50 Yrs of Anand: Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Timeless Movie About Life & Loss

Rajesh Khanna's philosophy in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's 'Anand' mirrors that of Tarrou in Camus' 'The Plague'.

Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan in a still from Hrishikesh Mukherjee's Anand.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

Just like Oran in Albert Camus’s 'The Plague', the world of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand (1971) is enveloped by death and suffering. This is made clear long before Rajesh Khanna’s character even makes his appearance.

Amitabh Bachchan’s Bhaskar Banerjee expresses the frustrations of being a doctor in a world where medicines could eradicate illness but not poverty and hunger.

Amitabh Bachchan as Bhaskar Banerjee in Anand.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

Gloom surrounds both the poor and Bhaskar. This becomes visible in a scene where we see him giving up on a patient. We never get to see the anything about the doomed man, but the doctor’s inability to help and the poignant reactions of his family help convey the gravity of the moment.

Bhaskar’s troubles are informed by his incapability to understand and fight against a malady which is seemingly incurable. This disease isn’t just death but one’s struggles to come to terms with it. Anand’s arrival changes thing.

Like Tarrou in 'The Plague', Anand seems to have a different take on the ultimate fate.

Tarrou is of the belief that the we’ve always had the plague, in the form of men being oft too ready to kill (for one systematic/ideological end or the other). While distancing himself from mankind’s actions, he doesn’t give up the fight to – have inner peace, or a decent death.

Anand’s unusual take on life becomes visible to us in his very first appearance. He begins by making light of his fatal disease, much to the chagrin of Bhaskar. Soon enough though Bhaskar gets a peek into Anand’s life system. Death is merely a momentary event like many others in life, albeit one which is given a lot of attention over other situations.

“Babumoshai, Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi. (One should aspire to live ‘big’, and not merely to live long)” This utterance is no doubt meant to surprise us, since death brings about the end of one’s very existence.

Who is this Anand who not only remains calm, but is ready to laugh in the face of death?

Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna in a still from Anand.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

“Jab tak zinda hoon mara nahi, jab mar gaya saala main hi nahi.” (Till I am alive, I am not dead. When I am dead, there’s no ‘me’.)

Despite his cheerful disposition before others, Anand isn’t bereft of pain. He has the agony of losing out on life, and he tries to fill in the same by living it to the fullest, ensuring that no one is hurt due to his actions, and by helping out those in need.

Anand’s conduct in the film isn’t a farce meant to cheer up those around him, or enhance his status by depicting himself as fearless in face of death.

His ways are informed by the filmmaker’s construct of an ideal man. At times he invokes odd but moralistic ideas which would sit well with ancient philosophical schools. The stoics discussed the idea of facing death with courage, because there is nothing special about an event which signifies a journey coming to an end. Anand repeats the same and much more.

One of his quirks, is to search for his long-lost friend, ‘Murari Lal’ in complete strangers. Very soon we understand, that there is no real person of this name.

Anand explains to Bhaskar how we might end up liking or disliking people for no good reason, without ever getting to know them. His idea of living life to the ‘fullest’ includes being nice to others, and forging positive relationships with them. This is vindicated by him finally coming across his Murari Lal in Isa Bhai (Johnny Walker), who not only receives him cordially but also becomes a close friend.

Rajesh Khanna and Johnny Walker (as Isa Bhai) in Anand.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

The philosophical restructuring to one’s life in modern age, is advocated most effectively by showing the kind of impact Anand’s ways have on other characters. The movie is about a loss, but what makes it unique is that we already know what the loss will be at the very start.

It then becomes a movie about coming to terms with it. And its impact is even stronger given that we’ll lose someone who has endeared himself so well to us.

No one needs Anand more than the doctor himself, who has stated in the very beginning that his mental health condition wasn’t the best. By the end, we witness the patient has become a medicine for the doctor.

Bhaskar has shown glimpses of an angry young man, but is made to realize by Anand that he is a kind individual, who is at a loss to express his emotions because of his many troubles.

Amitabh Bachchan's Bhaskar begins to see Anand as a friend.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

While Anand is seen as a kind, well-intentioned individual by others, he’s much more to Bhaskar. He shows the doctor a new way of looking at and approaching life. By the end, Bhaskar is a changed man, full of hope because of Anand. He is a positive man, who is ready to take the big shock ahead with a brave face.

“Nahi Anand, tum kahi nahi jaoge. Tumhara toh koi nahi hai. Tum maroge toh yaha, meri baaho mein.” (No Anand, you will not go anywhere. You don’t have anyone. If you’ll die, it is right here, in my arms.)

Anand is interesting because he imbibes nearly all the qualities of a romantic hero from the 60s - a Sajjan individual, who seeks to help out others, and take care of everyone around him. Yet he is without a romantic interest, even if there’s a painful past or an impossible future around him, through the film.

He becomes special because even if he isn’t looking for answers to bigger questions of life (like Raju in The Guide) or tries to follow a rigid, principled life (like Satyapriya in Satyakam), he ends up giving us a lesson on life. Somewhere all of us know that Anand will never have a happy ending, but it doesn’t have a sad ending either.

The end is inevitable, but Anand braves it as a host of characters visit him. The best is Johnny Walker chancing upon this unfortunate news (“Usse maloom tha, hai na doctor sahab?”), show why the relationship between Murari Lal and his ‘chela’ is a short, yet special one.

“Wah! Marte, marte Chela Guru ko jeena sikha gaya. Dukh apne liye rakh, Anand sabke liye.” (The student taught his teacher a lesson. Give only joy to others, while keeping pain to oneself)

When Isa Bhai meets his chela he keeps up the act, just the way Anand would’ve wanted it. Anand shows a bravery similar to Tarrou towards the end, his main concern being how his friend would be affected after he passes away.

Though Bhaskar misses out on his friend’s last moments, Anand’s voice brings to life the very principles he believed in after his death. Similarly, he never leaves the conscience of the viewer even after the film is over.