Shree 420 [1955] : Raj Kapoor

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Since I have started watching films from the classical age, especially from 1940s & 1950s, I am getting, as I said before, a bit of a structuralist in finding the shared themes & reality that are omnipresence.  

The value of being authentic & simple in life is always lower in the eyes of people. The skilled and educated persons who suffered most to get the employment is a recurrent condition in Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s male protagonist as it is depicted in Raj Kapoor’s Shree 420 [1955]. While watching Shree 420, I was thinking simultaneously about Aparajito’s Apu & Aranyak’s Satyacharan who had experienced the same existential predicaments in life but Shree 420’s Raj projection largely satirical and cinematic melodrama but it touches the hearts of millions.




Sometimes I think what if Shree Raj Kapoor would not follow little tramp’s attire and attitude the way Chaplin did, and would make his own way. He is just gorgeously talented in facial expression and body gesture.


I have not a single idea that the ageless songs like “Pyar Hua Iqrar Hua", “Ramaiya Vastavaiya", "Ichak Dana Beechak Dana" & "Mera Juta Hai Japani" were from the same movie.

 

Shree 420 [1955]

Raj Kapoor

Hindi, India

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