One fascinating article I read recently talks about the Hindi film Awara as probably the only film seen by the largest ever percentage of humanity, except in North America and West Europe. The article is reproduced below and the youtube song ‘Awara Hoon’ that became phenomenally popular in so many countries and tied their emotional bonds to
Awaara' most 'successful' film of all times
The 1951 Raj Kapoor starrer "Awaara" has been seen and enjoyed by so many across the globe that it may well be the "most successful film in the history of cinema at large", according to a leading professor of film studies.
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 of the "most popular film of all times".
The journal's latest issue is devoted to mapping the career of Indian films in various national contexts outside
The special issue is titled "Indian Cinema Abroad: Historiography of Transnational Cinematic Exchanges" and is co-edited by Iordanova and Dimitris Eleftheriotis of
Recalling her Bulgarian origins and childhood, Iordanova told IANS: "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 up to the experience of watching 'Awaara'; this film was more fascinating than any other I can remember.
"Even though repeat viewing is not typical for the cinema going practices of Bulgarians, many admit that they have seen 'Awaara' numerous times. Why such fascination? The copy that we were watching was fairly old; the film was overlong and markedly over-the-top. Yet it was so absorbing.
"It was a film that, in an unabashed manner, revealed a whole different world where preposterous melodrama came across as completely legitimate (and thus mesmerizing), where improbable misapprehensions triggered infinite suffering and obstinate injustices, where people were not ashamed to be overemotional and were solemnly preoccupied with enchanting adoration.
"It was the candid praise of love and affection in the Indian movies that was truly enchanting for us... 'Awaara' remains a truly enduring global hit, yet one that is understudied and under-researched."
Iordanova and Eleftheriotis wrote in the journal: "Indian cinema was internationally popular for a significant period, starting in the 1930s and peaking around the 1960s. There were massive exports of Indian films and massive international interest in it.
"However, as these exports and acclaim did not target (nor took place in) the West (until recently the only place where such processes are properly studied), we really have no record of the intensity of these cinematic exchanges other than sporadic references and anecdotal evidence."
Iordanova wrote that it was difficult to think of any other film from the 1950s that was seen in so many countries and was as widely acclaimed as "Awaara". Most film history books, she added, analysed other films and mentioned "Awaara" only in passing, "yet I cannot think of any other film from that period that would have enjoyed such popular success transnationally".
Iordanova said: "At this oldest university in
A British academic journal devoting a special issue on Indian cinema is the latest in the growing coverage of Indian films in the popular and academic press. British newspapers regularly publish reviews of new Indian films and report the number of Indian movies that figure in the top ten films in terms of box office collections.
This week The Times reported that Indian films had started "to make more money at the box office in
The newspaper reported: "In the five weeks since its
The Times quoted Lucy Jones of Nielsen EDI, which measures box office performance in 14 countries, as saying: "It's a recent development. Bollywood is not just a specialist cinema any more."
Resources
http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2000/may/31abr.htm
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/CultureAndMedia/?id=1.0.1487417428
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1123/p18s02-hfes.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3DB123CF930A35755C0A96E948260
http://armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=1283&CID=1450&IID=1061
http://www.freshnews.in/immortal-awara-leads-bollywoods-global-appeal-6825
http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/apr/05dinesh.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043306/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043306/usercomments
http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/News/ACulture/t173422.htm
http://www.indiatime.com/2007/04/10/meeting-raj-kapoor-at-the-barbershop/
http://indembassy.uz/english/recentevents/rajkapoor
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010906/world.htm#4
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/archive/051204/dmag14.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2005/12/06/stories/2005120606661200.htm
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C11%5C07%5Cstory_7-11-2006_pg3_2
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bollywood_check_out_China/articleshow/1637262.cms
http://www.outlookindia.com/diary.asp?fodname=19990802
http://randomvichar.blogspot.com/2007/11/people-i-meet-iowan.html
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1 comment:
Interesting article about a fascinating film. As a big fan of RK's work, the only thing that saddens me about the article is seeing a great classic like Awaara mentioned in the same piece as the unspeakably awful and vomitous piece of गूह that is KANK, one of my three most hated and loathed Hindi films, along with Black and Baghban.
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