Anuradha

It is a 1960 Hindi film produced & directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It stars Leela Naidu & Balraj Sahni as the leads.Along with Asit Sen & Mukri. The film is noted for being Miss India Naidu’s debut film.

It won the National Film award for Best feature film & was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 11th Berlin International Film Festival in 1961.

The film was based on a short story written by Sachin Bhowmik, first published in the monthly magazine,Desh. According to his autobiography, he was inspired by Madame Bovary, an 1857 novel by Gustave Flaubert, to create this story.

The music was it’s strong point. Pandit Ravi Shankar, the Sitar maestro with lyricist Shailendra brought such gems that are unparalleled today! ‘Jaane kaise sapno mein’, “Sanware sanware Kahe mose’, “Kaise din Beete, Kaise beeti ratiyan”,’bahut din huye’, “Hai re woh din kyun na Aaye’ are the listener’s delight.

Why I went to such a old movie is because today’s newspaper carries an ad for a web series ‘Anuradha’ with Tejaswini Pandit in & as Anuradha. She is all decked up to kill. Suddenly I recollected the beauties of 60s who could look glamorous clad in a saree!

There was a ‘Maya memsaab’ made in 1993 starring Deepa Sahi, Shahrukh Khan, Raj Babbar based on Madam Bovary. It won the National film award-special mention (feature film) in 1993. in the year 1993.

‘Zhuluk- ek mohak sparsh’ made in Marathi was made in 2005. Aishwarya Narkar, Dr. Girish Oak, Shreyas Talpade made the main cast.

Being swayed by a stranger momentarily is a common theme, but the handling with a able director makes it a masterpiece! In the hands of a sensitive director like Hrishida it gets a life of it’s own. The common , known story becomes phenomenal.