Anand (1971, Movie Review)

Spoiler Alert

The story of the movie unfolds through the diary notes of Dr Bhaskar Banerjee (Amitabh Bachchan), An Oncologist with a gloomy outlook who treats the poor for no charge but feels helpless to the deaths of so many cancer patients throughout his career and has a hobby of diary writing.

Bhaskar’sfriend Dr Prakash Kulkarni (Ramesh Deo), who is also a physician, introduces him to Anand (Rajesh Khanna) a cheerful soul who brightens the spirits of everyone he meets. Anand wants a tour of Bombay (Mumbai), the city he has heard about a lot. Anand talks non-stop, joking with friends and strangers. Such cheerfulness and relentless fun would usually irritate a man who is serious, reserved and quiet such as Bhaskar. But, Bhaskar sees the sadness behind Anand’s permanent funs and cheerfulness. The scene where Anand expresses his feeling by saying to Bhaskar “babumoshai, Zindagi badi honi chahiye lambi nahi.” He tells him to not to worry about death. Death is something which can hit anyone, anytime. Anand’s quality is to befriend people, in some of such encounters he makes with Isa bhai Suratwala (Johnny Walker) a theatre actor . They enjoyed each other’s company and created an emotional bond.

Anand’s condition slowly deteriorated, but he refused to spend his remaining time in the hospital ward; instead, he roams freely, enjoys and helps everyone. He encourages Bhaskar to express his love as he found that Bhaskar has a very strong feeling for Renu (Sumita Sanyal).

When the time was near, Anand tells Bhaskar that everyone should remember him as a lively person, not as a cancer patient. His end was near, and he dies. When he passes away, pre-recorded audio was played which Bhaskar and Anand recorded earlier.

The movie has everything going for it. Acting, direction, story, music, dialogues etc… everything is fabulous. It has drama, humour, emotions. It is a story of a dying man who looks at life with a positive attitude and enjoys his time knowing fully well; his disease is incurable and cannot live long and is going to die soon.

Rajesh Khanna as Anand is fantastic, and this is his career-best performance, But Rajesh Khanna was not the original choice. (Yes! Shashi Kapoor was the original choice). He makes you laugh and cry. He causes goosebumps and makes audience keen.

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 soon. The rest of the supporting cast is also brilliant be it Johhny Walker, Ramesh Deo, Seema, Sumitra. Everyone is superb.

The best part which I liked the most is the music. It is the hallmark of all tremendous 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". Composer Salil Chowdhury comes up with a fantastic score and singers Mukhesh, and Manna Dey do complete justice to his tunes and made it more and more mesmerising and melodious.

About the director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, what can one say, he is one of the best directors ever in Indian film history. A guy with complete entertainment. All his movies, he has been directing movies since 1957 is worth a watch. Some are brilliant and other watchable. None of his films can be rated as unwatchable. Simply put, this is one of the best Hindi movies ever made.

This movie teaches a lot to live in the present and not to be worried about the past. Thinking about the past can spoil the present. I liked the way the cinematography was done as compared to that old-time movies. The dialogues and the songs in the film was the best part for me. I enjoyed a lot; it was just like a roller coaster for me; one second I smiled the other second it brings a tear to my eyes. This generation should really watch this movie. You will get to learn how to be cheerful even when life gets tough and concentrate on the small, little happiness you get and smile.

In the end, I want to tell you that this is a fantastic movie and there is plenty for the younger generation to take away! There is no education in the film these days, whatsoever, except perhaps a bedroom or bar sequences. Present-day filmmakers need to rework their brains and start thinking much much better! There is much more to Hindi cinema than just skin-show and catchy item number songs. This is a MUST-WATCH movie! And after watching you will get to know the true essence of Hindi movies.