== Shri 420 ==
aka Mr 420

1955 177’ b&w Hindi

d/p [[Raj Kapoor]]

pc [[R.K. Films]]

st/co-sc K.A. Abbas co-sc V.P. Sathelyr Shailendra, Hasrat Jaipuri c Radhu Karmakar m Shankar-Jaikishen

lp Raj Kapoor, Nargis, Nadira, Nemo, Lalita Pawar, M. Kumar, Hari Shivdasani,
Nana Palsikar, Bhudo Advani, Iftikhar, Sheila Vaz,
Ramesh Sinha, Rashid Khan, Pesi Patel

Having played a tramp in [[Awara]] (1951),
Kapoor elaborates his vagabond image further
with this sentimental story about Raju (Kapoor),
a country boy carrying the archetypal bundle on
the end of a stick over his shoulder, who tries to
make his fortune in Bombay. The city is
presented in terms of Abbas’s familiar
stereotypical contrast between the corruption of
the urban rich and the warm-hearted poor (e.g.
Pawar as the fruit-seller). Raju falls in love with
Vidya (Nargis), a poor schoolteacher who has a
paralysed father. Maya (Nadira) is the femme
fatale who embroils Raju in a decadent life. Raju
is seen gambling, playing the trumpet in a club,
surrounded by dancing-girls (the number
Mudmud ke na dekh), and he becomes a
conman in the employ of Maya’s friend Seth
Dharmanand, a ruthless capitalist.
When he is used to swindle the homeless, Raju
rebels and a lively chase involving a bag of
money provides the bridge to the happy ending.
Opening with the Chaplin number Mera Joota
hai japani (sung by Mukesh), the film includes
some of the star’s most famous star songs: the
carnivalesque Dil ka haal sune dilwala (sung by
Manna Dey) and the best-known Kapoor-Nargis
duet, performed in the rain as they fall in love,
Pyar hua ikraar hua (sung by Manna Dey and
Lata Mangeshkar).


[[Film]]