This movie is a must see. It shows poverty with a humanistic approach in 1953 India. I went to Calcutta in 1999 and people still ride on human rickshaws (a person runs barefoot on streets while pulling the rickshaws for few cents). It is a very sad. It is heart breaking. In this movie get to see a common man problems and how he or she deals with it. It shows how corrupted the rich are and using the poor for their own means. This is how a 1/3 of India lives in today hi tech India. This is how people are suffering with all the economic boom India has. This is how people live in today's Independent and Free India. This movie is a must see.