The Hindu : Front Page : The fascination with ‘Awaara’

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The fascination with ‘Awaara’

London: The 1951 Raj Kapoor starrer Awaara, seen and enjoyed by a large number of people across the globe, can be a candidate for the title of the “most popular film of all times,” some British film experts have said.

Dina Iordanova, Professor at the University of St. Andrews, and other experts cite several texts and anecdotal evidence to state in a special issue of the journal South Asian Popular Cinema that Awaara may be a candidate for the title.

The journal maps the career of Indian films in various national contexts outside South Asia, and includes papers exploring the popularity of Indian films in places like Greece, Bulgaria and Africa.

The special issue on “Indian Cinema Abroad: Historiography of Transnational Cinematic Exchanges,” is co-edited by Professor Iordanova and Dimitris Eleftheriotis of Glasgow University. They have written extensively on Awaara in the issue.

Recalling her Bulgarian origins and childhood, Professor Iordanova said: “I knew Indian films long before I had met any living Indian. We knew next to nothing of India and the Indians; we did not know much of the personality of Raj Kapoor either. However, the fascination with a film like Awaara [‘Brodyaga’ in Bulgarian] was everlasting; everybody knew the actor’s ever-singing dancing persona. Nothing could match the experience of watching Awaara; this film was more fascinating than any other I can remember.” — PTI

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