The famous dream sequence from Awaara (1951)

Awaara was the film that established Raj Kapoor as a major international film star; it also became one of the most popular Hindi films overseas (mainly in Asia and the former USSR) and was remade in many other national cinemas. It was also the first film Raj Kapoor made in his own studios and with his own team, from his stars (himself and Nargis) to his musicians (Shankar—Jaikishan) and singers (Lata Mangeshkar and Mukesh).

The wife (Leela Chitnis) of Judge Raghunath (Prithviraj Kapoor) is kidnapped by the evil Jagga. When the judge takes her back, he finds that she is pregnant, but does not believe the child is his. She brings up Raju (Raj Kapoor) in poverty and he falls into Jagga’s company. When he falls in love with the lawyer, Rita (Nargis), Judge Raghunath’s ward, the judge tries to forbid their relationship, convinced that the son of a thief will be a thief too. Rita defends Raju in court where all will be revealed …

This was the first film in which Raj Kapoor appeared as the Chaplinesque tramp. Unlike the usual Indian vagrant, Raj Kapoor is dressed as an American tramp, whose clothes Charlie Chaplin drew on in those famous oversized suits that appear to belong to someone else, thus undermining the suit’s respectability and recalling, perhaps, the circus clown. In Raj Kapoor’s case, the suit was too small, suggesting perhaps that he had outgrown what used to fit him. The western or colonial nature of the suit may also suggest an outfit discarded by a member of the ruling elite, and comically appropriated by a vagrant. Kapoor’s tribute to Chaplin would not have been missed by many in the audience, for Chaplin’s films had always found success in India. Raj Kapoor fans may be delighted to know that R. K. Studios have carefully preserved this outfit, shoes and hat, in their wardrobe department in Bombay.

This film is also memorable for its presentation of Raj Kapoor and Nargis as the great romantic couple, passionately bound to one another. Nargis is presented as the idealized object of male fantasies, whether in a swimsuit on the beach or as a divine, celestial saviour in the dream sequence. The great Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj’s real-life father, plays his on­screen father, often in moments of Oedipal drama. For despite the film’s reference to mythology, notably in the rejection of the pregnant mother, recalling Ram’s banishment of Sita in the Ramayana, this is a resolutely modern film, arguing that nurture, rather than nature, creates a person’s moral character, inserting Raj Kapoor’s quasi-Nehruvian or socialist views.

While almost every song in the film has become a classic — ‘Awaara hoon’, ‘Dum bhar jo udhar mooh phere’ — it is the nine-minute dream sequence that affords one of the most memorable set designs in Hindi cinema. The scene is not only stunning visually and aurally, but it also condenses into a dream many fears and anxieties about the film’s key themes of love, religion, women, motherhood, punishment and crime, which it then projects onto Achrekar’s sets themselves. The first shots show a spiral staircase surrounded by clouds, presumably in heaven. Dancers appear among statues of loops and swirls, singing and sliding down chutes. Rita stands at the top of a flight of stairs, dressed in fine fabric, sequins and shiny hair ornaments, dusted with glitter, singing a love song (‘Tere bina aag yeh chaandni’). Raj, dressed in a black T-shirt and trousers, then appears in hell, where he sings of his desires for love and spring (‘Yeh nahin, yeh nahin zindagi’) as he is surrounded by flames, dancing skeletons and other monsters. In the last sequence, he emerges through clouds to the sound of ‘Om namah Shivaya/Homage to Lord Shiva’ at the bottom of a flight of stairs leading to a Trimurti (a composite image of Brahma—Shiva—Vishnu), when Nargis bends down to take him by the hand and lead him to heaven.

Dressed in an embroidered bodice and skirt, she sings ‘Ghar aaya mera pardesi’ in front of a statue (of Devi, the goddess?) with flashing lights in the background. She begins to climb the spiral staircase and Raj follows her. They then climb more stairs towards a Nataraja (dancing Shiva) as Nargis appears in dancing clothes. As they begin to walk along a twisting road, a giant Jagga appears, holding a shining knife. Raj falls down yelling ‘Rita’ as she reaches over him but cannot save him. A montage of images, including one of Raj yelling as Rita appears superimposed, dissolves as Raj wakes up, shouting, ‘Maa, mujhe bachao/Mother, save me!’ – Rachel Dwyer

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1941, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – R.K. Films, Director – Raj Kapoor, Music Director – Shankar Jaikishan, Cast - Cuckoo, Om Prakash, K. N. Singh, Leela Chitnis, Raj Kapoor, Leela Misra, Honey O’brein, B. M. Vyas, Shashi Raj, Nargis, Prithviraj Kapoor

Nargis in Deedar (1951)

Adapting much of the K.L. Saigal type of melodrama, the tale opens with adolescents Shamu (Dilip Kumar) and childhood sweetheart Mala (Nargis). Mala’s rich father (Sapru) disapproves and when the children have an accident while horse-riding (a portent of the tragedy to come), he has Shamu and his mother evicted. The trauma kills the mother and turns Shamu blind. He is rescued and brought up by Champa (Nimmi) and her canny guardian, Choudhury (Yakub). Champa loves Shamu but he cannot forget Mala. Dr Kishore (Ashok Kumar), an eye surgeon moved by the music Shamu sings on the streets, restores the hero’s eyesight. Shamu then sees that Mala, to whom he has dedicated his life, is engaged to his benefactor, Dr Kishore, and he puts his eyes out again.

Dilip Kumar’s best-known tragic performance clearly evokes the Oedipus legend with blindness signifying an escape from the unbearable present and mourning for a lost innocence. The film, however, splits its 1ead protagonists, e.g. through turn-wipes repeatedly juxtaposing Dilip against Ashok Kumar and Nargis against Nimmi, a technique that evokes the Bengali literary melodrama (as does the cliche of the eye operation). In spite of the many unimaginative and maudlin sequences, some attempts at realism resemble aspects of Satyajit Ray’s approach, e.g. the long track along the kitchen floor in Champa’s hovel or the changing light patterns on the ceiling behind Shamu when he sings Naseeb dar pe tere azmaane aya boon. The film was edited by Bimal Roy and contains some of the best songs composed by Naushad and sung by Mohd. Rafi, Lata, Shamshad Begum and G.M. Durrani including Bachpan kai din bhula na dena, Chaman mein reh kai veerana, Dekh liya maine and Meri kahani bhoolne waley.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1951, Genre – Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – Filmkar, Director – Nitin Bose, Music Director – Naushad, Cast - Dilip Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Nargis, Nimmi, Yakub, Tabassum, Rattan Kumar and Sapru.

Raj Kapoor and Nargis in Shree 420 (1955)

Shree 420 was a worldwide hit on its release and even today it remains popular. Raj Kapoor reprises his Chaplinesque tramp of Awaara for this film. (The 420 of the title refers to the section of the Indian Penal Code that deals with fraud, so the film’s title means ‘Mr Fraudster’.)

Raju (Raj Kapoor) pretends to be knocked down by Seth Sonachand Dharmanand (a Rushdie-esque name to imply a rich hypocrite), whose car numberplate, 840, identifies him as a double cheat. Raju arrives in Bombay, where he meets a banana-seller (Lalita Pawar), who instantly becomes a mother figure. He then meets Vidya (‘Knowledge’; Nargis) when he pawns his honesty-medal for Rs 40, which is stolen immediately. After several setbacks he encounters Vidya again, along with her disabled father, who together run a school for poor children. Raj finds work in the Jai Bharat (‘Long-live Indian laundry and romances Vidya, but is picked up by Maya (‘Illusion’; Nadira), who realises his skill at the card table. Seth Sonachand asks him to join his business and Raju takes one of Maya’s saris from the laundry for Vidya to wear to a Diwali party at the nightclub, where he plays cards. Raju has to choose between Knowledge and Illusion. When Vidya runs away, Raju stays behind. Later he takes his winnings to her house, but she sends him away. Raju seems to have fallen into Maya’s trap as he begins to work on various scams, including ‘The Tibetan Gold Company’, but when Seth Sonachand’s housing scam proves too much for him, he is blackmailed into staying. Eventually, Vidya brings him back to the city in search of a better future.

The film, written by K. A. Abbas, the left-wing journalist, while drawing on Chaplin’s tramp, is a story of the villager’s journey to the city. Here, he quickly re-creates his networks, forming a family with the banana-seller and the pavement-dwellers, while seeking redemption in romantic love with the good woman, and eventually rejecting the temptations of the vamp and of money. The film shows how identities in the city become fluid and uses the symbols of clothing and masks to illustrate how these can be put on and cast off, typified in the song, ‘Mera joota hai japani’.

Along with the meaningful and well-constructed story, the film’s strength lies in the luminous presence of Nargis. Said to be Raj Kapoor’s lover, she worked with him on some of his greatest films before their relationship ended and she left him to return to her mentor, Mehboob, for her swansong, Mother India. Raj Kapoor, son of the great Prithviraj (star of India’s first talkie, Alam ara [1931], and of many others, including Phool and Sikander, though best remembered now for his portrayal of Akbar in Mughal-e Azam), had now established himself as one of Indian cinema’s leading directors, producers and actors, dominating Hindi film for four decades. He set up a team that was very similar to the old studio system where he began (in Bombay Talkies — see Achhut kanya and Kismet), with Nargis as his star and the Shankar—Jaikishen team as his music directors, along with a stable of personnel.

One of the glories of Raj Kapoor’s films is the music, and every song in this film has a great tune and lyrics (by Shailendra and Hasrat Jaipuri), and is well picturised and integrated into the narratives. ‘Mera joota hai japani’ sets the theme for the whole film, while ‘Ramaiya vastavaiya’ highlights the good nature of the pavement-people and their capacity for joy. Then there is ‘Mud mud ke na dekh’, revealing to Raju the temptations of money, and Vidya’s lament, where her image divides to stay behind and to run after him, ‘Jaane wale mudke zara dekh ke jaana’, as well as one of the all-time favouritelove songs of the Hindi film, ‘Pyaar hua, ikraar hua’.

Cast and Production Credits

Year – 1955, Genre – Crime, Drama, Country – India, Language – Hindi, Producer – R. K. Films, Director – Raj Kapoor, Music Director – Shanker Jaikishan, Cast - Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Rashid Khan, Pesi Patel, Hari Shivdasani, Iftekhar, Nana Palsikar, Shailendra, M. Kumar, Sheela Vaz, Nemo, Ramesh Sinha, Bhdudo Advani