"Romantic love lies at the core of his films. The iconic R.K. logo says it all. A man, his hair a bit wild, his body taut, holds a violin in one hand, his arm stretched downwards in line with his body. In his other arm he holds a woman arched backwards in a pose of sublime submission. The logo recreates this epiphany of passion of the scene in Barsaat when Nargis, overwhelmed by the plaintively lovesick strains of Raj Kapoor's frenzied violin, rushes to him and falls into his arms. Over the years the original, more fleshed-out figures metamorphosed into these stick figures. Countless films copied that scene but failed to recreate its magic. The legendary chemistry between Raj Kapoor and Nargis made this the epitome of screen passion in Indian cinema history."
-- Madhu Jain, in The Kapoors: The First Family of Indian Cinema, page 128.
Lovely! I was going to try to make the RK logo out of play-doh yesterday ...
Posted by: Amaluu | Monday, 06 June 2011 at 15:31
..."countless films copied the scene the failed to recreate the magic". Too true! I can't remember what it was I was watching the other day (that's how much they failed to recreate the magic) but at one point the heroine swooned in the hero's arms in SUCH a calculated recreation of the classic scene/logo that I YELLED AT THE SCREEN.
Posted by: Ness | Monday, 06 June 2011 at 16:24
@amaluu I would like to see the logo in play-doh. I would.
@ness I suspect the black umbrella is more successfully replicated. When I read that, I couldn't actually remember a recreation myself, but with the number of films I've seen, I'm sure I must have, and like you, found it just not all that memorable. :-)
Posted by: katherine | Monday, 06 June 2011 at 17:08
well of course - I probably only noticed it anyway because it's Kapoor Khazana and so I was more attuned to it than usual - any other time a swoon just looks like...a swoon. Whereas I think you're right, the umbrella scene is way more iconic in terms of being recognisably recreated
Posted by: Ness | Monday, 06 June 2011 at 17:18