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.

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.

Though Raj Kapoor was a versatile actor and performed various kinds of roles in his acting career spanning around 38 years (1944-1982), he's best loved by the Indian audience for the Seedha-Saada, simple, straightforward and naive (and therefore vulnerable) gentleman's role who's pure-hearted and cannot play with anybody's sentiments (but people can easily play with his sentiments and break his heart). Many movies showcasing his talent in such type of roles were made under his own banner and under the outside banners too. One such memorable movie is Anari (1959) which is definitely a classic, not to be missed by a movie-buff interested in watching quality cinema.

Anari (too simple, devoid of shrewdness) is the story of Raj Kumar aka Raju (the evergreen screen-name of Raj Kapoor) who is poor and lives as paying guest with Mrs. D'Sa (Lalita Pawaar), a Christian widow whose personality is like coconut, i.e., apparently stern but very sweet, tender and benevolent inside her heart. Raju gets a job in the pharmaceutical company of Ramnath (Moti Lal) whose daughter, Aarti (Nutan) falls in love with him but pretends to be the maid of his daughter and presents the actual maid, Asha (Shubha Khote) as herself. Though she does it in just in prank-playing way but before she could tell Raju the truth, he himself comes to know of it and feeling badly hurt to see that his sentiments have been played with, alienates himself from Aarti and his father. But when ailing Mrs. D'Sa passes away after a medicine manufactured in the pharmaceutical company is injected to her, Raju is arrested because it is found that she has died of poison. After a few twists in the story, Raju is acquitted and the real culprit surrenders to the court. Aarti and Raju get reunited.

The characters involved are above the plot of the story. The character of Mrs. D'Sa and the affectionate relationship between herself, the land-lady and Raju, the tenant; goes deep inside the hearts of the viewers. Both the performers have delivered performances of a lifetime in the movie. Especially for Lalita Pawar, I can safely say that it's the best role performed by herself in her entire acting career. Nutan, first as the carefree daughter of a rich man and thereafter a true lover who feeling the pain inside her own heart after inadvertently hurting the man she loves and later standing by him in his time of adversity, is just marvellous. And finally Moti Lal, as the proud businessman who is never ready to accept defeat, has delivered a knock-out performance. The performers have enlivened the script on the screen with their towering performances. And the director has shown his class by presenting the story in an extremely effective, interesting and above all, touching way. It's a movie which first entertains you and thereafter moves you deep inside your heart.The cinematography and other technical aspects of this black and white movie are also up to the mark.

The music preparing team of Shankar-Jaikishan (composers), Shailendra (lyricist), Mukesh and Lata (singers) has done an outstanding job. It contains gems like Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe Ho Nisaar, Tera Jaana Dil Ke Armaanon Ka Lutt Jaana, Bann Ke Ye Panchhi Gaayen Pyar Ka Taraana, Dil Ki Nazar Se Nazaron Ki Dil Se, Woh Chaand Khila Woh Taare Hanse etc. My favourite song is the title track sung by Mukesh - Sab Kuchh Seekha Humne Na Seekhi Hoshiyaari, Sach Hai Duniya Waalon Ki Hum Hain Anari.

Anari is a timeless classic from the black and white era of Bollywood movies which had won five Filmfare awards in 1960. Its repeat value is beyond measurement. See it once and you will love to see it countless number of times. It scores in every department of cinema. If you have not watched it till date, please do watch it now and you will know at once what quality cinema is all about.

Hrishikesh Mukerjhee, after an above average debut with his three parter Musafir (1957) strikes gold with this Raj Kapoor starrer.

Starring the showman in his classic poor Chaplinsque avatar who falls in a romantic yet fun escapade with a rich girl pretending to be poor (played by Nutan), the film delivers the best of classic Hindi cinematic experience.

The film has such a fine array of actors. From the outside stone cold yet inner loving Lalita Pawar to ethereal Nutan to Raj Kapoor himself and Motilal (one of the most under rated actors of Indian cinema. Many actors have cited him as their influence and he was one of the first to bring in natural acting in Hindi school of cinema. Yet films starring him remain scarce to see in good quality. He isn't the main character here but he lights up every scene he comes in).

I normally dislike and skip most songs in Hindi films, both newer and even older variants. I consider them a weakness. Yet, this is one of the few exceptions where the music elevates the film. From the above average numbers like 'Woh Chand Khila' to 'Nineteen Fifty Six' to the evergreen classic ' Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe ho Nissar'; the latter simplistically filmed on a walking Raj Kapoor. Yet the lyrics are so simple and yet so deep that they touch your heart and beautifully rendered by Mukesh. It's a testament to the fact that you don't need an array of dancers and six pack abs to groove to a tune (looks at the mess that modern Film music is). Proper lyricist, composer and singer are all you need.

The director will make many more such slice of life films, namely Golmaal, Anand, Chupke Chupke though they will all be in color. This will be his testament to black and white cinema.

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.