Jagte Raho (1956)

1956

Directed by: Shombhu Mitra & Amit Maitra

Music: Salil Choudhary
Lyrics: Shailendra

Starring: Raj Kapoor, Motilal, Pradeep Kumar, 

Smriti Biswas, Rashid Khan, Iftekhar, Daisy Irani, Nargis

Jagte Raho has to be ranked amongst the best of not only Raj Kapoor's performances, but also among the best Hindi films of any time.  A satirical look at the Bengali society of the time, it could have been transposed to virtually any teeming metropolis without losing its relevance. This was RK at the height of his prowess as producer and actor.

An allegorical tale that uses darkness and light to rip off the mask of respectability worn by the moral pillars of society, Jagte Raho tells the story of the plight of one man, who, pilloried as a thief and chased by the 'upright' middle class citizens of the society, finds far worse crimes hidden behind closed doors.

A poor villager (Raj Kapoor), generic and therefore nameless, comes to the city in search of employment. Arriving at night, thirsty and hungry, he finds the city heartless, the night watchmen exhorting him to move along as he tries to get a drink from a fire hyrdrant, and threatening to break his bones if he doesn't.

In a beautiful scene that sets the tone for the rest of the movie, he makes friends with a street dog, the only friendly face that he finds, sharing his handful of channa with him.

As they share their meagre repast, a dilettante weaves into view - the delightfully drunk (Motilal), who offers him alcohol much to the villager's bemusement. When he returns the drunkard's wallet, the cynical city dweller is surprised.

 

A surprise that turns into incredulity that the villager neither drinks nor smokes nor gambles, but only wants some water to quench his thirst. The villager is left to wander the city roads in search of water. He comes across his canine friend again, this time lapping water up in the courtyard of a residential complex.

His thirst overcomes his natural diffidence at entering such a grand building, but he is seen by the night watchman who raises the alarm. Thus begins a night of sheer terror for the simple man. The ensuing hue and cry awakens the residents, and the able-bodied and hot-blooded amongst them form a posse to hunt the thief down.

Frightened by the noise, the villager begins to run. As the men following begin to bicker about whether the thief is armed or not, the poor target climbs up to the first floor, and then seeks refuge in one of the flats. He is overjoyed to see a bucket of water, but before he can drink, he is interrupted again. It's a pair of lovers who are caught in a conundrum - if her father wakes up, she will be shamed; if he goes out, he will be beaten up by the mob downstairs.

Their easy promises to each other are soon shorn of the glitter. As the mob chases the embattled lover, chaos ensues, and lover and villager find themselves on the same side.

As vigilante justice is meted out to an unsuspecting bystander, the lover, Pradeep (Pradeep Kumar), in order to hide the truth of his own perfidy, is forced to help the alleged thief escape. But the poor man's ordeal is not yet over.

Caught in the maze of buildings, he blunders around looking for a way out. Soon, he is on the run once again. Caught in a cul-de-sac, he desperately looks around for an avenue of escape; finding another open door, he barely manages to hide himself before his pursuers show up. Hidden, he is amazed witness to what happens next.

He manages to prevent the crime but is not prepared for the furore that ensues or for its consequences.

As the cat-and-mouse game continues, the villager-on-the-run once again runs into the dilettante, much to the latter's amusement. Forced to accompany him, the villager is witness to another scene in the drama of life.

When at last he is thrown out, he hides in a most unlikely place. As the residents fight about him, and over him, and around him, he tries to make his escape.

This time, his attempts seem futile. Like a cornered rat, he runs through one corridor to another, climbs one floor after another, and is balked at every step. Is it all over for him? It has already been established that he is a thief; will this vigilante mob even give him a chance to protest his innocence? And now  the police and the press are involved, bringing even more illegal activities to light.

The film unwinds slowly over the length of one night, but gains momentum as the protagonist moves from flat to flat to escape his tormentors who chase him as a thief. And in his seemingly futile attempts, uncovers a multitude of sins / vices, ranging from petty thievery to adultery to bootlegging to counterfeiting; he will even masquerade as a corpse! Not to speak of meeting people who want to turn that masquerade into reality and are willing to go to any lengths to do so.

Raj Kapoor had very few dialogues in the film - his fear, his pain, and his helplessness were vividly etched on his face, and mirrored in his eyes. This was truly a class act from the master filmmaker, who also had the guts to produce this modern fable. He was supported by a fine ensemble cast, of whom special mention must be made of Motilal, who plays the drunken debauch with great élan, and a very young Iftekhar, who plays Sandow, the hot-headed leader of resident youth.

One of the few RK films that did not have house-favourites Shankar-Jaikishen, the musical score by Salil Choudhary, was used sparsely and with great effect. The film opens with the jaunty, if sybaritic, Zindagi khwaab hai and ends with the haunting Jaago Mohan pyaare. Each song pulls the narrative along convincingly, and the background score is perfectly in sync with the story.

Based on a Bengali play Ek Din Ratrey,  and directed by Bengali greats (actor-director) Shombhu Mitra and Amit Maitra (they also wrote the story), the Bengali version (also titled Ek Din Ratrey) had Chhabi Biswas playing the role that Motilal assumed in Jagte Raho. A shortened version of Jagte Raho (115 minutes) won the Grand Prix at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. This was also the last time Nargis appeared in a RK film, a banner that she had, until then, called her own.

 

You can watch this film on Tom Daniel's channel here.