Shree 420
Directed by Raj Kapoor
Written by Kwadja Ahmad Abbas and V. P. Sathe
1955/India
R.K. Films Ltd.
First viewing/Netflix
[box] There is nothing in this world except love. The more you spread it or give it, the more it expands. The more you accept love, the stronger it becomes. The more you bring out love, the better and greater you become. There are many forms of love. If you make it narrow, then it becomes selfish. Selfish love can benefit a person but he loses his significance. — Raj Kapoor[/box]
Another entertainment from the Chaplin of Bollywood.
Raj (Raj Kapoor) is having no luck hitch-hiking to the big city where he hopes to find work. Finally, he decides to collapse in the middle of the road. He is picked up by a rich man and his family who say they will take him to the hospital. He doesn’t like this idea so he “wakes up” when he hears this. He is ejected from the car as a fraud and reflects that he gets help when he lies and abuse when he tells the truth.
He is a fish out of water in the big city and goes through further hard knocks before he is adopted by a kindly banana vendor and other poor folk who live on the pavement. Although he is a college graduate, the only job he can get is in a laundry. After a rocky start, he begins courting a poor school teacher (Nargis).
Finally, when he goes to deliver clothes to the house of a rich family, he reveals his prodigious school at cheating at cards. This turns out to be the same family that picked him up hitchhiking. They put his talents to work and eventually he becomes a con artist shilling for the father of the family. The school teacher is disgusted with him. When he is asked to con the poor out of money they think will buy them houses, he sees the error of his ways.
As usual, the plot is secondary to the many catchy tunes and production numbers. There is a message of solidarity among the poor underlying the whole thing. Kapoor is a talented physical comic and has a really appealing personality that makes everything go down easily.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXLzfldeDcM
Clip – song
