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...

Aradhana is both an entertaining and touching film. It has romance, love, dedication, but most importantly it's about the sacrifice of a mother for her child. The film has been known as one of the greatest classics of mainstream Hindi cinema, and it's easy to see why. It had a beautiful Sharmila Tagore, it had Rajesh Khanna making his first steps towards stardom, it had some fantastic songs (well, how can one forget "Roop Tera Mastana" and "Mere Sapno Ki Rani"?), and above-all, a very memorable story that carried the whole concept of humanity and love. I think these are the aspects that made the film unforgettable, although I think it could have been left without some overly melodramatic sequences.

It's frankly puzzling to me that die-hard fans of Rajesh Khanna write very biased comments here about the film being a Rajesh Khanna film, about him stealing the show etc., when actually it's clear that the film belongs to Sharmila Tagore completely. She is a lovely actress - beautiful, dignified, and she was convincing as both the young lady and the old mother, though clearly it's not her best role. The entire cast makes great appearances, from Khanna to Farida Jalal. The moments towards the end when the truth is revealed were very emotional and moving. This may be the film's highlight, which made up for its flaws. This one is a memorable picture, a picture that I feel many would enjoy watching.

This block buster movie discovered an Indian superstar. Thereafter, Rajesh Khanna instantaneously became a phenomenon. Movie after movie of his, hit on the box office and it seemed as if there is no stop to it. It was the first time that the screen idol - Dilip Kumar felt a real shock to his fame and his aura being eclipsed.

Aradhana was not only a milestone for Rajesh Khanna, but as a playback singer - Kishore Kumar became the most sought after singer with the legendary success of the peppy song "Mere Sapnoon ki Rani kab aye gi tu". The quixotic appeal of Rajesh Khanna reached its zenith in this superbly directed and choreographed film. Shakti Samantha extracted the best out of a young entrant (Rajesh Khanna) in film industry. Although, Rajesh did as many as four films before this flick but no momentous success came to his way. The same success befell on Sharmila Tagore, as well and she also won real acclaim, although she had acted as an old grey haired lady in the closing half hour of the movie.

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.