Awara, The Musical

I would definitely describe Awara as a musical. The most important factor in a musical is, obviously, the involvement on music in the story. There are many scenes in Awara that involve characters singing about their situations or feelings. The songs also all appear to be diegetic with the characters participating in some way. For example there is a scene at the beginning of the film where the judge and Leela are on the boat heading to their home, there are many people around the boat singing an ominous song. Neither the judge nor Leela participate in the singing but Leela asks the judge a question about what they’re singing indicating that even when the characters are not themselves creating the music they are aware of its existence around them.

Another important part of musicals is the dancing, which Awara takes full advantage of. The dance scenes in Awara vary in intensity from scenes where Rita just sort wanders around the shot to scenes like the dream sequence which involve choreographed moves with many back up dancers. Either way dance plays a big role in Awara.

Costumes are also usually, although no always, a large of part of musical films. In Awara elaborate costuming is used occasionally in correlation with the character of Rita. The dream sequence involves the use of sparkles and a goddess like dress to help create Raj’s heaven fantasy. Rita also wears fancy flowing nightgowns to help amp up the drama in night scenes where she sings of her longing for Raj. The wind sweeps up her gown and elegantly blows it around her just as she hits the high note. The combination of song, dance, and costuming are markers of what makes a musical and Awara’s consistent exploitation of these techniques marks the film as a musical in its own right.