Aradhana

Fantastic music and a dashing leading man aside, the main reason why Aradhana works is perhaps because of the wonderful story line and direction. Though this movie is more often remembered for shooting Rajesh Khanna into the big league, its Sharmila Tagore's subdued portrayal of Vandana Tripathi that stays with you. She richly deserved her Filmfare award for Best actress for this role. Farida Jalal and Madan Puri too chip in with good supporting performances. But of course the real winner here is the music, chart busters all of them. Must watch to know what Bollywood was once capable of yielding before inanities set in.

A fairly conventional melodrama plot, but some nice parallel moments, almost shot for shot when scenes are repeated involving father and son (both played by Rajesh Khanna.) I liked him more as the father than as the son. A celebrated role for Sharmila Tagore as well. Her make-up goes through an evolution as her character ages. I got kind of obsessed with her eyeliner that resembles cat-eye glasses without the glasses. My real reason for watching this was the music. Again, the stagings don't seem that original (easy to say, 50 years later!) but the songs, the orchestrations and singing are quite nice. But of course, I don't understand Hindi...

Let me start by saying that this is a masterpiece and arguably Rajesh Kahnna's best film ever along with Anand. The music is legendary and this was also Kishore Kumars comeback movie after actor Om Prakash had cursed him because Kishore would not act in his m ovie. The story about a girl (Sharmila) who falls in love with an army afficer (Rajesh Khanna) who dies while leaving her pregnant was unique in Bollywood. Especially the entry of her son after approx 20 years (also Rajesh Khanna) and the moving climax. I love classic movies and watch black and white movies regularly. Big was my surprise when i saw the movie TO EACH HIS OWN - a black and white gem of a movie in which a girl gets pregnant by an army officer who dies, she has to give up the child and meets him approx 20 years later. But believe it or not the climax of this movie is even better than Aradhana and they don't even use a song like Chanda Hai Tu. You must watch this gem of a movie.

Aradhana introduces to Indian cinema a great talent Rajesh Khanna. Though this was not his first movie, but this movie brought him acclaim,recognition and Super Star status. The movie has him in a double role where he succeeds in showing different characters. Sharmila Tagore shines in the movie and acts well.The music of Sachin Dev Burman is immortal and all songs were super hit. Kishore Kumar's voice fits Rajesh Khanna's screen image as if either Rajesh Khanna is singing the songs or if Kishore Kumar has become Rajesh Khanna. One voice Two souls. The movie's story is very touchy and is a tear jerker. However, Rajesh Khanna steals the show with good performances by Ashok Kumar, Asit Sen, Sujit Kumar, Pahari Sanyal, Farida Jalal among others. This Shakti Samanta movie is a must see.

This is story of devotion and sacrifice.

Sharmila Tagore did an outstanding job in this. Be it a mother or a lover, she was graceful in every avatar.

The music of maestro Sachin dev Barman was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L.