Synopsis
The Vagabond
A petty thief is put on trial for the attempted murder of a lawyer. Through a series of flashbacks, the intertwining lives of the thief, the lawyer, and the thief's defense lawyer are illustrated.
A petty thief is put on trial for the attempted murder of a lawyer. Through a series of flashbacks, the intertwining lives of the thief, the lawyer, and the thief's defense lawyer are illustrated.
Awara, Awāra, The Vagabond, Le vagabond, Awara – Der Vagabund von Bombay, Avare, 流浪者, O Vagabundo, Бродяга, 아와르, ავარა, Vagabondul
DRAMA
I'll add more on a rewatch which will be soon because this is AMAZING but also this was Mao Zedong's favorite movie lol
A PASSAGE TO INDIA II: ATTACK OF THE SPICE
A grand film in about every sense of the word.
The production design is strikingly immense, especially in about every musical number, which are not only catchy and memorable but also so visually stunning. The dancing is on a whole other level; it’s truly whatever comes to anyone’s mind when they think of a Bollywood musical number, but arguably even bigger. Just magnificent. Probably the best definition of splendid. Especially in the “Naiya Teri Manjhdhar” and “Ghar Aaya Mera Pardesi” ones. Hands down one of the best shot movies out there.
The performances are great all around, from writer/director/lead Raj Kapoor as this well-meaning, charming man who, unfortunately, life has led…
From the moment the first song broke out into a Bollywood version of a Boris Barnet film, an ecstatically choreographed ode to labor shot with all the collective valorization of classic Soviet cinema, I was hooked. The film's collision of musical fantasy, social realism, regal melodrama and romance should not be this smoothly executed, yet it consistently slides without issue from its grim ruminations on systemic abuse and the inability of the outcast to better themselves into something as glorious as a musical number about the protagonist's fears of being damned to hell by a society that damns him to crime. There's something deeply funny about a film this committed to socialist reform being so opulently mounted.
Stating the obvious huh but this movie is sooooo seminal! I hadn't even realized it. It totally pre-empts and sets up Guru Dutt and even more so IMO, all of that Angry Young Man stuff that Amitabh is best known for. And yes, it's a huge step forward from Aag with its expressionist cinematography, a much better soundtrack and some really sharp cuts that show much more confidence than he exhibited in the previous film etc etc blah blah. But who cares. All of that is secondary and subservient to what really makes the film sing. Like that crazy-ass way-larger-than-life dream sequence that Raj Kapoor just plops on us right in the middle of the film with zero warning and…
pretty sure awaara's the og installment of the kapoor daddy issues cinematic universe
being an ardent fan of raj kapoor's works, nothing gives me more happiness than having the chance to witness his masterpiece on the silver screen. it was literally a surreal moment for someone like me. when the song awaara hoon started playing and reverberate through the theater, i felt like jumping out of the seat 😭😭😭 it was so gorgeous to watch the dream sequence and the cute chemistry between raj and nargis on the big screen. having watched the restored version, i now have greater respect for the cinematographer radhu karmakar who was known to spend 7 hours lighting a shot. prithviraj kapoor's bigger than life…
extremely luxurious crane shots and deep-focus expressionist staging, like if you mixed orson welles' macbeth with edgar g. ulmer's constrained hysteria. cycles through so many genres and tones that you can barely keep up with it, not to mention an encyclopedic array of film techniques reminiscent of abel gance's napoleon. somehow manages to combine socialist realism, rousseauian bildungsroman, AND gothic romance -- this is how it's done folks, only on the silver screen. gotta see more raj kapoor films!
🎶दुनिया में तेरे तीर का
या तकदीर का मारा हूं
आवारा हूं, आवारा हूं🎶
First of all, I’m glad I watched this film in theaters. It was truly a heartwarming experience.
Awaara is considered a classic not just in Indian cinema but worldwide, and it clearly demonstrates on screen why it holds such a high status.
Initially, I struggled to adjust to the film’s style. The acting felt uncanny and overly dramatic, with many songs, which is a common trait in films from that era. For the first hour, I found it a bit difficult to fully immerse myself. But gradually, as the story unfolded and I got accustomed to the old-school storytelling. I realized this heightened dramatization was a…
Awaara is a cinema milestone, influential and groundbreaking. It's a big, epic, populist work, made for the masses and in turn one of the most successful films ever made. It has everything, from melodrama to musical numbers, comedic gags to crime thriller elements, a social conscious and a romance.
Awaara is all about destiny, from the endlessly coincidental meeting of characters to the social message about how people are not born evil but are often driven to crime by circumstance. Awaara presents a society that judges people at birth, with characters adamant that sons of bad men must inherently be bad. This is a film looking for reform, to improve the society it depicts. Women are expected to be chaste,…