This is yet another Golden classic black and white masterpiece directed by the great Raj Kapoor. It is easily one of Raj Kapoor's best made films. Raj Kapoor made socially relevant films, with a touch of comedy and a lot of drama. He loved great sets which became the focal point of his films and his song picturisations have now gone on to become trendsetters. An all rounder , Raj Kapoor's films were the best that Hindi films could offer to the audience .

Shree 420 is in a way a continuation of Awara, the tale of the repressed, the lowliest of beings struggling to make their presence felt in post independant India . The British influence and western influence is very much a part of all Raj Kapoor films, side by side with the plight of the downrtrodden common man fighting for his existence in the big bad world ..This film again has the statuesque Nargis as his leading lady and has some memorable romantic sequences that have gone down in the history of Hindi cinema as the best romantic scenes ever picturised...

== Story of Shree 420 ==

An orphaned village lad Ranbir Raj Wearing torn Japanese shoes, English trousers, a red Russian cap, and a Hindustani ( Indian ) heart, comes to Bombay to to try his luck and earn his fortune. He pawns his gold medal, and gambles with the money, being naive, looses everything . He realises that it is very difficult to live in a city where money came first and everything in life had a price tag...
Raj meets beautiful Vidya Shastri, a nursery school teacher and his childhood friend , who runs a private school, and one who has very high ideals. Raj falls in love with her simplicity and honesty and wants to do everything right to win her . He decides to work hard , so, gets a job in a laundry. Everything seems right with the lovers , inspite of some minor difficulties arising out of lack of means.

Once when Raj goes to deliver some clothes to Maya , who is an attractive woman of the world , she tempts him with offers to make him rich overnight , and slowly gets him into her trap. Raj wants to give a happy life to Vidya and without realising the consequences, he falls in with Maya's plans. And then begins his downfall . He is not sure about anything any more , but gets deeper and deeper into a life of gambling, Casinos ,drinking , womanising . When Vidya realises what is happening she tries to reason with him , failing which , breaks up with him . This only makes him more depressed and determined to prove that he can succeed ....The film has an intricate plot and and a great ending befitting Raj Kapoor ..

My views about the film

Shree 420 in my opinion is one of the greatest movies produced by Raj Kapoor after Aawara.. Raj Kapoor is easily in a class of his own where film making is concerned. He is a stylish film maker at par with Mehboob Khan, Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy and B.R.Chopra who were all Great film makers of the Black and white era.

Raj Kapoor had his own style of film making where he combined a certain amount of social awareness with good solid storyline, with never any loose ends. His films had at least one grand set , usually a song picturisation. Here , it is a song picturised on Nadira and Raj Kapoor himself in a club scene..The song ' Mud mud ke na dekh mud mud ke' rendered by Asha Bhonsle and Manna dey went on to become a chartbuster. I personally consider the romantic duet ' Pyar hua iqraar hua, to be as effective , but in a more subtle manner....Raj and Nargis make a lovely couple pouring out their heart in the rains...

Performancewise, it is Raj Kapoor's film all the way. I have a feeling , that , probably Nargis was slowly loosing her importance in his life by the end of this film , as is evident from the length of her role. She ofcourse, makes an impact as the simple and sweet, home loving Vidya trying to come to terms with her heartbreak , although her role has not been well etched out like in Aawara or Barsat earlier.

But It is Nadira as the vampish , cigarette smoking Maya ( illusion) who makes the maximum impact .She uses her seductive looks , postures and her eyes to effectively convey all her feelings. I have always felt that she looked a lot like Marlene Dietrich . A great performance by Nadira. Unfortunately, Nadira never made it big on Hindi screen , since her looks were considered as being too foreign for Indian taste. She was an immigrant Jew settled down in Bombay discovered by Raj Kapoor...

Music by Shankar Jaikishen is the highlight of the film, a winning score. The songs are all beautifully picturised especially the Romantic duet ' Pyar hua iqraar hua' between Raj Kappor and Nargis picturised in the rain ....One of the most effective picturisations where they express their feelings only through lingering looks under an umbrella...

My own favorite songs apart from' Pyar hua' is the philosophical ' Dil ka haal sune dilwala ' - a lovely number sung by Manna dey , picturised on Raj Kapoor and the popular and much loved group song ' Ramaiah vasatavayya....

The film was a raging hit in Russia, Egypt, the Middle Eastern countries , Israel , Iraq and Iran. In fact, in Tehran Raj Kapoor was conferred with an honoury degree, which was most ironic since in real life he was a school dropout.

All in all Shree 420 like Aawara is a must see black and white classic film ..