View of Todays Society Through the Lens of a 1955 Film: Shree420

 

"Shree 420," is a 1955 Bollywood film that remains relevant even after seven decades due to its timeless storyline, that explores the enduring struggles individuals have to encounter in safeguarding their integrity, loyalty, and commitment to truth. The storyline, the dialogues, even the songs have the emphasis that it is not easy to survive in urban life as everyone has to choose either comfortable lifestyle and turn faces away from the truth and integrity or hold on to dear integrity and truth and embrace a life full of hardship and humiliation which is showed through a sarcastic angle. It also emphasis that education is just a certificate which is nothing but a piece of paper at the end of the day. Moreover, the film unveils certain designated group of people who empathize with the poor in the surface but the truth is far from the empathy; rather they are seen brainstorming ideas on how to loot these poor people selling desires to them in exchange to their hard earned money. The film stars Raj Kapoor as the main character who is a graduate and talented young man who moves to Bombay for a better life style, Nargis Dutt, a young woman who is opposite of Raj Kapoor and acts as the motivation for the main character to keep his loyalty and integrity and be true to himself. It also stared prominent actors like Mirza Mohammad Begg, Lalita Pawar, Pessi Patel, Nadira as supporting actors who influence the main character in every step.

The characters of this film are designed to relate to the dilemmas a city dweller faces in everyday life and each of them has their own way to deal with. These characters mirror the many types of people that today’s society contain as well. The main protagonist Raj, is a gullible young man new to the Bombay city looking for job right after his graduation. On his way to Bombay a small incident gives him the first taste of city life as he gets thrown away from the car by Seth Sonachand Dharmanand (who is also the conning antagonist of the film) upon telling truth. Few moments arriving to the big city of dreams, he realizes that it is easier to die of hunger than finding a job with integrity. Even though he tries very hard, he falls for the easier and luxurious life on the price of his principles and truth. He eventually becomes the biggest conman of the city with the influence of the negative characters like Maya and Seth Sonachand. Amidst of all these events, he falls in love with the female lead Vidya who correctly represents her name in her character. Throughout the story she tries to protect Raj from the illusions of money and luxury. The third major character of the film is the antagonist Seth Sonachand who is a character that represents the so called generous personalities of the society. He represents all the fake and two faced rich community sympathize the poor but is always ready to squeeze out every single penny of them by means of conning them. Other than these main characters there is a character who runs a pawn shop who represent the neutral people of the society who don’t want anything to do with anyone as long as their motive is served. The character of Maya represents bad influences in lives and the beggar and the footpath dwellers represent the people who have already learnt to live with the dilemmatic urban lifestyle.

The dialogues of the film are given a sarcastic and metaphorical angle throughout. The first encounter of the protagonist Raj and the antagonist Seth Sonachand ends with Seth calling him a 420 which interprets to con man. In reply raj says, “if I am called a 420 then you should be called as 840.” This was a hint for the audience about the main plot. In another scene the protagonist is seen pawning his medal that he got for his honesty and loyalty. In that scene he says that “I am here to sell my ‘Iman’.” Iman is the Arabic word for faith and selling faith means he was going to exchange his honesty with money. Another truth of our society is asserted in the film when the protagonist says, “we are the ones who wear clothes, clothes don’t wear us. So please don’t be fooled by one’s clothes.” This mirrors a very common line used in today’s world- Don’t judge a book by its cover. Around the ending portion of the film, they try to conduct the biggest scam on the homeless people of the city. They refer this scam as “selling dreams to the poor.” And in the final scene the two faced people of the society are addressed as ‘Shree 420’ as in this part of the world, the word Shree is used to convey respect and 420 represents cons and scammers. The name Shree420 thus mirrors the irony of these two faced characters.

The songs of this film are considered as classis in Bollywood and the timeless lyrics are still relevant to this day. The first song- “mera joota hai japani”is a song about life and the dynamics of life and how it is a journey and only ends with death. The second song “dil ka haal sune dilwala” is a song about the hardships an educated middleclass family son has to endure to live a life of respect and integrity. Then there is the song “Pyaar hua ikrar hua” by Manna Dey and Lata Mangeshkar which expresses the dilemmas one encounter because of love.  However, the most relevant song to the storyline is the famous song called ‘Mud Mud Ke Na Dekh’ by Manna Dey and Asha Bhonsle which is used in the storyline to represent how the life of lie and fraud tries to prevent human to look back to the reality. All of these songs contain meanings deeper than their outlook that has to be explored in order to comprehend the real meaning.

In conclusion, the film even after almost seven decade represent the dynamics of today’s society offering valuable insights into the human condition and the complexities of modern life. The film delivers a message about the importance of maintaining one's integrity in the face of temptation and corruption which remains a universal and timeless lesson that resonates deeply with audiences today. "Shree 420" is not merely a reflection of the past; it is a mirror reflecting the challenges and choices we continue to confront in our ever-evolving society.

Cluster: 

1.characters

2.dialogues

3.songs