Naya Daur (Color)

A true classic and a must-watch, this story revolves around a rural theme that is rarely attempted these days. It portrays the conquest of the human spirit, the dominance of man versus machine and is one of the finest cinematic works to come out of B.R. Films. The film is set in post-independence India where Industrialization is slowly creeping in.

Dilip Kumar enacts the role of Shankar, a straightforward villager who rebels against the city-bred Jeevan. Jeevan starts a bus service in the village and this leads to misery in the lives of the taanga (horse-cart) owners. When Shankar and the tanga owners object, Jeevan audaciously urges them to a race. A race between man and machine. If the bus wins the race, the tangawallahs would not complain further and if the taanga wins, the bus service would discontinue. The contest is a farce as it is impossible for a horse-cart to beat a machine-operated bus. At first, the villagers do not support the maverick Shankar but he does not lose hope. A desperate situation is turned around as more and more people gather to support him. Misfortunes and calamities plague the tanga owners but the film proves that nothing can deter the determined.