrukh Jaffar and Atul Srivastava look fairly decent.

The film has so many loo breaks and unfortunately it's too long to hold the small concept. In the first half, it showcases the corporate world set in the city, and then the second half takes you into the rural setting. The idea of keeping two parts in two opposite places was actually nice, but somehow, it lacks the skills of smart storytelling. Moreover, its small budget doesn't allow it to go beyond a certain limit, and that's why it remains stuck in a limited zone.

Piyush Mishra's dialogues try to throw some life into this dead screenplay, but it doesn't go far from its smaller reach. The music isn't that kind of a big hit, so you can't really enjoy it. However, Mere Desh Ki Dharti will awaken that nostalgia of Manoj Kumar for you if you are ready to accept Sukhwinder Singh's voice for it. Faraz Haider's direction could have managed to deal with the script better, but it fails flat right on that one hector farm. Overall, Mere Desh Ki Dharti may please some chunk of the audience, but the major section will be disappointed with it. A clear case of a good idea falling in wrong hands.