Anari

sings Mukesh in the lively and entrancing "1959" cabaret scene, but you'd never guess it if you only listen to Western pop music! This was not only Raj Kapoor and Nutan at their peaks but also singers Lata and Mukesh too, in a typically moralising tale from RK with plenty of social instructions expertly delivered as pills in the jam.

Whilst happily cycling and singing the catchy Ban Ke Panchhi lovely Nutan literally bumps into simple guy Raj - after many tribulations they eventually fall in love. Along the way he forms a son/mother relationship with his loud landlady Mrs D'Sa which is pivotal to the plot – he's utterly traumatised when she dies, but still has more trouble to come. Great songs: the jaunty Kisi Ke Muskurahaton, the poetic duet Dil Ke Nazar Se and the astoundingly simple Woh Chand Khila in the "radiantly moonlit" garden – Lata surpassed her usual high standard with that one!

Overall, enjoyable as usual and with the usual RK messages that love is better than money and ingenuousness is better than being a man of the world it's always worth watching.

Anari," the 1959 film, served as an unflinching mirror to society, confronting themes that remain unsettlingly relevant even today-innocence in a world of cunning, truth in the face of manipulation, the corrupting influence of greed, and the cruel irony of wealth built upon the suffering of the powerless. Decades later, its questions still echo: Will the romantics-those who value integrity, empathy, and human connection-ever triumph? Or will the world continue to revere the 'smart'-those who commodify every aspect of existence, reducing meaning to monetary value, measuring success solely by wealth, and idolizing fortunes over virtues?

This is another nice Raj Kapoor movie, directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

The story is about Rajkumar (Raj Kapoor), an unemployed honest painter who lives in a rented room to Mrs. D'Sa (Lalita Pawaar). He never pays his rent, and though Mrs. D'Sa gets annoyed, she treats him like her son.

On his way to finding a job, Raj bumps into Aarthi (Nutan), who was climbing over a wall to get out of her boring college class. Then he goes to his job interview, which is at a restaurant. He checks the daal (lentils) he finds a roach floating at the top. He reports this by screaming it out to everyone at the restaurant...which makes the manager very annoyed. Raj's honesty wasn't getting him anywhere, he gets kicked out.

He goes home only to make Mrs. D'Sa mad. The next day, he bumps in to Aarthi again (in a chain reaction biking crash lol). Aarthi tells him that her name is Aasha. But Aasha (Shuba Khote) is actually Aarthi's naukrani...even though they're like sisters. Aarthi continues to pretend that she herself is the naukrani. She invites Raj to paint a picture at her "malkin's" house the next day. Raj readily agrees.

The next day, Aarthi keeps on making up stories about her poorness, saying that her mom was really sick, and that's why she's working at the mansion. He gets paid 1,000 rupees for his work, but because of his kind heart, he gives it all back to Aarthi...saying that it would come in handy for her sick mother.

Which makes Aarthi like him all the more.

He goes back home, again with no pay to give Mrs. D'Sa. After a long argument, she gives him a quarter to go eat. When he's outside, Raj is almost hit by the car of Seth Ramnath (Motilal). Raj continues to look for his attani in the dark. To test his honesty, Seth Ramnath drops his wallet in the middle of the road. When Raj notices, he picks it up and wants to give the wallet back to Seth Ramnath...he gets chased by gonads...and goes through a lot ~ but he returns the wallet. Impressed, Seth Ramnath gives him a job in his office.

Raj's life starts going well. He does hard work. Mrs. D'Sa doesn't take his rent, because they basically become like mother and son. And of course he has his dear "Aasha".

But what Raj doesn't know is that Seth Ramnath is the uncle of his "Aasha", and what Seth Ramnath doesn't know is that Aarthi likes Raj. Poor Raj doesn't even know that his "Aasha" is actually Aarthi. He has yet to find out about what's in store for him.

And once he does (in a quite saddening way)...his life is upside down. To make matters worse, Mrs. D'Sa gets the flu.

Another thing that Raj doesn't know: the company he works at sells contaminated medicines sometimes.

How is Rajkumar's life supposed to come back together? Can a poor man ever marry a rich girl? Or ever be given justice? That's the plot. It's a great movie, with emotion as well as entertainment. Raj Kapoor, Nutan, Lalita Pawar, and everyone gave wonderful performances. Nutan looked exuberantly beautiful and matched well with Raj Kapoor.

And my god the music! Shankar Jaikishan once again delivers a perfect sound track. Songs like "Dil Ki Nazar Se", "Kisi Ki Muskarahoton", "Woh Chand Khila", "Tera Jaana" and so many more are just classics. Lata and Mukesh at their best once again. The background score is quite touching too. Helen's dance was a delight as usual.

Hrishkesh Mukherjee's direction is pretty good, and there are many times in the movie where you just have to cry. The relationships between all of the characters just light up the screen. Despite a few extremely sad situations, and some unreasonably evil characters, the direction is very nice. I give this movie an 8.5 out of 10! Watch this classic.

Anari (1959) : Brief Review -

A Superb triad of Romance, Comedy and Emotions in-essentially went for over analysing social climax. Anari begins on a high note with engaging and entertaining love story, it stays on high level with comedy and adds enough essential social issues such as differences between poverty and wealthy life but then goes on to have overdose of it. The climax doesn't look on same level to what narrative was before that hence, reducing the impact of a potential Classic. Rajkumar is poor jobless guy gets a job for his honesty from a rich businessman Seth Ramnath. His niece Aarti falls in love with Rajkumar but lies to him about her Identity. Ramnath is against their relation and Rajkumar stands up against Ramnath for murdering his supposed mother Miss D'sa. Anari somehow fails to justify it's title despite several attempts in the climax and over analysed vision. However, it a fantastic ride from the beginning and every minute adds something more beautiful and important in the film. It was just a matter of simple climax in mainstream flow which could have easily made it a Claasic Rom-com and Emotional film. The relationship between Rajkumar and his supposed Mother is so beautiful and heart touching. A catholic woman and a Hindu Son, this trick was excellent and highly admirable. Rajkumar and Aarti's relationship was looking fascinating in the start untill the fiasco took place in the pre-climax scene where she couldn't chose him against her uncle. May be that trick was on hold to get typical happy ending but by that time film loses it's main theme of Rom-com and becomes a dark satirical on Rich vs Poor fight. Raj Kapoor as Rajkumar is deservingly known as one of his finest performance. His variable accents from Catholic Hindi to regular Hindi are invulnerable. I always say Nutan just can't go wrong with her acting skills and Anari is yet another complimentary performance of her career and not to forget it came in the same year of Sujata which is One of the Greatest performance her career. Lalita Pawar gets a positive role and how. She is Lovable and kind like never before. Crunchy and Clapworthy dialogues are impressive such as, "Ehsaan to Amir log karte hai, hum garib log to sirf ek dusre ki madad karte hai." Music by Shankar Jaikishan is overall good but could have been better considering thier own high standard but the Maestros didn't fail to deliver an Iconic song. "Jeena Isika Naam Hai" is that only Iconic song in Anari. This was only 2nd directorial for Hrishikesh Mukherjee and he did great as far as his early days are concerned. May be he learnt from this film what he missed and then he didn't repeat those mistakes in his next films. His next film was a Masterpiece 'Anuradha' and i am glad he didn't do the same mistake as Anari. Anari is a Great Rom-Com, a Fantastic emotional story but I wish only if it had that high level climax. Nevertheless, its a sure shot Super Hit formula and box office numbers proved it. I was just me, expecting too much from quality trio of Raj Kapoor-Nutan-Hrishikesh Mukherjee which doesn't come frequently.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest

Anari is the story of Raj (Raj Kapoor) a poor 'anari' (simpleton) who rents a room with Mrs. D'Sa (Lalita Pawar). Raj and Mrs. D'Sa have a strange relationship. They love each other dearly but choose to show that love in unique ways. Raj makes mischief and jests with Mrs. D'Sa while she constantly yells at him.

Raj is a painter who doesn't make enough money. One fine day he meets Aarti (Nutan) a rich man's daughter. But Aarti, afraid of class differences coming in the way of their friendship/budding love tells Raj that she is actually a servant in her own house. Gullible Raj believes her and they begin to fall in love.

They sing a few songs around town and then things get serious when Raj discovers who Aarti really is. Saddened at being lied to, Raj wallows in his misery and sings a few sad songs. His life gets even more complicated when Mrs. D'Sa falls sick and eventually dies. The police find that her demise was caused by the medicines she took. Raj is accused of poisoning her.

What really happened? Is Raj guilty? Was he just pretending to be an anari? Watch the movie to find out!

Overall this is a good entertainer. Coming from the likes of Raj Kapoor and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, we don't expect any less. The performances are also very good. Raj Kapoor is perfect in his now famous role of a naive village boy. Nutan is charming and Lalita Pawar is fun to watch.

Music is excellent, simple tunes set to some wonderful lyrics.

Definitely recommended.