MUMBAI: The 1951 release ‘Awara’, starring Raj Kapoor, Nargis and Prithviraj Kapoor, celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2011. Along with that, the film also came into the public domain, as a film’s right can be retained for 60 years since its release.
But as the Kapoor family is still keen on retaining the rights to the iconic film, which enjoyed success not just in India but in foreign countries too, they have decided to go ahead with a colour re-release of the film.
Initially Rishi Kapoor was intent on remaking ‘Awara’ with himself playing Prithviraj Kapoor’s role and his son Ranbir Kapoor playing Raj Kapoor’s role, but Ranbir Kapoor felt that it would be sacrilege to touch the classic.
That’s when they decided that film could be re-released in colour like other classic films ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ and ‘Naya Daur’. This could also mark the return of the R.K. Films studio. Their last film was ‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’ in 1999.
Randhir Kapoor said, “Yes, I am aware that Awara is more than 60 years old. We are thinking what to do. We haven’t yet taken the final call, though.”
Although we like Ranbir Kapoor’s sentiment of not touching the classic ‘Awara’ and instead re-releasing it as a coloured version, we couldn’t help but think of the magic onscreen with Rishi Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor playing Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor’s roles respectively. Only wondering now, who would play Nargis’ role?
