The best Raj Kapoor’s music movies

A petty thief is put on trial for the attempted murder of a lawyer. Through a series of flashbacks, the intertwining lives of the thief, the lawyer, and the thief's defense lawyer are illustrated.

Raju informs the police about a group of bandits, even though he is in love with the chief's daughter. The police set out to kill the clan and it is upto him to save the bandits and his love.

Meet Pyarelal, a simple-minded, naive young man, orphaned at birth, living with a Muslim landlady, Fatima, who treats him like her son. When the police arrest Pyarelal on the charge of murder, no one really believes that this harmless man could harm anyone, leave alone kill. Their belief is shattered when Pyarelal openly admits in Court that he has indeed committed this crime, and demands capital punishment for it.

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