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Awaara (1951)

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

Drama