Barsaat 1949

The moody, music-filled romance Barsaat was Raj Kapoor’s first megahit and first film with composers Shankar-Jaikishan, the hit-writing duo who would hereafter score Kapoor’s films. Barsaat shuttles between the stories of romantic idealist Pran (Kapoor) and his more carnally-driven best friend Gopal (Prem Nath), who both meet and romance the daughters of innkeepers. Gopal loves and leaves Neela (future star Nimmi, in her debut), vowing to return when the monsoon comes, while Pran woos Reshma (Nargis, Kapoor’s main leading lady) with music until her father ends it, claiming all city boys are degenerates. In an attempt to see Pran once more, Reshma falls into a river and is presumed dead… (Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema). —Pacific Cinémathèque