Anand ... India ... 1971

A melodramatic tale of a man with a terminal disease. The story begins with Dr Bhaksar winning a ...A melodramatic tale of a man with a terminal disease. The story begins with Dr Bhaksar winning a literary prize for his book about a patient called Anand. The rest is flashback. Anand, the title character, is suffering from lymphosarcoma of the intestine. He, however appears to be cheerful on the outside and is determined to extract as much pleasure from his remaining lifespan as is possible. Dr. Bhaskar his physician tends to Anand in his last days. After Anand dies we can however still hear his voice which was recorded on a tape. Dr Bhakser writes a book on his patient and wins a literary prize for it Dr. Prakash Kulkarni (Ramesh Deo) is a skilled doctor working to assist the poor and needy, however, there is a weakness in him, which is to over-charge his more wealthy clients, even encourage and magnify minor aches and pains, much to the dislike of his more enthical colleague Dr. Bhaskar Bannerjee (Amitabh Bachchan). It is because of his "charitable disposition" that both get to meet their new, terminally ill patient, Anand Saigal (Rajesh Khanna), who is aware that he has only a short time to live, but even during this short period he will manage to bring about positive change in the lives of both the doctors as well as the people around him. Rajesh Khanna ... Anand Saigal / Jaichand

Amitabh Bachchan ... Dr. Bhaskar K. Bannerjee / Babu Moshai
Sumita Sanyal ... Renu
Ramesh Deo ... Dr. Prakash Kulkarni
Seema Deo ... Mrs. Suman Kulkarni
Asit Sen ... Chandranath / Muralilal #1
Dev Kishan (as Devkishan)
Atam Prakash ... Ranjeet
Lalita Kumari ... Mrs. Sanyal
Savita
Brahm Bhardwaj ... Moni Baba (as Bhardwaj)
Lalita Pawar ... Matron D'Sa
Gurnam Singh (as Gurnam)
Durga Khote ... Renu's Mother (Guest Appearance)
Dara Singh ... Head Wrestler (Guest Appearance)
Dedicated to Raj Kapoor with whom Hrishikesh Mukherjee started his movie career as an editor.


Mehmood advised Amitabh Bachchan to grab a secondary role alongside the then heartthrob Rajesh Khanna in the film, saying, "All you need to do is feed off Khanna, the rest will take care of itself."


Originally, Hrishikesh Mukherjee had envisioned Shashi Kapoor, the brother of Raj Kapoor, for the role of Anand. He wanted Raj Kapoor himself, but he had just recovered from his illness and Mukherjee couldn't bear to see him die on the screen, since he had almost died in real life. In any case, Shashi Kapoor was not eager for the role, so Rajesh Khanna got it - it remains his most memorable role with Aradhana (1969) and Amar Prem (1971).


Hrishikesh Mukherjee had also thought of singer-actor Kishore Kumar for the role of Anand.


Hrishikesh Mukherjee brought back Salil Choudhury, whose career had reached a cul-de-sac in Bombay due to lack of commercial acceptance, and Yogesh, a then-forgotten lyricist. Their careers revived significantly after the film.


The term "Babu Moshai" means "great gentleman." Raj Kapoor often affectionately addressed Hrishikesh Mukherjee with this term, just as Anand addresses Banerjee in the film.


Hrishikesh Mukherjee's first choice for the roles of Anand and Dr Bhaskar Banerjee were Bengali matinée idols Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee.


The song "Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli" was originally proposed as background song for the title. After listening the song, Rajesh Khanna thought that it would be a waste to use such a nice song as background song for title. He suggested Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Director, to create a situation for this song. In those days songs played in background for title, was less played on radio.


Hrishikesh Mukherjee informed his writer Gulzar to open the film in such a way that the audience knows in the first scene itself that Anand (played by Rajesh Khanna) is dead. He did not want the audience to be in a state of suspense till the end and keep guessing whether Anand will survive or not. By doing that Hrishikesh Mukherjee wanted to concentrate on the essence of the film on how Anand wants to live life fullest and make the best of the time he has.

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