Jagte Raho (1956)

Directors:

Amit Mitra
Sombhu Mitra

Writers:

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (dialogue)
Amit Mitra (screenplay)

Release Date:

1956 (India)

Plot:

In hopes of improving his lifestyle, a poor peasant re-locates to Bombay virtually penniless. It is late at night and he is thirsty...

Plot Keywords:

Misunderstanding | Man With No Name | Critically Acclaimed

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Pradeep Kumar	...	Pradeep (Sati's boyfriend)
Sumitra Devi	...	Singing drunk's wife
Smriti Biswas	...	Sati
Pahadi Sanyal	...	Shashan - Meenu's husband (as Pahari Sanyal)
Sulochana Chatterjee	...	Meenu (as Sulochana Chaterjee)
Daisy Irani	...	Daughter of tenant
Nemo	...	Ramnarayan 'Rambabu' Malik
Motilal	...	Singing drunk
Nana Palsikar	...	Doctor
Iftekhar	...	Chandu (Leader) (as Iftikhar)
Vikram Kapoor
Moni Chatterjee	...	Baral Babu (as Moni Chaterjee)
Parsuram
Bhupendra Kapoor		(as Bhupendra Kapur)
Krishnakant		(as Krishna Kant)

Also Known As:

A Night in the City
Ek Din Raatre
Stay Awake
Under Cover of Night

Runtime:

Czechoslovakia:115 min (Karlovy Vary Film Festival) | India:149 min (Hindi version) | India:153 min (Bengali version)

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | Bengali

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

India:U

Company:

R.K. Films Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in New York (2009)

Soundtrack:

jaago mohan pyaare jaago

A Classic of the Classics, the best movie of all time

"Jagte Raho" a movie of Black & White celluloid era, in-my-humble-opinion, should be added to the International Movie Hall of Fame. Why? Just for one simple reason. OK. There are more than one reasons. This movie entertains, educates, makes you laugh and cry all at the same time. And to top it all, sends a striking message of humanity to the human beings all around.

What a realistic depiction of a common man's life! The movie narrates the naked truth of life's challenges in a tinsel town - the city of Bombay, especially for those unsophisticated, naive, innocent souls, who dreamed of making it big in that La-La land.

Every second of your life is a struggle even if it's for a drop of drinking water. What a great acting by (my idol) Raj Kapoor (R.I.P)! A very simple concept, a great story & a script and the deep message it sent to the society or should I say the world over.

How a thirsty innocent man is deliberately branded a thief by some of the biggest phonies of this world who like to call themselves "Shareef" (reputable) citizens. And these so-called reputable citizens make a scapegoat out of this poor, helpless and vulnerable soul, just so that they can hide the skeletons of their own in the proverbial "closet".

It absolutely disappoints and saddens me to see a man go through what he went through, in one night just for a mere sip of tap water to quench his thirst.

What a great performance by the entire crew (on and off the screen), and especially, Raj Kapoor and Motilal!

One has to watch the movie with a perspective that even today, millions of people back home in India(and many other parts of the world) have daily struggles to put up for a few drops of water…

…And this makes my heart cry and eyes filled with water.

Too bad they don't make movies like this anymore.

Long live Raj Kapoor and "Jagte Raho".