Anand (lit.?Bliss) is a 1971 Indian drama film, co-written and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, with dialogues written by Gulzar. It stars Rajesh Khanna in the lead role, with a supporting cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Sumita Sanyal, Ramesh Deo and Seema Deo. The film won several awards, including the Filmfare Award for Best Film in 1972. In 2013, it was listed in Anupama Chopra's book 100 Films To See before You Die. This film is counted among the 17 consecutive hit films of Rajesh Khanna between 1969 and 1971, by adding the two-hero films Marayada and Andaz to the 15 consecutive solo hits he gave from 1969 to 1971. It was also Amitabh Bachchan's first hit.
Anand | |
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Directed by | Hrishikesh Mukherjee |
Produced by | Hrishikesh Mukherjee N.C. Sippy |
Written by | Bimal Dutta Gulzar D.N. Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee Biren Tripathy |
Starring | Rajesh Khanna Amitabh Bachchan Sumita Sanyal |
Music by | Salil Chowdhury |
Cinematography | Jaywant Pathare |
Edited by | Hrishikesh Mukherjee |
Distributed by | Digital Entertainment Shemaroo Video Pvt. Ltd. |
Release date | March 12, 1971 |
Running time | 123 minutes |
Country | India |
Language | Hindi-Urdu |
The film was loosely inspired by the Akira Kurosawa film Ikiru (1952). It was later remade in Malayalam as Chitrashalabham (1998).
Screenplay
The film begins with a ceremony arranged to felicitate Dr. Bhaskar (Amitabh Bachchan), a doctor who has just written a successful book titled Anand. Bhaskar is a cancer specialist and after the congratulatory speeches, he reveals that the book is not a work of fiction, but taken from his own diary and pertains to his experiences with a real person named Anand.
The flashback starts with Bhaskar, fresh from his training as an oncologist, trying to treat the poor for no charge, but often disheartened by the fact that he cannot cure all the ailments in the world. He becomes pessimistic after seeing the suffering, illness and poverty all around him. He is straightforward and won't treat the imaginary ailments of the rich. His friend, Dr. Kulkarni follows a slightly different path. He treats the imaginary illnesses of the rich and uses that money to treat the poor.
One day, Kulkarni introduces Bhaskar to Anand (Rajesh Khanna), who has lymphosarcoma of the intestine, a rare type of cancer. Anand has a cheerful nature and despite knowing the truth that he is not going to survive for more than six months, he maintains a nonchalant demeanour and always tries to make happy everyone around him. His cheerful and vibrant nature soothes Bhaskar, who has a contrasting nature and they become good friends.
Anand's condition gradually deteriorates, but he does not want to spend his remaining time in a hospital bed; he instead roams freely and helps everyone. He discovers that Bhaskar has strong feelings for Renu (Sumita Sanyal), whom he treated previously for pneumonia. He helps Bhaskar to express his love and convinces Renu's mother to bless their marriage. He tells Bhaskar that everyone should remember him as a lively person and not as a cancer patient. His end comes and he dies amongst his friends and everyone remembers him as a vibrant and lively person. Bhaskar becomes more philosophical and continues to help the helpless with more empathy and maturity.
- Rajesh Khanna as Anand Sehgal, a happy-go-lucky cancer patient, who does not have many days to live.
- Amitabh Bachchan as Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee a.k.a. Babu Moshai, a pessimistic doctor and Anand's friend, who fails to understand how Anand can be happy despite knowing that he is about to die
- Sumita Sanyal as Renu, Bhaskar's former patient and love interest
- Ramesh Deo as Dr. Prakash Kulkarni a.k.a. Dost
- Seema Deo as Suman Kulkarni
- Lalita Pawar as Matron
- Durga Khote as Renu's mother
- Johnny Walker as Isa Bhai
- Asit Sen as Bhaskar's patient
- Dara Singh as Pahelwan
- Brahm Bhardwaj as Mauni Baba
Anand was originally supposed to star actors Kishore Kumar and Mehmood in lead roles. One of the producers, N.C. Sippy, had earlier served as Mehmood's production manager. The character Babu Moshai was to be played by Mehmood. Mukherjee was asked to meet Kishore Kumar to discuss the project. However, when he went to Kishore Kumar's residence, he was driven away by the gatekeeper due to a misunderstanding. Kishore Kumar (himself a Bengali) had done a stage show organized by another Bengali man, and was involved in a dispute with this man over financial matters. He had instructed his gatekeeper to drive away this "Bengali", if he ever visited the house. The gatekeeper mistook Mukherjee to be this "Bengali", and refused him entry. The incident hurt Mukherjee and he decided not to work with Kumar. Consequently, Mehmood had to leave the film as well. Both Raj Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor were offered the lead before Rajesh Khanna.
Film expert and musicologist Rajesh Subramanian says that Mukherjee shot the film in 28 days. The screenplay of Anand was written by Gulzar (who also wrote dialogues and lyrics of a few songs), Bimal Dutt, D.N. Mukherjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
The character of Anand was inspired by Raj Kapoor, who used to call Mukherjee "Babu Moshay". It is believed that Mukherjee wrote the film when once Kapoor was seriously ill and Mukherjee thought that he may die. The film was dedicated to Kapoor and the people of Bombay. Later, Anand was remade in Malayalam, with the name Chitrashalabham, starring Jayaram and Biju Menon.
Anand | ||||
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Soundtrack album to Anand by Salil Chowdhary | ||||
Released | 1971 | |||
Language | Hindi | |||
Label | Saregama | |||
Salil Chowdhary chronology | ||||
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The musical score and songs were composed by Salil Chowdhary. The lyrics were written by Gulzar and Yogesh. Gulzar wrote the poem "Maut Tu Ek Kavita Hai", which is narrated by Amitabh Bachchan.
Before confirming Chowdhary for songs, Mukherjee approached Lata Mangeshkar to get the songs composed, as she had already worked as a music director in Marathi films under the pseudonym of "Anandghan". She, however, politely refused the offer and decided to sing the songs in the film rather than composing them.
# | Title | Singer(s) | Lyricist | Duration |
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1 | "Kahin Door Jab" (Male) | Mukesh | Yogesh | 05:52 |
2 | "Maine Tere Liye" | Mukesh | Gulzar | 03:09 |
3 | "Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli" | Manna Dey | Yogesh | 03:30 |
4 | "Kahin Door Jab" (Female) | Lata Mangeshkar | Yogesh | 03:48 |
5 | "Na Jiya Lage Na" | Lata Mangeshkar | Gulzar | 03:22 |
6 | "Maut Tu Ek Kavita Hai" | Amitabh Bachchan | Gulzar | 00:47 |
Although Kishore Kumar had become the voice of Rajesh Khanna since the success of Aradhana, in this film, the composer Salil Chowdhury insisted on having Mukesh as he felt that the latter's voice would give the required pathos to Anand's character. Rajesh Khanna readily agreed to the suggestion. Once when asked which song was his favorite, Rajesh Khanna said it was Mukesh's song "Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye" from Anand.
- National Film Awards
- 1971: Best Feature Film in Hindi: Hrishikesh Mukherjee, N.C. Sippy
- Filmfare Awards
- 1972: Best Film: Hrishikesh Mukherjee, N.C. Sippy
- 1972: Best Actor: Rajesh Khanna
- 1972: Best Supporting Actor: Amitabh Bachchan
- 1972: Best Dialogue: Gulzar
- 1972: Best Editing: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
- 1972: Best Story: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Numerous DVD editions entered the market by companies like "Digital Entertainment inc.", Shemaroo Entertainment and "Eagle Home Video". These were released as non-restored, non re-mastered editions and bare bones, devoid of supplementary features.
Eagle Home Video came out with a restored edition of this movie, preserving the original aspect ratio in 4:3 pillar box and a DTS Master Audio (HD) in 2.0. The restoration took place in Shemaroo studios.