Review of Anand (1971) by Sandeep S — 16 Mar 2008

It is very rare for me to shed tears in a film, but I think this is one of the very few that have made me feel so empowered and touched by its inspiring tale...The movie has everything going for it. Acting, direction, story, music, dialogues etc... everything is fabulous. It has drama, humor, emotions in dollops. It is a story a dying man who looks at life with a positive attitude and enjoys his time knowing fully well his disease is incurable and that he is going to die soon. Veteran Actor, Rajesh Khanna as Anand is absolutely brilliant, this is his career-best performance , notwithstanding movies like Kati Patang, Roti, Aradhana, Amar Prem etc. You cannot think of any other actor in this role and to think Rajesh Khanna was not the original choice(I hear both infamous Kapoor brothers Shammi and Shashi Kapoor were considered first). He makes you laugh and cry. He causes anxiety and goose bumps. Simply superb.

Amitabh Bachchan, who was a very newcomer at the time of this film (you can tell by how very young he looks compared to his later films)really outdid himself and is equally desrving of accolades for his very matured performance...(One of the few earlier roles he did which were not the typical angry man roles he did later on from this film...)Music is the hallmark of all great 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".

This is truly one of the best Hindi Films I have seen, a great insight into how Indian cinema back then was...simplistic in nature, but strikingly meaningful in its representation...