Awaara (1951)

Raju lives as a derelict as a result of being estranged from his bitter father, a district judge, who threw Raju's mother out of the house years ago. Raju shacks up with a Dacoit (... See full summary »

Director:

Raj Kapoor

Writers:

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (dialogue) (as K.A. Abbas), Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (screenplay) (as K.A. Abbas)

Stars:

Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Prithviraj Kapoor

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Raj Kapoor	...	Raj Raghunath
Nargis	...	Rita
Prithviraj Kapoor	...	Justice Raghunath (as Prithviraj)
K.N. Singh	...	Jagga
Shashi Kapoor	...	Young Raj (as Shashiraj)
Cuckoo	...	Bar Dancer
B.M. Vyas	...	Dubey (Rita's Father)
Leela Mishra	...	Mr. Raghunath's Sister-In-Law (as Leela Misra)
Baby Zubeida	...	Young Rita
Leela Chitnis	...	Leela Raghunath
Honey O'Brien
Om Prakash Mehra	...	(as Om Parkash)
Raju	...	(as Rajoo)
Mansaram
Rajan

Storyline

Raju lives as a derelict as a result of being estranged from his bitter father, a district judge, who threw Raju's mother out of the house years ago. Raju shacks up with a Dacoit (pickpocket bandit) as his surrogate father only to realize that the man is actually responsible for the original misunderstanding between his parents. Raju kills him, and then tries killing his father, but fails, is arrested, and is taken to court right before his very own father, who presides there as the Judge. Raju has his childhood girlfriend as his legal representative, and the onus is now on his father, who must pass judgment without showing any personal sentiment.

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Plot Keywords:

abandonment | prejudice | suspicion of adultery | anti hero | orphan | 

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

7 April 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Tramp

Company Credits

Production Co:

All India Film Corporation, R.K. Films Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

193 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Raj Kapoor and. K.A.Abbas, worked toghether for many years, from starting of their carer to end for almost 30 years, from Awaara to Heena.

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Connections

Remade as Avare (1978)

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Soundtracks

Awara Hoon
Sung by Mukesh
Music composed by Shankarsingh Raghuwanshi and Jaikishan Dayabhai Panchal (as Shankar-Jaikishan)
Lyrics by Shailendra

User Reviews

The Secret of This Movie

I saw it as a kid, sometime in 1957 or 1958. I was marveled and for a long time the movie remained in my heart. I was humming the Awaara Hum all the time, I was imagining myself as Raj, I was thinking at Rita. I started to consider myself a grown up: after all also Raj started in the movie as a kid and became a grown up. I knew now his songs, I knew so all I needed to be a grown up.

Well, I was a kid; it seems that also grown ups were in love with Awara; someone told me of a respectable physician who had been seen hanging around and humming Awaara Hum.

And this was what was happening those times in Romania. And in Bulgaria. And in the Soviet Union. And in Turkey. Kids and grown ups were humming the songs, imagining themselves as Raj, unconditionally in love for Rita, kids considering themselves grown ups, grown ups behaving like kids.

The life of this movie was becoming a legend.

I watched again the movie, a couple of days ago, on TV. Of course it gave me an immense pleasure and I began (jokingly this time, while clearly happy) to sing Awaara Hum again.

Did I notice this time something that I had missed years ago? Well, this time I was able to examine the fascination conveyed by this movie, surrounding this movie. I was able to examine it, as I was now detached; long time ago I had been immersed in the fascinating universe of Awara.

I was able this time to observe that the fascination was not coming from the plot; it was from somewhere beyond. The actor playing the father of Raj was also in real life the father of Raj Kapoor. The same with the actor playing Raj as kid: he was the brother of Raj Kapoor. As for Nargis, the great actress playing Rita, she was in real life the great love of Raj Kapoor. And all the rest of the cast was infused with the chemistry among these guys: their reciprocal chemistry, their chemistry for the cinematic art.

I think at the secret of this movie: it has a secret, no doubt about. You see, in 1949 the Japanese Ozu had created Late Spring, followed by Early Summer in 1951, the same year Raj Kapoor created Awara; I consider Ozu one of the greatest masters of cinema; in 1956 the Indian Satyajit Ray would create Pather Panchali, which is maybe one of the most profound movies of all times; followed by Aparajito and then by The World of Apu. Well, Awara stands, courageously, in my preferences among the movies of these titans, and this because it has a secret of his own.

Many noted the Chaplinesque dimension of the tramp created by Raj Kapoor in Awara. And clearly Kapoor had Charlot in his mind: the same humorous courage to stand against all odds. But, it's not only Charlot in Awara; you feel there also the air of films noirs, while the romance, saturated with music, has a surrealist poetry.

And maybe here is where the secret lies: this movie was created with the pleasure for creating cinema; with the passion to succeed in bringing on the screen a perfectly popular movie. If you want to understand what Bollywood means, you should see this movie from 1951. A movie openly looking for popularity because made by someone in love for the people, someone loving to tell stories to enjoy the attendance. Awara has a clear social message, but, as someone has very well observed, it is not a popular movie made to convey the message, rather the opposite: the message serves to convey a popular movie.