Anuradha

'Behind every great man (or every successful man), there is a woman' is a well-known quote. It may not be universally true and there have been successful men without any woman behind them. However it is to be agreed that this quote has substance and it applies to most of the successful and great males. Though it is equally applicable to females too because I have seen several females who are successful in their public / professional / otherwise active life as having their husbands standing behind them like a rock-solid support, mainly it refers to the females standing behind great males only (perhaps due to the social set-up especially in India and all over the world in general in which the gentlemen are putting their efforts in specific fields of work, leaving it to the ladies to take care of the household which encompass those males too). And definitely, those (fortunate) males are able to capitalize on their talent and zeal and climb up great heights in their lives who have dedicated females (mostly their wives / sweethearts) behind them. Anuradha (1960) tells a touching story of such a dedicated wife only who stands by her husband and thereby proves to be a silent 'n' invisible but invaluable help in his endeavours.

The movie tells the story of Anuradha Roy (Leela Naidu), the daughter of a rich businessman and a budding singer in her own right who falls in love with Dr. Nirmal Chaudhary (Balraaj Saahni). She refuses to marry the London-return suitable boy (chosen by her father for her), Deepak (Abhi Bhattacharya) and gets married to Nirmal against the will of her father. Putting a premium on her marital life, she bids adieu to her career as a singer and as per the will and the need of her husband, moves from the city life to a distant village, Nandgaon. Dr. Nirmal keeps on running his clinic, serving the poor and continuing with his research work alongside that. Anuradha begets a daughter through her marriage but the girl who once was a noted radio-singer and a girl grown-up amidst riches and luxuries, is now reduced to a homemaker, doing all the household chores herself. Her loneliness increases day-by-day and so is her frustration with her life. However she does not allow that to get better of her duties as a wife. Nirmal, on the other hand, is unaware of the inner status of his wife because she is never complaining and he is too busy in his own work to notice that himself.

One day, Deepak comes across the husband-wife duo when he and his female-companion meet an accident and are brought to Dr. Nirmal at Nandgaon. Despite his limited resources, Nirmal successfully accomplishes a sophisticated plastic surgery on the lady which has got severely injured. However while living in the household of Nirmal and Anuradha, Deepak gradually comes to know of Anuradha's frustration and stuffiness. He instigates her to leave Nirmal and move back to the city to pursue her passion for music. Once made up her mind for that, Anuradha apprises of this decision of hers to Nirmal and then only Nirmal comes to know what has been going on within his wife for the past many years. However due to the visit of some high profile people from the field of medicine to his house that evening, he requests her to stay for one more night and leave the next morning. What happens that evening leads to the very emotional ending of this movie.

Coming back to the movie, written by Sachin Bhowmick and directed by the legendary film director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, this movie is a heart-conqueror all the way. This movie was much ahead of its time. And quite contrary to the so-called feminism, it handles the issue of a woman's own aspirations and her role in her man's life with utmost maturity.

Debutant heroine Leela Naidu was counted among the ten most beautiful women of the world in her era. Her beauty is nothing short of a knock-out drug for the males. In addition to looking very pretty, she has performed well too. Skilled actors Balraaj Saahni and Abhi Bhattacharya have delivered admirable performances as always expected of them.

Music composed by the legendary Sitaar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar is a very big plus point of Anuradha with the touching lyrics being penned by Shailendra. Bahut Din Huye Taaron Ke Desh Mein is a memorable song by Mahendra Kapoor whereas Sunn Mere Laal Yun Na Ho Behaal is a touching song by Manna Dey. However it's the female songs in the enchanting voice of Lata Mangeshkar which put the music of this movie in a class of its own. Saanwre Kaahe Mose Kare Jorajori, Jaane Kaise Sapno Mein Kho Gayi Ankhiyaan, Kaise Din Beete Kaise Beeti Ratiyaan and Haaye Re Woh Din Kyun Na Aaye are invaluable gems sung by Lata. The songs of this movie are a treat for those who love the songs based on classical Raagas of Hindustani Sangeet.

The climax of this movie makes both the hero and the heroine realize the significance of the wife in the husband's life and proves to be an eye-opener for not only both of them but also the audience. It emphatically underscores that it takes a woman of extra-ordinary inner strength and patience to make her man cross the bound of the ordinary and enter the horizon of the extra-ordinary.

Anuradha is a timeless classic. Truly a masterpiece. No lover of quality cinema should miss it.

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'.

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.

When I saw director Hrushikesh Mukherjee's name in the credits of the film Anuradha, I immediately knew I was about to see a good movie. And I was not disappointed. The story is very simple, nice and quite realistic; in a space of two hours and 20 minutes, Mukherjee traverses the relationship of an idealistic, humanitarian doctor and his wife, the titular heroine who aspires to be a singer and escape the rustics of the provincial life. In the last millennium there were not many movies you could genuinely call 'realistic'. By realistic, I mean, you could say, "Yes, this could have easily happened." The wife used to be this famous singer before she enters into a love marriage and gives up music. The world then loses a great singer to a marriage. The story sounds simple, but is it really? The way it is developed, the film shows how a deceptively simple story can become quite complex in real life when human emotions and nature comes into the equation. To Mukherjee's credit, he handles it without any extreme theatrics. If I were thinking hard where the story becomes unrealistic, it really feels like finding a needle in a haystack.

I was in two minds about rating between 7 and 8. I could have rated it at 7 because in spite of a nicely made movie, it is slightly boring. But then I compared it with the film Guide, which was made few years later. It also dealt with emotional complexities around man-woman relationship. Guide had fantastic music, dances and songs. However, ultimately the story writer seemed to have lost control. So I bumped my rating of Anuradha to 8. Lastly in terms of music-- what can you say when the music director is none other than the legendary Maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar. The songs are outstanding. I only wish we had more of these beautiful songs. All in all, Anuradha is a good movie to see with your family on an evening when you just want to sit in front of TV and relax.

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.