Anand (1971)

Director:

Hrishikesh Mukherjee

Writers:

Hrishikesh Mukherjee (screenplay) and
Gulzar (screenplay) ...

Genre:

Drama | Family

Plot:

The classic story of a terminally ill man who wishes to live life to the full before the inevitable occurs, as told by his best friend.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Lymphosarcoma | Death Of Protagonist | Rehearsal | Joy Of Life

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Rajesh Khanna	...	Anand Saigal / Jaichand
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Dr. Bhaskar K. Bannerjee / Babu Moshai
Sumita Sanyal	...	Renu
Ramesh Deo	...	Dr. Prakash Kulkarni
Seema Deo	...	Mrs. Suman Kulkarni
Asit Sen	...	Chandranath / Muralilal #1
Dev Kishan		(as Devkishan)
Atam Prakash	...	Ranjeet
Lalita Kumari	...	Mrs. Sanyal
Savita
Brahm Bhardwaj	...	Moni Baba (as Bhardwaj)
Lalita Pawar	...	Matron D'Sa
Gurnam Singh		(as Gurnam)
Durga Khote	...	Renu's Mother (Guest Appearance)
Dara Singh	...	Head Wrestler (Guest Appearance)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Company:

Rupam Chitra

Trivia:

The term "Babu Moshai" means "great gentleman." Raj Kapoor often affectionately addressed Hrishikesh Mukherjee with this term, just as Anand addresses Banerjee in the film.

Quotes:

[Babu Moshai enters the room to see Anand lying still on his deathbed - too still. He rushes over to the bed and starts shaking him, weeping]
Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee: I will not let you leave me! I want to listen to you for at least 20 seconds!
[shouts]
Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee: Speak to me!
Anand Saigal: Babu Moshai...
[Babu Moshai looks up with a start at his friend - then he sees a tape recorder]
Anand Saigal: [voice played on tape recorder] Babu Moshai, we are mere puppets in the game of life and death. Whatever happens here, we do not know for it is all in the hands of the Almighty.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Mere Apne (1971)

Soundtrack:

Maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne

Excellent Melodrama !

Rajesh Khanna had always won acclaim and registered his credits in the box office hits, whenever he portrayed a sentimental, morally strong and emotionally focused role. He also did a great job in SAFAR, wherein he portrayed a similar role of a cancer stricken patient.

Nevertheless, he is not well at portraying the roles of "an angry man", "a fighting sequence", "an overly volatile role" and "clownish comedy roles" that can all be performed in a masterly manner by his arch rival, Amitabh Bachan.

However, Rajesh Khanna's personification of a lively, vivacious, death defying and winsome portrayal of a cancer stricken man was stupendously performed. His person consummately excels in mimicking soft, romantic, sad, morose and boisterously exuberant roles.

Many people contend that Amitabh would had done a better characterization if he had been offered an author backed role instead of Rajesh Khanna in ANAND. Here it may be kept in mind that Amitabh could not match a stunning performance in MILLI, where his real life spouse Jaya Bahaduri outperformed him.

The bullock cart scene immediately followed by the song "Kaheen door jab din dhal Jaye" in ANAND speaks volumes of the excellently crafted direction of Hirsihkish Mukherjee and has enlisted his name among all time great directors. This song and the one "Zindagi Kaisi he Paheli" touch the latent strings of sublime imagination with poignant originality, which cannot even remotely be identified anywhere, among the fast, untamed, crazy and meaningless songs of this age of Indian Cinema ......which seems to be overly swamped by the temporal, vulgar and money minting mentality of the producers, directors and actors.

That is to say, there is nothing worthwhile in contemporary cinema, which happens to be laden with tawdry vulgarity and incompetent intellectual standing, vis-a-vis the cerebral and in-depth creativity of movie makers of erstwhile days.