There arent too many Indian movies listed in Time Magazine's Top 100 movies of all time list who had such tremendous global impact like the movie, that made India’s iconic R.K. Studio. This Indian Gem sold more tickets in alien countries than their own domestic movies, with sales north of 250M tickets worldwide in the 50s. Often called the world’s favorite movie, this is one of the most beloved Indian movies of all time not only in India but Russia, China, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Cannes had no other option but to nominate the movie for its Grand Prize award. If you search YouTube for its iconic songs, you will be surprised to find an unending list of covers from all over the world including Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkey, China, Japan etc. This is one of the key movies that was instrumental in creation of a film industry in India. The immortal classic “Awaara”.
Awaara (1951)
Directed by Raj Kapoor
Produced by Raj Kapoor
Starring - Raj Kapoor, Nargis, K.N. Singh, Leela Chitnis and Prithviraj Kapoor
Written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and V.P. Sathe
Music by Shankar Jaikishan
Budget/Box Office - INR 50 Lac/INR 15 Crore (INR 1,500 Crore Adjusted for Inflation)
Awards - Released before Filmfare and National Awards were established. Nominated for the Grand Prize in Cannes Film Festival
IMDB Rating - 7.9/10
RT Rating - 86%
My Rating - 10/10
Khwaja Ahmad Abbas wrote the film for India’s legendary director Mehboob Khan, Khan didn't show much enthusiasm about the movie and wanted to cast Ashok Kumar and Dilip Kumar which Abbas didn’t think was the right casting. Hence Abbas took the movie to Raj Kapoor who had just tasted success with his first hit “Barsaat” and was looking at launching his first movie under the newly formed banner of R.K. Films and shoot in his newly created R.K. Studio. Raj Kapoor loved the script and wanted to cast his father Prithviraj Kapoor but was afraid to ask him to sign up for the movie. So he reluctantly asked Abbas to narrate the story to his father. Prithviraj Kapoor loved the story and asked who was the movie’s director. When Abbas revealed that his son RK was going to direct the movie, Prithviraj warned Abbas not to hire such an inexperienced director to tell such a bold and great story. Despite his reservations and strong opinion Abbas managed to convince Prithviraj to join the movie’s cast.
Raj Kapoor had a tough time directing his f
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This article includes a lot of film stills. If you would like to see the illustrated version click here.
https://36toesproductions.medium.com/raj-kapoors-landmark-opus-awaara-a63806260018
Raj Kapoor’s 1951 Bollywood epic Awaara is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. More than enough time to deliver two plots, ten musical numbers, a Busby Berkley style dream sequence, a complex moral, and some religion too. It’s a giant-sized story of romance and tragedy coupled with a neo-realist ideology, that borrows heavily from film history.
The plot is baroque, to say the least, but its bare-bones comes down to a Judge named Justice Raghunath, whose honorable wife Leela is kidnapped by Jagga a notorious criminal. Jagga has stood before the judge in the past and was told that he was nothing more than the fulfillment of his own genetic destiny. The judge explains that “Thieves and murders give birth to more thieves and murders.” Jagga finds out that his hostage is pregnant and so returns her to the Judge. Later, when Leela gives birth, everyone thinks she was impregnated by Jagga during her captivity. The judge shuns the mother-child and Jagga makes sure the child grows up to be a criminal. All of this is only the premise.
The film is ostensibly about Raj the innocent child of Leela. An outcast whose fate will push the pendulum back and forth between nature or nurture. A boy of “superior” genetic stock, forced through circumstance, to live the life of a street urchin and thief. Will his genes win out or will his experiences?
There is a subtext at work that refers to the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana. The wife and mother, Leela, is likened to Sita who is the heroine of the Ramayana. Sita must go through a trial by fire to prove that her child was not the result of a union with her captor, the ten-headed demon Ravanna. In addition, the idea of banishment is central to The Ramayana as well as many other Indian stories. It traces back to figures like Mahavira and Buddha who exiled themselves in an effort to find wisdom.
Once religion is put on the table the whole film could be seen as being about caste as opposed to class. India is still struggling today to shed the oppressive caste hierarchy that has been in place for more than 3000 years. A person’s caste never changes. You are born into it and after you die your progeny will continue it.
Whether seen through a socio-political
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TSPDT 1245; highest ranking 709 in 2006; Director: Raj Kapoor; Writer: Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (as K.A. Abbas), V.P. Sathe (Story), Watched January 21st on the Criterion Channel IMDB
167 minutes. The premise and idea of this film are much more interesting and progressive than the movie is fun to watch.
But, to give credit where it’s due, this is possibly the most successful film of all time by number of tickets sold. By count it sold at least 100 million in China, 100 million in Russia and was a massive smash hit throughout South Asia so could be many hundreds of millions of tickets more. Although poor record-keeping has kept these facts obscured from boxoffice geeks like myself, this certainly is a candidate for #1 of all time.
The huge box office success helped ground this for me a bit because it kind of makes sense. Much like Avatar or the next Marvel or Star Wars movie to climb to the top, this was an impressively made film that leaned on very humanistic ideals, and catchy songs, to appeal to a wide group of people that could escape into a world where rigid caste systems were challenged and the human spirit could rise above inborn circumstances. Also, much like those films, there were some serious flaws that are only more apparent with age.
The most obvious one for me was the heavy-handed delivery of the message. The overall message was fine, and my only minor complaint would be there may have not been enough story to make this a 2 ½ hour film. But, scene by scene and obstacle by obstacle, the severity and hopelessness of the situation were revisited until it lost a bit of its effect for me. The characters were nearly caricatures and any high was met by a devastating low. Finally, and this is completely subjective, I just found the pacing a bit boring. Slow.
Oh, the film is about a judge that is completely governed by tradition and is so rigid that he is willing to cast aside his loving and doting wife and young baby son when a hint of scandal arises as to the true nature of the boy’s father. The irony that the judge dismisses his wife without a fair trial was not lost on me, and as expected the now single mother has a difficult time providing for her son and he casts aside a formal education for the opportunity to make a quick buck and help his family.
What transpires from a plot perspective could be resolved in 20 minutes, but over the duration of the film we see our main characters as sta
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Total reviewed for this sub: #241
TSPDT 1245; highest ranking 709 in 2006; Director: Raj Kapoor; Writer: Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (as K.A. Abbas), V.P. Sathe (Story), Watched January 21st on the Criterion Channel IMDB
167 minutes. The premise and idea of this film are much more interesting and progressive than the movie is fun to watch.
But, to give credit where it’s due, this is possibly the most successful film of all time by number of tickets sold. By count it sold at least 100 million in China, 100 million in Russia and was a massive smash hit throughout South Asia so could be many hundreds of millions of tickets more. Although poor record-keeping has kept these facts obscured from boxoffice geeks like myself, this certainly is a candidate for #1 of all time.
The huge box office success helped ground this for me a bit because it kind of makes sense. Much like Avatar or the next Marvel or Star Wars movie to climb to the top, this was an impressively made film that leaned on very humanistic ideals, and catchy songs, to appeal to a wide group of people that could escape into a world where rigid caste systems were challenged and the human spirit could rise above inborn circumstances. Also, much like those films, there were some serious flaws that are only more apparent with age.
The most obvious one for me was the heavy-handed delivery of the message. The overall message was fine, and my only minor complaint would be there may have not been enough story to make this a 2 ½ hour film. But, scene by scene and obstacle by obstacle, the severity and hopelessness of the situation were revisited until it lost a bit of its effect for me. The characters were nearly caricatures and any high was met by a devastating low. Finally, and this is completely subjective, I just found the pacing a bit boring. Slow.
Oh, the film is about a judge that is completely governed by tradition and is so rigid that he is willing to cast aside his loving and doting wife and young baby son when a hint of scandal arises as to the true nature of the boy’s father. The irony that the judge dismisses his wife without a fair trial was not lost on me, and as expected the now single mother has a difficult time providing for her son and he casts aside a formal education for the opportunity to make a quick buck and help his family.
What transpires from a plot perspective could be resolved in 20 minutes, but over the duration
... keep reading on reddit ➡This article includes a lot of film stills. If you would like to see the illustrated version click here.
https://36toesproductions.medium.com/raj-kapoors-landmark-opus-awaara-a63806260018
Raj Kapoor’s 1951 Bollywood epic Awaara is 2 hours and 45 minutes long. More than enough time to deliver two plots, ten musical numbers, a Busby Berkley style dream sequence, a complex moral, and some religion too. It’s a giant-sized story of romance and tragedy coupled with a neo-realist ideology, that borrows heavily from film history.
The plot is baroque, to say the least, but its bare-bones comes down to a Judge named Justice Raghunath, whose honorable wife Leela is kidnapped by Jagga a notorious criminal. Jagga has stood before the judge in the past and was told that he was nothing more than the fulfillment of his own genetic destiny. The judge explains that “Thieves and murders give birth to more thieves and murders.” Jagga finds out that his hostage is pregnant and so returns her to the Judge. Later, when Leela gives birth, everyone thinks she was impregnated by Jagga during her captivity. The judge shuns the mother-child and Jagga makes sure the child grows up to be a criminal. All of this is only the premise.
The film is ostensibly about Raj the innocent child of Leela. An outcast whose fate will push the pendulum back and forth between nature or nurture. A boy of “superior” genetic stock, forced through circumstance, to live the life of a street urchin and thief. Will his genes win out or will his experiences?
There is a subtext at work that refers to the ancient Indian epic The Ramayana. The wife and mother, Leela, is likened to Sita who is the heroine of the Ramayana. Sita must go through a trial by fire to prove that her child was not the result of a union with her captor, the ten-headed demon Ravanna. In addition, the idea of banishment is central to The Ramayana as well as many other Indian stories. It traces back to figures like Mahavira and Buddha who exiled themselves in an effort to find wisdom.
Once religion is put on the table the whole film could be seen as being about caste as opposed to class. India is still struggling today to shed the oppressive caste hierarchy that has been in place for more than 3000 years. A person’s caste never changes. You are born into it and after you die your progeny will continue it.
Whether seen through a socio-political
... keep reading on reddit ➡