The restored version of Raj Kapoor’s 1951 film Awara will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in the classics section. The film was restored in 4K by the National Film Development Corporation – National Film Archive of India (NFDC-NFAI) under the National Film Heritage Mission.

NFDC sources tell us, “In 2018, Randhir, Rishi, and Rajiv Kapoor shared film materials, including several of Raj Kapoor’s classics with the NFAI. Among this invaluable collection was a 35mm dupe negative of Awara, which has now been selected for scanning after careful visual comparison with several 35mm release prints from the NFDC-NFAI collection.”

They add, “The colour grading for the restoration is being supervised by Kunal Kapoor, who has previously worked extensively on the restoration of films produced by Shashi Kapoor.” Awara was nominated for the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.

TIFF said in a statement, “This screening commemorates the 100th anniversary of director Raj Kapoor’s birth in 1924... This recently restored classic threads messages of socialist reform among its musical numbers and Charlie Chaplin homages, and is often considered to be the greatest film by the greatest showman of Indian cinema,” TIFF said in a statement.