Awaara

Awaara
Directed byRaj Kapoor
Written byKhwaja Ahmad Abbas
Screenplay byKhwaja Ahmad Abbas
Story byKhwaja Ahmad Abbas
V.P. Sathe
Produced byRaj Kapoor
StarringPrithviraj Kapoor
Nargis
Raj Kapoor
Leela Chitnis
K. N. Singh
Shashi Kapoor
CinematographyRadhu Karmakar
Edited byG.G. Mayekar
Music byShankar–Jaikishan
Production
companies
All India Film Corporation,
R.K. Films
Distributed byR.K. Films
Release date
  • 14 December 1951 (1951-12-14)
Running time
193 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageHindustani
Box officeest. ₹15.6 crore
Awaara (1951)

Awaara, also written Awāra[n 1] and known overseas as The Vagabond,[1][2][3] is a 1951 Indian crime drama film, produced and directed by Raj Kapoor, and written by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas. It stars Raj Kapoor along with his real-life father Prithviraj Kapoor, as well as Nargis, Leela Chitnis and K. N. Singh. Other members of the Kapoor family make an appearance, including Raj's youngest brother Shashi Kapoor, who plays the younger version of his character, and Prithiviraj's father Dewan Basheshwarnath Kapoor, playing a cameo in his only film appearance. The film's music was composed by Shankar Jaikishan.

The film expresses socialist themes,[1][4] and blends social and reformist themes with the crime, romantic comedy and musical melodrama genres.[5] The plot centers on the intertwining lives of a poor thief Raj (played by Raj Kapoor), the privileged Rita (played by Nargis), and Judge Raghunath (played by Prithviraj Kapoor) who is unaware that Raj is his son. In the film, Kapoor's poor "little tramp" character references Charlie Chaplin and was further developed in other Kapoor films such as Shree 420. Awaara is considered a milestone in the history of Bollywood.

The film became an overnight sensation in South Asia, and found even greater success further afield in the Soviet Union, East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.[6][7] In particular, the song "Awaara Hoon" ("I am a Vagabond"), sung by Mukesh with lyrics by Shailendra, became hugely popular across the Indian subcontinent, as well as in countries such as the Soviet Union,[8][9] China,[1][4] Bulgaria,[7] Turkey, Afghanistan, and Romania. The film was also nominated for the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.[10] The film is estimated to have sold over 200 million tickets overseas, including more than 100 million in China and about 100 million in the Soviet Union.[11][12] Owing to its popularity in so many countries, the film is a candidate for the most successful film of all time and is considered to be one of the greatest films of all time.[7] In 2012, Awaara was included in the 20 new entries to All-Time 100 greatest films by the Time magazine.


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  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference ref24hovij was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ East and West in India's Development, page 43, MIT Center for International Studies, 1959
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference moscow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ref19camuj was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Creekmur, Corey K. (2013). International Film Musical. Edinburgh University Press. p. 217. ISBN 978-0-7486-5430-7.
  6. ^ Sangita Gopal; Sujata Moorti (2008). Global Bollywood travels of Hindi song and dance ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-8166-4579-4. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  7. ^ a b c "Awaara 'most successful' film of all times". Gulf News. 1 October 2006. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference hindu_russia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Rajinder, Dudrah; Jigna, Desai (1 October 2008). The Bollywood Reader. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). p. 65. ISBN 978-0-335-22212-4.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference IMDB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference cctv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference boi-soviet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).