Hrishikesh Mukherjee began his career in Mumbai as editor and assistant to the legendary Bimal Roy. His first film as director, ‘Musafir’, was a disaster. But actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor was i
mpressed and when producer L.B. Lachman planned ‘Anari’ with him, he strongly recommended Hrishikesh. The film was a massive hit and cemented the bond of friendship between Raj Kapoor and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The character of Anand was inspired by Raj Kapoor, who use to call Hrishikesh Mukherj
ee as "Babu Moshay" (The Great Gentleman). It is believed that Mukherjee wrote the film when once Raj Kapoor was seriously ill and he feared that Raj may die, leaving him friendless. Hrishikesh Mukherjee had penned the story of Anand keeping in mind his close relationship with Raj Kapoor. Kapoor was represented as Anand and Hrishida was Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee.
Hrishikesh had also dedicated the film to Bombay, as Mumbai was called then. "This is the city that gave me everything,” said Hrishikesh, “I am not a Bengali and have never made a Bengali film. I am a Maharashtrian and will remain one to my dying day.”
The film was originally supposed to star famous Bollywood actors Kishore Kumar and Mehmood in the lead roles. One of the producers of the film, N.C. Sippy, had earlier served as Mehmood's production manager. The character Babu Moshai was to be played by Mehmood.
Hrishikesh was asked to meet Kishore Kumar to discuss the project. However, when Hrishikesh Mukherjee went to Kishore Kumar's house, he was driven away by the gatekeeper due to a misunderstanding. Kishore Kumar (himself a Bengali) had done a stage show organized by another Bengali man, and he was involved in a fight with this man over money matters. He had instructed his gatekeeper to drive away this 'Bengali', if he ever visited the house. When Hrishikesh Mukherjee
(also a Bengali) went to Kishore Kumar's house, the gatekeeper drove him away, mistaking him for the 'Bengali' that Kishore Kumar had asked him to drive away. The incident hurt Hrishikesh Mukherjee so much, that he decided not to work with Kishore Kumar. Consequently, Mehmood had to leave the film as well, and new actors (Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan) were signed up for the film. Though some says Hrishikesh Mukherjee's first choice for the roles of Anand and Dr Bhaskar Banerjee were Bengali matinée idols Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee. But this seems to be unbelievable for a man who never searched in boundaries for talent.
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), which also brought a Filmfare for him.
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.
Music is the hallmark of all great Hindi movies and this one has music ranking right up there, on the top. Be it "Kahin Door Jab Din Dhal Jaye" or "Maine Tere Liye Hi Saath Rang" or "Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli". Maverick composer Salil Chowdury comes up with an absolutely fantastic score and singers Mukhesh and Manna Dey do complete justice to his tunes. Hrishikesh Mukherjee brought back Salil Choudhury, whose career had reached a cul-de-sac in Bombay due to lack of commercial acceptance, and also a forgotten poet / lyricist, Yogesh. Salil and Yogesh both were wonderful and their careers revived significantly after the film.
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.
He teams up with Gulzar as lyricist and dialogue writer to give us some of the best lines in Hindi cinema and some hauntingly lovely songs. It plays on the heartstrings till date.
Viewed retrospectively, the film seems almost to be an allegory of the cinematic demise of Rajesh Khanna Superstar and his replacement by the (soon to be Angry) Young Man, Amitabh Bachchan, as his sensitive and soulful doctor-cum-diarist. Bachchan’s subdued character—with lanky physique, deep voice, and big, melancholy eyes—is meant to serve as counterpoint to the pudgier Khanna’s manic ebullience, and does, but it also hints at the “darker” heroic personality that was soon to emerge, and that would rule the Hindi screen for more than a decade. Tellingly, when the film was successfully re-released a few years after its first run, Bachchan’s image dominated the poster, ironically relegating leading man Khanna to “supporting” status.
Khanna and Bachchan respectively bagged the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Filmfare awards for this movie. Anand also got the Best Film award. Mukherjee, however lost out the Best Director award to his dear friend Raj Kapoor for his magnum opus Mera Naam Joker.
