Wednesday, December 31, 2008

JAGTE RAHO (1956)

There is a wise saying in Hindi-
“Apne apne hamam me sab nange hi hota hai.”
Means-Everyone is naked inside the bathroom (privacy). The movie gets a witness to pip an eye into the lives in privacy of so called sophisticated people of the society who makes hue & cry about social morals & character in public but in the closet they are all culprits. Its story of one midnight where a thirsty villager is labeled as a thief by everyone. He hides himself one after another different houses & get witness to the reality of a private affair, false pride, a husband who steal money from his own wife, a drunkard who seeks a prostitute in his wife, jealous neighbors, a man who declared prize money to catch a thief was himself printed fake currency, a quack doctor who issues fake dead certificates just for sack of money & Tamasha seeker Junta… the list goes on & on. It’s indeed a powerful satire on society’s hidden dark face.
In one of the touching scene when RK hid inside a dispensary got glance upon fresh currency he tried to accumulate all the bundles of notes. Suddenly his eyes caught a sight of a skeleton & he gained his conscience back. What a message by the scene without a single line or word !!! A man who was considered as a thief still follows his conscience of soul in the time of crisis & at the same time what the hell so called social servants are doing.
Watch the climax scene where crowd gathered to catch RK shoting & pelting stones towards him suddenly forget & forgive him as soon as currency notes started falling from his pocket. Money makes people forget everything- the cause & effect also.
Its perfect title of the film which proclaimed – “Jagte Raho (Samaaj ke asli choro se jo apne apne gharo ke andar chupe baithe hai)…Jagte Raho (all you hidden rats of crime- God is watching you…)
Personally I adore Raj Kapoor as a filmmaker & considered ‘Awara’ the best effort to tell a story (full credit to writer K A Abbas) but I do not consider him as a serious actor but for this film I want to take my words back as he had done honestly a sincere effort to portray the character with his natural ease. RK remained almost silent throughout the film & portrayed his expressions until the last climactic speech with lathi in his hand & my god what a short but effective words which still touches to us after so many years. That’s the soul of true classic.
It’s a very simple but thought provoking film of early 60’s which even today seems probable. The film was not directed by RK but by Shombhu Mitra & Amit Mitra who also scripted the film. Even this is the only movie where one of my favorite composer Salilda & the lyricist with class A- Shailendra Colloborated & composed one of the fine Mukesh classic - “Zindagi Khwab Hai…” in this RK film.

Highly recommended to all Indian cinema classic lovers.

No ratings for classics right!!!

1 comment:

abhishek said...

the 1st thing which comes into my mind when i hear about this movie, is the last scene where his anger bursts out on the crowd....."pyaas lagi thi, pani pine ghusa tha, to chor chor chillane lage......!!" if anyone has seen this movie, then it will remain etched out in his memory for ever. raj kapur in a typical villager's attire, with unshaven, confused, overawed by the nudity of the society, and almost smile less look, was impressive. independent india seen through the eyes of "raju"....which took ahead the story of sree 420, awara and jis desh mein...
i have seen it my childhood, n i laughed at my wits end whenever that drunkard came on screen. need to watch it again....thanks for this work hiren bhai. i wish todays people watches these stuffs.