Amanush

Amanush review :

Bengali legend Uttam Kumar's most memorable Bollywood appearance: Amanush was inspired from the classic Devdas story of a guy taking to alcohol and vices after he loses the love of his life. Uttam Kumar was superlative in the titular role and the song 'Dil aisa kisine mera toda. Barbaadi ki taraf aisa moda. Ek bhale maanus ko amanush bana ke choda.' sums up the crux of the movie.

Sharmila Tagore was perfectly cast as the love interest who deserts Kumar after a misunderstanding created by the villain Utpal Dutt. Sharmila looked extremely beautiful in the Bengali sarees she wore in the film. Sexy Prema Narayan got the meaty Chandramukhi inspired role and nailed it. Utpal Dutt was convincing as the cunning lecherous creep.

Overall, Amanush is one of Shakti Samanta's best work after Aradhana (1969) and Amar Prem (1972). Superstar Rajesh Khanna was the original choice for this movie but he declined the offer citing date problems. That is when Uttam Kumar stepped in and did full justice to it. The Hindi as well as Bengali version of the film were shot simultaneously and both made money at the box office.

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.