[**** stars/*****]
Babu Moshai,
zindagi badi honi chahiye...
lambi nahi...
(My friend,
life must be great...
not long...)
Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand remains heart-wrenching, delicately beautiful like a crushed memory embedded between pages of poetry.
The tall doctor visits his friend Dr. Prakash Kulkarni (Ramesh Deo) at his clinic when Anand Sehgal (Rajesh Khanna) bursts into the room chattering cheerfully. It's like a cool breeze has flown in!
Kulkarni has already informed Bhaskar about Anand - he has a rare lethal form of cancer and is expected to die in four-six months.
When Bhaskar confronts Anand with this fact, he is taken aback that Anand is aware and unaffected. An unlikely friendship takes root.
Bhaskar gradually realizes Anand is a young man with a energetic, restless desire to live life to the fullest, despite his limited life span.
Anand (Happiness) is a lively brightly-lit (Eastmancolor blues) tale of a man facing death with courage and a tinge of sadness.
Mukherjee's wrote the story for his friend, the legendary Raj Kapoor. Kapoor fell ill once, Mukherjee feared for his life - and a classic film idea came into being.
Kapoor used to call Mukherjee 'Babu Moshai', the name Anand opts for Bhaskar.
The movie is dedicated to the city of Bombay and Raj Kapoor.
The Anand-Bhaskar friendship is the core, the extrovert Anand and an anguished, gentle Bhaskar make good company.
The scene where Bhaskar nudges Anand to share his grief is touching among many other moments. That Anand adamantly refuses and in return wishes to share only joy, establishes the two characters.
How Anand sets Bhaskar up with his lady love Renu (Sumita Sanyal) is good entertainment. His spontaneous befriending of strangers, and finally meeting 'Murari Lal' (Johnny Walker) - a lovely story curve.
Maut tu ek kavita hai,
tujhse ek kavita ka wada hai,
milegi mujhko...
(Death, you are a poem,
with you there is promise of a poem,
you shall meet me...)
It's hard to forget the immortal last lines that sound abruptly in the death silence.
Commercial Hindi film makers are infamous for avoiding realism and keeping everything beautiful for the heck of it.
Why else does Anand looks unaffected, in the pink of health despite his worsening condition?
Multiple imaginative frames, varied lighting and shades could have added more depth.
Miraculously, the best Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies remain watchable, despite largely absent art direction and structured story-boarding.
Anand stands out despite the bare set up. Why?
It's in Gulzar's dialogues that the movie has its furious blood-pumping heart.
Anand review
The lead actors compliment each other beautifully.
Rajesh Khanna manages to tweak his trademark mannerisms to make Anand unforgettable.
Amitabh Bachchan holds his own with a measured, intense performance.
The screenplay by Mukherjee, Gulzar, D.N. Mukherjee and Bimal Dutta touches on goodness, compassion, and an optimistic outlook.
Salil Chowdhury's illuminating music is set to lyrics by Yogesh and Gulzar - the four beautiful songs continue to feature in popular retro playlists.
Mukesh as Anand's playback voice is a masterstroke, as Kishore Kumar was the preferred voice for Khanna back then. The singer's melancholy voice brings out the necessary pain to the character's voice.
Jaywant Pathare's cinematography makes good use of the predominantly indoor settings, scenes have a clean, washed up feel.
Bombay (now Mumbai) appears fleetingly in the opening credits, some lovely outdoor shots are showcased in the famous Manna Dey song Zindagi Kaisi Yeh Paheli.
Go watch Anand for a joyous lead character, the impermanence and celebration of life, lovely music, bright poetic sparkle and timeless good-hearted message.
No comments:
Post a Comment