Anand

Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Writers: Hrishikesh Mukherjee (screenplay), Gulzar (screenplay)
Stars: Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Sumita Sanyal

Kab, kaun, kaise uthega ye koi nahin bata sakta hai’

Babumoshai, zindagi aur maut uparwale ke haath hai. Usse na aap badal sakte hain na main

Anand means joy. The central character Anand, the protagonist of a noble philosophy of life is a cheerful urban loner who has been suffering from cancer. Bhaskar, who comes of a different linguistic region, is highly affectionate and respectful to his ever-restless friend Anand due to his enthusiasm, indomitable philanthropic passion and optimism about life. In recognition of his feelings to his friend, Anand is fond of calling Bhaskar with a different nickname “Babumasai”, which means “great gentleman”. Bhaskar in spite of being a good and serious physician fails to delay the death of Anand and mourns a lot commemorating the precious moments with the great man, whom he could not cure. An urban Indian setting beside a sea provides the narrative with a meaningful physical backdrop.

The directorial experiment of idealizing an ever-lively individual Anand in keeping with the mannerism of the star actor Rajesh Khanna is proved to be unforgettable professional success in Indian cinema. Another historical contribution of the film is the invaluable exposure and success of a great Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan in characterizing Bhaskar at the earliest phase of Bachchan’s career. For the spectators today the speed of the narrative is sometimes unnecessarily slow, but the criticism should not count wonderful editing. Hrishikesh Mukherjee in extension of his previous reputed editing experience offered a simple and compact narrative of popularizing a serious urban theme with tragic end. An acceptable script, which is full of good humor and touch of humanist emotion, supports the overall indifference to death and urban loneliness. Salil Chowdhury presents several wonderful songs, which have remained exceptional in their lyrics and melody. Perhaps, Hrishikesh Mukherjee is one of the pioneers in framing and editing musical shots in Indian movie.

The movie has everything going for it. Acting, direction, story, music, dialogues etc… everything is fabulous. It has drama, humor, emotions in dollops. It is a story a dying man who looks at life with a positive attitude and enjoys his time knowing fully well his disease is incurable and that he is going to die soon.

Rajesh Khanna as Anand is absolutely brilliant, this is his career-best performance , notwithstanding movies like Kati Patang, Roti, Aradhana, Amar Prem etc. You cannot think of any other actor in this role and to think Rajesh Khanna was not the original choice(Shashi Kapoor was). He makes you laugh and cry. He causes anxiety and goose bumps. Simply superb.

Amitabh Bachchan is fantastic as babumoshai( a name with which Raj Kapoor used to address the film’s director Hrishikesh Mukherjee). He showed the world that the next superstar was coming, though he really “arrived” a couple of years later. The rest of the supporting cast is also brilliant be it Johhny Walker(stands out) or Ramesh Deo or Seema or Sumitra. Everyone is wonderful.

Music is the hallmark of all great hindi movies and this one has music ranking right up there, on the top. Be it “Kahin door jab din dhal jaye” or ” Maine tere liye hi saath rang” or “Zindagi kaisi hai paheli”.

Maverick composer Salil Chowdury comes up with an absolutely fantastic score and singers Mukhesh and Manna Dey do complete justice to his tunes.

About the director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, what can one say, he is one of the best directors ever in the Indian film history. A guy with a complete repertoire,a complete entertainer (though people consider other directors to be more entertaining, but real movie buffs will agree with me). All his movies, he has been directing movies since 1957 are worth a watch. Some are brilliant and others watchable. None of his movies can be rated as unwatchable(except maybe Jooth bole Kauwa kaate and Jhooti)