Anurodh is the story of Arun (Rajesh Khanna), the son of a rich businessman, Mr. Chaudhary (Utpal Dutt). He is passionate about music which is strongly disliked by his father. Hence he adopts a pseudo-name for his artistic life - Sanjay. However his father kicks him out of his home and he moves to the house of his motor-mechanic friend - Bhisham Singh (Asrani) and his wife (Preeti Ganguly). Now he happens to meet the love of his life too - Sunita (Simple Kapadia), the grand-daughter of Mr. Mathur (Ashok Kumar). He changes his name once again to Preetam Nath Ghayal and gets the job of a chauffeur in the house of his sweetheart.
On one track, this rom-com runs to delight the audience, on the other, runs the pain-soaked story of Arun's another friend - Shrikant (Vinod Mehra) who is a poet and lives with his widow mother (Nirupa Roy) under extreme poverty. At their hearts, himself and Arun are no less than real brothers. He authors lyrics for the songs of Arun. He has been caught by tuberculosis but he hides his disease from his mother as well as Arun. Though Arun never appears on the stage for a live show (he sings on radio only), he has to change his decision to arrange a huge sum for the operation of his beloved friend Shrikant whose decease he comes to know of quite late. It is then the song mentioned in the title and the first para of this review, comes before the audience. The movie ends on a happy note.
Contrary to some of the heavy dose of sentiments in the reviews above, this film was a major failure at the box office and the only reason it gets a 7 from me his due to the memorable performance by Vinod Mehra.
Vinod Mehra's outstanding performance in his inimitable style is the heart and soul of the emotional drama presented on the screen. His performance in Anurodh is an unforgettable one. The ailing, full of self-respect, yet suffering from guilt-complex to create troubles for his beloved ones, poet Shrikant who pens poems of hope and optimism but forced by the misery prevailing in his life to decide to kill himself has been enlivened by Vinod Mehra on the screen.
Rajesh Khanna was past his heyday when Anurodh was released. However he also gives a delightful especially his outburst before Shrikant when he comes to know that Shrikant has been suffering from TB and may not live beyond a few days, is able to leave indelible imprint upon the viewer's heart. Ditto about his performance in the climax when he appears in person before the music lovers for the first time in his life and appeals to them to pray for Shrikant's life. No one can lip sync Kishore da's melodious tunes as effortlessly as Rajesh Khanna and the actor's mannerisms are with so much elan.
But truth must be told that Vinod Mehra despite being in a supporting role, outshines and outclasses Rajesh khanna here.
This is the debut movie of Dimple Kapadia's younger sister, (late) Simple Kapadia (Rajesh Khanna's real life sister-in-law) and she is just okay. The complete supporting cast has done exceedingly well to complement the performance of the lead characters (Arun and Shrikant).
Laxmikant Pyarelal have composed outstanding music for this movie. On one hand, there are romantic songs like - Aate Jaate Khoobsurat Aawaara Sadkon Par, Aapke Anurodh Pe Main Ye Geet Sunaata Hoon and Mere Dil Ne, but my all-time favorite is the song that ends the climax. Brilliant rendition.
A good film all in all, but the reasons why it failed at the box office was understandable.
Watch this movie for the Melodious tunes of Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kishore Kumar's beautiful rendition most notably and of course, the power house performance by Vinod Mehra who was simply brilliant and deservingly got a Filmfare nomination for Best Actor in a supporting role.
