Awaara (1951)

A poor young man named Raj joins a criminal gang to feed his mother. But when he falls in love with Rita, he decides to reform himself for her.

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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Did You Know?

Trivia

When K.A.Abbas and. V.P Sathe, were writting Awaara, they wrote with Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor in mind as they knew only they will suit to play film.

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Connections

Referenced in Monsoon Wedding (2001)

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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

Magnificent, all-singing, all-dancing feast

A magnificent film - entertainment (singing dancing, sweet, sweet pathos) and excitement - who can forget the crazy Heaven/Hell sequence. The film is marred only by Raj's occasional violence to the character played by Nargis.

The songs are of a consistent hight quality. I have only one question - whatever happened to Honey O'Brien?

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Release Date:

7 April 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Awaara

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