Anuradha

Anuradha Roy (Leela Naidu), a lively and successful singer, marries an idealistic country doctor (Balraj Sahni). Her former suitor (Abhi Bhattacharya) has an accident while passing through her village and ignites memories of her past glory. He persuades her to return to her former profession. However, just as she gets ready to leave, a famous and worldly-wise doctor comes to visit and makes an impact on her. A beautiful story of love and sacrifice... Balraj Sahni, Leela Naidu and Abhi Bhattacharya excel in their roles. Popular songs include 'Kaise Din Beete' and 'Hai Re Woh Din Kyon Na Aaye', 'Jaane kaise sapno mein kho gayi akhiyan'.

Anuradha staring Leela Naidu & Balraj Sahani is an excellent movie. I have seen this movie several times. I would like to thank you for bringing up the best things in past. I'm a great fan of Black & White movies. The skills those guys had at that time was unbelievable. I'm being a animation studio owner and producer, I really miss those simple thing in work. Most of us know that Leela Naidu was the one of the most beautiful women in that era. But I would like to mention that is yet the most beautiful actress that Indian Cenema has got. And about the Sahani Sahab, who can challenge his acting performance. Thanks for this opportunity.

Loosely based on Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary', Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 'Anuradha' is relevant even in today's world. The sacrifices that woman make in order to create a home of their husband and children, giving up their job, their passion and independence, all for their family and to find happiness in them is not uncommon in today's society. Their contribution is often taken for granted and overlooked as happens with the title character Anuradha. With a promising career as a singer, Anuradha gives it all up for her husband and moves to a village where he can treat its poor dwellers. She is happy enough to sing only for him. Years go by and Dr. Nirmal is so occupied with work that he doesn't even have the time to listen to his wife sing one song. She continues to long for his affection and things take a drastic turn when an old flame shows up. Mukherjee has always succeeded in telling the story of the common folks and the viewer can easily relate to the characters and their struggles. Here it's no different. Balraj Sahni is first rate and beautiful Leela Naidu is very good.

There are a few melodramatic moments that break the pace but this is only a very minor flaw. The songs are pleasant and most of them fit in well. The camera does a decent enough job in capturing the simplicity and beauty of the scenes. Almost each frame of the film is photogenic. There's a certain quality and elegance that black and white brings to a film and here it highlights the scenes wonderfully.

'Anuradha' is ahead of its time especially with its feminist subject matter. It was considered a risky subject matter in cinema and cheers to Mukherjee for going ahead and doing what he believed in.

Many would argue that the linear and the predictable style of Anuradha's storytelling is boring and has been dated. But, there is much more in this movie that is still of much worth as it was 50 years ago. Leela Naidu's knock-out beauty, Balraj Sahni's underplayed powerhouse performance and Nasir Hussain's hard-hitting speech at the climax are as timeless as the music of this movie would be. The eventual condition, sacrifice and the would-be future of the wives, mothers and daughters of the successful men are quite relevant even after 50 years. Three cheers for Hrishikesh Mukerjee who had the guts to make such movie in 1960 when talking about women's rights was considered as against box- office success.

Anuradha (1960) : Brief Review -

Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Cult Classic on Woman's Sacrifice and Contribution in Man's Life is truly unbeatable. Year 1960 should be written in golden fonts in the History of Bollywood Cinema for 3 Masterpiece Films like 'Mughal E Azam', 'Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai', and 'Anuradha'. I am feeling blessed for having these 3 films watched. This conventional and emotional story by Hrishikesh Mukherjee's is impossible to match by others. I don't think any film will do better than this or something even close to it on the topic Women's importance. Anuradha is a story of a talented singer Anuradha who gave up her career for her husband's success. Husband, Nirmal is a passionate doctor who is dedicated to his work more than her wife, he's not behind Money he just want to serve the poor people. After 10 years of marriage Anuradha begins to regret about her decision but on the other side the husband too is not wrong at his place as he has already warned her about this. This narrative was so powerful that i was confused which side to choose? Anuradha or Nirmal? Both are so right. Finally the answer came and i had to use couple of tissues to dry my wet eyes. I don't remember watching this kind of face off or confusion where you just can't choose one side and then you get a proper, logical and intelligently emotional answer at the end. Leela Naidu and Balraj Sahni did a fine job in thier roles, none of them looked out of form for a single moment. The film has a musical theme but the music couldn't archive high feat. One or two soulful Chartbusters would have made it better. Lyrics did thier job on high level though. Hrishikesh Mukherjee had a strong script in hand, written by Sachin Bhowmick so he just had to care about presentation. And indeed he did it upto the classic level of writing. 130 Minutes of storytelling with zero loo breaks and zero mistakes, what else can i ask? Superlative. Anuradha deserved the national award despite mighty opponents and i guess it tells a lot about it's strength. This will always remain that one Memorable Film which showcased the sacrifices, contribution, importance and credit of Women in Successful Men's lives. 'Behind every successful man there is a Great Woman", well Anuradha proved it convincingly and marginally. Don't miss it at any cost.

RATING - 9/10*

By - #samthebestest