Jagte Raho is the simple story of a naive peasant who in hopes of improving his lifestyle, a poor peasant re-locates to Bombay virtually penniless. It is late at night and he is thirsty, and he is unable to find water anywhere. Then he sneaks into a multi-storied apartment complex, and is mistaken for a thief. The complex consists of over 200 units, and is housing nearly a 1000 people they all set out to hunt him down. Whilst evading capture, he inadvertently exposes the venality and dishonesty of the building's middle class occupants.
The film shows the double standards of our society, the cruelty and the corruptness, but not in a stereotypical way. It is natural and real. This naive peasant represents the simple common man who becomes a victim for no fault of his own. He encounters different sorts of thefts and crimes committed by those so-called "respectable" citizens of the city, those who call him a thief and chase him just because he yearns for a few drops of water so that they can hide their own misdemeanors. This is so unbelievable yet so true.
The character of the naïve peasant requires great facial expression as it don't have many dialogues but he emotes constantly, and Raj Kapoor being a Theater person have brilliantly achieved this.
I think that to analyze this film, firstly one has to understand the social environment of that era. During that time people where migrating to metros in search of jobs and stable life. However here they become victim of the bourgeois society. Film-Maker has very brilliantly weaved the beautiful story in this concept. I liked the metaphors used in the film which creates an impact on the viewer. Like a character of a child in a climax is a metaphor of new beginning. There are many more such metaphors in this film. There are sometimes when overuse of background scores have spoiled the impact of the emotions. Sometimes the acting is also too dramatic and theatrical to digest. However I also think that this is deliberated by the director as during those times audience demand such things which I can say after watching films from those era.
