Sahni, Tripti Bhaduri, Johra Sehgal, K.N. Singh and Damyanti Sahni. The film was not a commercial success but was considered a landmark film as it gave a new direction to Hindi Cinema for making more socially meaningful films later adopted by Bimal Roy and Raj Kapoor.

When this film was acquired by a Russian distributor to be shown there, Members of parliament made hue and cry that the film would malign the image of India abroad:

When Dharti Ke Lal was acquired by Sovexportfilm for exhibition in USSR there were MPs who raised a rampus in Parliament that India was being maligned on the Russian screens, but there was little that they could do at that late stage.(Mad Mad Mad World of Indian Films 87)

Doctor Kotnis ki Amar Kahani(1945) wasbased on the story of Khwaja Ahmad Abbas titled “ And One Did Not Come Back” He, with V.P. Sathe wrote the script of the film. This film is based on the true story of the life of Dr. Dwarka Nath Kotnis who was inspired by a speech of Pdt. Jawahar Lal Nehru and after completing his medical education decided to go to China to serve humanity. His father encouraged him and when he was boarding a ship to China, gifted him with a ring on which was depicted the map of India. He served the wounded Chinese soldiers but unfortunately catches some infection and succumbs to that. The Chinese people remember his sacrifice. His Chinese wife and son return to India. The major cast of the film