Raj, Raju, Raj Kumar – various combinations of his own name have given us many memorable characters by the legendary Raj Kapoor. Funnily enough, as a peasant with no name and hardly any dialogue, he delivers one of his best performances in the 1956 movie ‘Jagte Rago’. The film captures the zeitgeist of the newly independent Indian society and has stood the test of times. I went into the movie as part of my celebration of Raj Kapoor month, to enjoy his artistry and marvel at that time in Indian cinema and history, but came out unexpectedly weeping my heart out for the man on screen.
Raj Kapoor in Jagte Raho. Source: IMDb
The movie follows this artless villager over the course of one night, who is on a quest to first quench his thirst and ultimately look for a job in the city. Donning a coat and dhoti, with disheveled hair and unkempt beard, he walks anxiously through the streets of Kolkata late at night. He possesses Raj Kapoor’s signature tramp-like mannerisms but instead of a cheerful vagabond as in Shree 420 and Awara, this avatar is meek and subdued. The essence of the character is encapsulated in a 1-minute scene early into the film: the parched villager squatting outside a temple, sharing his food with a street dog, after being chased away by a watchman while examining the fire hydrant in hope of water. His honesty shines through his eyes as he feeds the dog smilingly. He isn’t looking for any shortcut money or isn't interested in the stereotypical viles like smoking and gambling even when offered the choice, all he cares about in that moment is water. He stumbles upon the same dog again, drinking water from a puddle underneath a tap. An animal has a better chance of attaining water in the city than the poor. His desperation drives him through the gates of the housing society owning the tap, where the people mistake him as a thief. Running from one house to another hiding from the hysterical crowd through the night transforms him into a different man by morning. He has seen too much too retain his naivety.
In this hide and seek with the crowd, he finds himself facing the residents multiple times, where he has to somehow pass as one of them. While he is wretchedly struggling in what can be barely called ‘tricking’, he witnesses a compulsive gambler stealing from his wife, a drunk husband mistreating his wife and too many people involved in illegal production and smuggling of products, drugs and money. Running through the night he spots water at several occasions but the constantly chasing crowd doesn't allow him the right to pause for his thirst. Surrounded by a web of deceit while the honest man runs for his life, the movie shows how some city folks are trying to make the best out of even such a situation while some others are busy covering up their crimes lest anything is revealed while scouring the apartments. He gets increasingly disillusioned each time he witnesses what goes under the garb of class and respectability in the society he had desired to become a part of. At a later point, tired and frustrated, he is almost tempted to steal the bundles of money lying casually in a rich man’s room, when he notices a statue-like showpiece staring at him which shakes his conscience for him to throw the money and run away. Only a few hours in the sophisticated world were enough to rob him of his innocence.
In his final monologue when he is crying and shouting to the crowd ‘Aap sab padhe-likhe hain, bade aadmi hain, mujh gawaar ko yahi shiksha di ki bina chor bane koi bada aadmi nahi ban sakta?’ (All of you educated, civilized beings taught this illiterate that no one can become a big man without stealing), his cries transverse out of the screen. The higher society misjudges the honest man as a thief while being pillars of fraudulence themselves. As you cry along with and for this man and what was made of him within few hours, you’re forced to think if our society has changed after all in the past 65 years? The conflict is resolved only at dawn. As he finally quenches his thirst at a temple while Nargis pours water to him singing Jaago Mohan Pyaare, this man has indeed woken up, but to a different world. Raj Kapoor, as always, but also with an unprecedented craft here, entirely embodies this persona, which acts as a reminder that perhaps the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Jagte Raho remains one of Kapoor’s best works and deserves greater attention.