- K.A. Abbas’ story—based on an uncle of his, who was a sessions judge and whose son was accused of theft—was meant for Mehboob Khan. He wanted Prithviraj Kapoor or Dilip Kumar to play Raju.
- When Raj Kapoor heard the story, he gave Abbas a rupee saying the story was his
- It has five Kapoors: Prithviraj, Raj, Shashi (as the young Raju), Randhir (the child with a dog in the credits) and Prithviraj’s father Bisheshar Nath as a judge.
- A steel box containing the film was air-dropped on a group of Soviet scientists on a Polar expedition
Scripted by K.A. Abbas, the film’s socialist storyline centres on the nature vs nurture debate. A key line of the film—and a rather melodramatic refrain throughout—is: "Shareefon ki aulaad hamesha shareef aur chor daakuon ki aulaad hamesha chor daaku hote hain." The film opens with a brilliantly conceived courtroom scene. Raju (Raj Kapoor) is being tried for murder. His lawyer and childhood friend Rita (Nargis) is questioning the upright judge, Raghunath (Prithviraj Kapoor), about his connection with the undertrial. Unfolding in a series of flashbacks, Awara explores the circumstances that leads Raju to murder. The judge throws out his pregnant wife when he suspects that the child is Jagga’s (K.N. Singh’s), the dacoit who had abducted her. Raju is born in the gutter and is pushed to crime. Raj Kapoor, who cast his father as Judge Raghunath, his screen father, plays on the family connection. Awara is remarkable for the layers and themes—including ingenious parallels with Ramayana’s characters.
Awara saw the debut of the Chaplinesque tramp figure that characterised Raj Kapoor’s acting career till the end. It also introduced the ‘dream song sequence’ with the triplet Ghar aya mera pardesi, Yeh nahin hai, yeh nahin hai zindagi and Naiyya meri majdhar. This is now staple in Hindi films but has hardly ever risen to the level of the nine-minute dream sequence delineating three states of mind.
