Raj Kapoor’s Awara, released over half a century ago, is widely regarded as a\nclassic of Indian cinema. With its socialist message, the unprecedented\nintensity of its central romance, the memorable songs and the hugely popular\ncharacter of ‘vagabond’—the tramp as the quintessential ‘common man’—the\nfilm captured the imagination of a young, independent nation. It also made Raj\nKapoor perhaps the most famous Indian in the erstwhile Soviet Union, China and\nthe Middle East.\n\nIn this award-winning book, first published in 1992, Gayatri Chatterjee examines\nevery aspect of Awara to try and understand not just its popular and enduring\nappeal but also its intrinsic merits as pure cinema. By situating it in a historical,\nsocial and political context, and decoding key shots, sequences and songs,\nshe analyses the different levels at which the film works.\nContaining over 100 photographs, this exhaustive study brilliantly uses a single\nlandmark film to investigate the complex and often fascinating phenomenon of\npopular cinema in India.