Anupama

I had really fond memories of this film but on revisiting it I was actually taken aback at how many problems it had.

The bad: 1. Shashikala played a most exaggerated character and got annoying after a while, plus she acted 18-20 years old and was clearly an older woman.

2. The story was melodramatic and exaggerated.

The good: 1. It is a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film - loaded with pluses.

2.Sharmila was awesome as Uma - the traumatized silent girl; she was beautiful and extremely competent at showing emotions without words.

3.Dharam was best in the idealist roles. Here he is just so good - often seen in a singlet with holes, and never stylish but always full of his own inimitable style.

4. Tarun Bise, David, Deven Varma all did a good job.

5. The music was fantastic - Bheegi Bheegi fiza, Yaa dil ki suno duniya waalon, Aisi bhi baatein.

On balance a good film, watchable for the lead pair, the songs, but surprisingly not one of the best from the maestro.

Besides being a very watchable film, it is a must-have for all serious students of Hindi cinema. The film is dedicated to Bimal Roy (practically the entire crew is comprised of people who worked for Roy) and in this film, Hrishikesh Mukherji's narrative style is clearly reminiscent of Roy's style. Hemant Kumar's music from this film is practically legendary, as are Kaifi Azmi's lyrics. The film has a few flaws -- it starts and ends beautifully, but could have been tightened up around the middle. The lead duo, Sharmila and Dharmendra, are adequately good, but it's the support cast that really carries the film. The director spends time working on the relationships between the cast - Deven Varma and Shashikala, despite (or because of) the latter's slightly annoying excess, have surprisingly good chemistry, and David, doing his classic overgrown bachelor is dependably great. The film is stolen though by Tarun Bose, who plays the lead character's troubled father to perfection.

The thing that strikes out about the film is how well it comes together as a whole -- the cinematography, screenplay, the music, the editing and the acting. To the credit of Mukherjee and Roy alike, the film epitomizes the Black & White class drama that so strongly influenced Indian popular cinema in the post-independence era. I cannot recommend the film enough.

Anupama ( Rupa Ganguly is superb for her acting ) but Director and story writer are forgetting one basic thing that they are portraying Anupama as a weak docile, self respect less woman who is bent upon accepting any degree of humiliation in marriage and after divorce too.

Leela is Gandhari of president times who ignored her sons grave crimes of ditching his wife in marriage and even after divorce, credits all crime of son to Anupama. Leela could accept Kavya , a flower pot, in her family but not Anupama in spite of using her full time 24x7 unpaid maid who can't even ask for self respect.

It's a story highly decorating negative characters like Vanraj , Kavya, Leela and Toshu. All of these are selfish of the highest order. I don't understand what this serial wants to give to the society, a healthy entertainment or a wrong message ?

Hasmukh is another Dhritraashtra or Bhishma of Mahabharat who never took any decision, and rather believed in auto decisions . He could never control his son or wife who continued torturing Anupama for 26 years in marriage and even after divorce. Such persons are more injurious to society.

I personally do not like Glorification of negativity in life .

The serial as far as acting of actor / actresses is doing well but story is Hopeless and unrealistic.

No woman in 2020/21 would like to live with sautan in the same house.

Any disease if not treated in time , like arrogance of Vanraj or Leela or Kavya, is going to become Cancer .

Anuj Kapadia, is doing well and knows how to give check mate to Vanraj and Kavya and lesson to Anupama in a single move.

Anupama always do overacting. I didn't like the series.

Known for his more successful rollicking comic adventures, this gem is still one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's best works.

Anupama is the story of a shy and retreating girl who grows up with the stigma of guilt, and her father's reproach and blame for having lost her mother during childbirth. It's a poignant journey of how she overcomes her own guilt and steps out of her father's overbearing shadow.

Tarun Bose - another unsung character actor from Hindi cinema - plays Sharma, an affluent businessman who has married late but deeply loves his wife. When she dies in childbirth, he blames the newborn daughter Uma for having separated him from his only joy in life. She grows up as a timid young girl who pines for her father's affection, feels the guilt of her mother's demise and is barely able to express herself as a result. Indeed her first words in the movie are almost an hour into it, in a lilting song amidst nature.

Sharmila Tagore, performs exquisitely as the daughter Uma, and despite having very few words to say, truly embodies the repressed, melancholy character, especially with her eyes that express all her emotions. Of course it helps that she is so beautiful.

The scenes between father and daughter are poignant, and are sensitively handled. Deep inside, Sharma does love his daughter, but it shows only when he is drunk, and not in his senses.

Hindi cinema has produced many excellent actors who are grossly underrated, and none more so than Dharmendra, who is not really remembered today for some of his sensitive portrayals, and his flair for comedy. Here he plays Ashok, a writer by profession from a modest background whose keen mind is quick to notice Uma's angst. Which also attracts the two together.

Helping the plot race along - despite the melancholy theme, there's never a dull moment in the screenplay - are Shashikala who plays Annie (or Anita) - an effervescent tomboy and a complete anti-thesis of Uma's character- and a young Deven Verma who plays Arun, her love interest and a childhood friend of Ashok.

There's also David - a Hrishikesh Mukherjee regular - provides great comic relief as Sharma's cheerful friend Moses. He has the best line in the movie. Translated from Hindi, "Death is great fun. The dying person doesn't know when it will happen, and everybody else cries." This has to be one of David's finest performances - he jokes, dances with Shashikala, and generally brings the house down with his pearls of wisdom.

An unspoken love develops between Ashok and Uma, that threatens to die unrequited. Ashok understands the father's grief, but resents his ignorance and neglect of his daughter. The song 'Ya dil ki suno..' sung by the peerless Hemant Kumar, who also scores the music, is heart-rending. This song alone is worth the price of the movie. Written by Kaifi Azmi, It poetically describes the insensitivity of the father: "what a flower has bloomed in nature, the gardener has no love for it".

Can Uma really overcome her internal barriers and take the leap to be with Ashok? Does she really have the strength to break free from emotions of both love and terror for her father? Despite a predictable ending, the movie still surprises in the end.

Modern day directors can learn a lot about how to balance emotional content with sparkling comedy. And aided by excellent performances all round, 'Anupama' makes for a memorable experience.