In a harrowing scene, her father cuts the rope and she is swept away. Nargis'įather refuses to believe that a pardesi can have honourable intentions and Nargis, desperate to meet Raj, jumps into a raging river with only a rope tied to the shore. In one of the most identifiable sequences of the Hindi screen, an emotional Raj plays a melancholy tune on his violinĪnd Nargis rushes to him, as though pulled by a magnetic force - the call of the violin becomes emblematic of their love.Ī music instrument played an integral part in later love stories too - the flute in Hero or the mandolin in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.īoth of Barsaat's love stories have a chequered destiny. He falls in love with this rustic beauty, Ratna (Nargis). When Nimmi sings the plaintive Barsaat mein hamse mile tum at their parting, he callously tosses peanuts and chomps on them.Īs the friends continue their trip, Raj saves an attractive young girl from drowning. Of course, he has no intention of living up to his promises.
Premnath makes fresh avowals of love to her and promises to return with the barsaat. The caddish Premnath had made loads of promises to Neela (Nimmi, in her debut film) the previous year the innocent mountain lass is still awaiting his return. Raj plays a sensitive soul who sticks to his kisika dil na dukhana philosophy. Premnath plays a blank-souled hedonist, who leaves a trail of seductions behind him. Amidst the lush natural beauty (evocatively captured in the song Hawa mein udta jaaye sung by a mountain maid), they ponder over love. Kapoor) and Gopal (Premnath) enjoy their affluence by driving a huge foreign car down to the mountains. In Barsaat, two diametrically different cityslickers Pran (Raj
This musical was Raj Kapoor's first directorial hit the filmmaker came a full circle with his last Ram Teri Ganga Maili - both stories about rustic innocence sullied by, and suffering because of contact with the outside world.
, Movies: Classics Revisited: BarsaatĪt the ongoing Cannes Film Festival, three of actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor's films are being screened - Aag, Barsaat and Awaara.īarsaat is flush with a heady, impassioned romanticism and lined with melancholy.