Awara

Author: Gayatri Chatterjee
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 136
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143029800

Description

Raj Kapoor's Awara, released over half a century ago, is widely regarded as a classic of Indian cinema. With its socialist message, the unprecedented intensity of its central romance, the memorable songs and the hugely popular character of the vagabond-the tramp as the quintessential common man-the film captured the imagination of a young, independent nation. It also made Raj Kapoor perhaps the most famous Indian in the erstwhile Soviet union, China and the Middle East.

In this award-winning book, first published in 1992. Gayatri Chatterjee examines every aspect of Awara to try and understand not just its popular and enduring appeal but also its intrinsic merits as pure cinema. By situating it in a historical, social and political context, and decoding key shots, sequences and songs, she analyses the different levels at which the film works.

Contents

Awara
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Acknowledgements

The Title of the Film: The Naming of Characters
The Father, and the Other Generations
The Woman: the Women
Love and Romance
Genre
Popularity, Pleasure, Popular C