Anand, the timeless classic that rules hearts even today
Superstar Rajesh Khanna mesmerised everyone with his charm in films such as Aradhana and Do Raaste and he went on to give more than 100 hits in an illustrious career, yet if you have to single out his landmark movie, Anand will be the overwhelming choice. Anand is a timeless classic. Despite the fact that it was released over 51 years ago, on March 12, 1971, its magic has not faded.
Anand is the story of a dying man who looks at life with a positive attitude. The underlying theme of the movie is that life is about living through different moments and experiencing them to the fullest, while death is a reality and just one moment.
Anand Sehgal (Rajesh Khanna) arrives in Mumbai to get treated for an ailment that turns out to be incurable carcinoma, lymphosarcoma of the intestine, under Dr Prakash (Ramesh Deo). He then befriends Prakash’s colleague, Dr Bhaskar Bannerjee (Amitabh Bachchan), and tries to cheer up his life. Dr Bhaskar is a no-nonsense character who treats his patients, and his life, with utmost seriousness. Anand seeks simple pleasures, spreads joy wherever he goes, and when death comes, he embraces it with a laugh, literally. Despite having a tragic end, Anand is not a tragedy. It makes you laugh at different points of time; makes you introspect and imparts the lesson of living life to the fullest.
Legend has it that Rajesh Khanna came to know about the film’s story when Hrishikesh Mukherjee was finalising the cast. Rajesh, a superstar by then, was keen to play the role. The movie did not have any heroine opposite the main lead; thus it was a risk to his romantic image. But a passionate Rajesh slashed his fee for it was a lowbudget movie and completed the movie in record 28 days.
Initially, Mukherjee wanted Raj Kapoor to play the role but he could not think of letting his friend die on screen. Shashi Kapoor was contacted, but he had just given a hit, Jab Jab Phool Khile, and did not want to play a tragic hero. Kishore Kumar also missed the opportunity by a quirk of fate. Mukherjee, who went to Kishore’s house to sign him, was denied entry as the watchman inadvertently mistook him for a Bengali gentleman Kishore did not want to meet. The rest is history.
Raj Kapoor addressed Mukherjee as Babu Moshai, an epithet Rajesh used in his own inimitable style to address Amitabh. The word became so popular that he symbolically owned the copyright on it.
Kishore, who had become the voice of Rajesh Khanna after the success of Aradhana, had no song in the movie as music director Salil Chowdhury thought Mukesh and Manna Dey were better suited to bring out pathos in the songs. Mukherjee liked the lyrics of two songs by lyricist Yogesh, but their rights were with producer LB Lachman, who was making Annadata for which he had reserved the songs. Rajesh Khanna and Mukherjee requested him to part with the two songs for Anand. Lachmanji parted with ‘Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye’, immortalised by Mukesh. Mukherjee requested Yogesh to write another song and he came up with an even better ‘Zindagi kaisi hai paheli’. Gulzar penned iconic dialogues such as, “Babu Moshai, zindagi lambi nahi badi honi chahiye,” immortalised by Rajesh Khanna.
Anand is proof that good cinema is all about a story well told with ingredients such as direction, lyrics, screenplay, music and acting performances in the right proportion. In the climax, Anand’s friend, Babu Moshai (Amitabh) returns home, only to find Anand has passed away. He cries and implores a listless Anand to talk to him and then mysteriously, Anand’s voice, recorded earlier, starts playing on the tape-recorder: “Babu Moshai ... zindagi aur maut uparwale ke haath mein hai jahanpanah. Hum sab toh rangmanch ki kathputliyan hai jinki dor uparwale ki ungliyon mein bandhi hui hain. Kaun kab uthega koi nahin bata sakta. (We are all puppets in the hands of the Supreme Being who holds the strings of our lives. We will never know which string he will pull next).”
The movie ends with a flight of balloons vanishing into the sky, symbolising Anand’s liberation and his journey heavenwards. Amitabh signs off with: “Anand maraa nahin, Anand marte nahin.” How true! The legend of Anand continues to rule our hearts and finds a proud place among the top 10 Bollywood movies to date.
DESPITE HAVING A TRAGIC END, ANAND IS NOT A TRAGEDY. IT MAKES YOU LAUGH AT DIFFERENT POINTS OF TIME; MAKES YOU INTROSPECT AND IMPARTS THE LESSON OF LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST