''Anari'' is a 16 January 1959

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Hrishikesh Mukherjee Hrishikesh Mukherjee (30 September 1922 – 27 August 2006) was an Indian film director, editor and writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema. Popularly known as ''Hrishi-da'', he directed 42 films during his car ...

. The film stars

Raj Kapoor Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: �aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of ...

Nutan Nutan Samarth Bahl (4 June 1936 – 21 February 1991), known mononymously as Nutan, was an Indian actress who worked in Hindi films. In a career spanning nearly four decades, she appeared in more than 70 films, mostly as a protagonist, in both b ...

, Motilal and

Lalita Pawar Lalita Pawar (18 April 1916 – 24 February 1998) was a prolific Indian actress, who later became famous as a character actress, appearing in over 700 films in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati cinema. She holds a Guinness world record of longest ...

. The music was by

Shankar Jaikishan Shankar may refer to: People *Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist * S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar *Sanka ...

and the lyrics by

Hasrat Jaipuri Hasrat Jaipuri, born Iqbal Hussain (15 April 1922 – 17 September 1999) was an Indian poet, who wrote in the Hindi and Urdu languages. He was also a renowned film lyricist in Hindi films, where he won the Filmfare Awards for Best Lyri ...

as well as Shailendra. This was among the few movies in which Lalita Pawar played a positive role and Motilal a role with shades of grey. The film was remade in Tamil as '' Pasamum Nesamum'' and in Turkish as ''Enayi''. ''Anari'' was released on 16 January 1959 and met with critical acclaim. Film critics had praised the screenplay and performances of lead actors in the film. Subsequently, it became the highest-grossing film of 1959 with

Box Office India Box Office India is an Indian film website. Its traffic ranking in India is 83,665 . A new Box Office India website went live on 20 January 2014. About Box Office India was launched on 10 June 2003. Its uses Whois privacy to anonymize its ...

declaring it "Super Hit".

Plot

Raj Kumar is an honest, handsome, and intelligent young man. Working only as a

sole trader A sole proprietorship, also known as a sole tradership, individual entrepreneurship or proprietorship, is a type of enterprise owned and run by one person and in which there is no legal distinction between the owner and the business entity. A sole ...

painter, he is unable to earn a living, including paying rent to his kind-hearted and talkative landlady, Mrs. D'sa. One day, Raj finds a wallet containing money and returns it to the owner, Mr. Ramnath. Ramnath admires Raj; satisfied with his honesty, he employs Raj to work in his office as a clerk. Raj meets Ramnath's maidservant Asha and they fall in love with each other. This all ends when Raj finds out that Asha is really Aarti, the niece of his employer. Unfortunately, his landlady Mrs. D'sa dies suddenly consuming medicine manufactured by Mr. Ramnath. The police conduct a post-mortem and as a result, conclude that someone poisoned Mrs. D'sa. The police take Raj for questioning as the prime suspect, is arrested, and held in jail. In the trial, however, Ramnath admits full responsibility for the tainted medicine, clearing Raj of the charges. Aarti tells Raj she promised Mrs. D'sa she would take care of him, someone who is "as big an idiot as the world is clever," giving a sense that they will marry.2:35:50 in the film, available e.g. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HujdhyUcfrw

Cast

as Raj Kumar *

as Aarti Sohanlal / Asha *

as Mrs. L. D'Sa *

Shubha Khote Shubha Balsavar ('' née'' Khote) is an Indian film and television actress who has worked in several Hindi-language and few Marathi-language films. She is also a former women's national champion in swimming and cycling. Early life and educati ...

as Asha * Motilal as Seth. Ramnath Sohanlal *

Mukri Mohammed Umar Mukri (5 January 1922 – 4 September 2000), popularly known as Mukri, was an Indian actor, who worked as a comedian in Hindi films. Born as Muhammad Umar Mukri in Uran, in Kokani Muslim Family. He started his film career with t ...

as Kamdaar *

Nana Palsikar Nana Palshikar ( mr, नाना पळशीकर) (1907 – 1 June 1984) was an Indian actor who appeared in over 80 Hindi films. He made his film debut in 1935 with ''Dhuwandhar'', and went on to play character roles in both Hindi mainstream ...

as Evil Priest * Ruby Mayer as Girl's College Facilitator * Cuckoo Moray as Aarti's friend

Soundtrack

Trivia

Motilal plays Nutan's uncle in the film. In real life, he lived with Nutan's mother,

Shobhana Samarth Shobhana Samarth (17 November 1916 – 9 February 2000) was an Indian actress, director and producer who began her career in the early days of talkie movies in the Hindi film industry and continued in lead roles into the 1950s. She started in ...

. In the office scene Mukri says " Aaj ka kaam Kal Karo, Kal ka kaam parson..." this dialogue was repeated by Hrishikesh Mukherjee in his 1979 movie

Gol Maal ''Gol Maal'' () is a 1979 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and written by Rahi Masoom Raza and Sachin Bhowmick. It was produced by N. C. Sippy, with music by R. D. Burman. The film won several awards and w ...

Awards

* 1959

Filmfare Best Actor Award The Filmfare Award for Best Actor is an award, begun in 1954, presented annually at the Filmfare Awards to an actor via a jury. This is given by '' Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi (Bollywood) films. The award was firs ...

for

* 1959 Filmfare Best Music Director Award for

* 1959 Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for

* 1959 Filmfare Best Lyricist Award for Shailendra for "Sab Kuchh Seekha Ham Ne" * 1959 Filmfare Best Male Playback Award for Mukesh for "Sab Kuchh Seekha Ham Ne" *

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

: President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Hindi

References

External links

*
A study of film ''Anari'' - Indian Cinema, University of IowaThe official tribute site for director Hrishikesh MukherjeeKisiki Muskurahaton Pe Ho Nisar song Lyrics
{{Hrishikesh Mukherjee 1950s Hindi-language films 1959 films Films directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee Films scored by Shankar–Jaikishan Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners Hindi films remade in other languages