Starring Rajesh Khanna in the titular role and Amitabh Bachchan as Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee aka Babu Moshai, the 1971 emotional drama Anand is considered as among the greatest Bollywood films ever made. The 1971 release was directed by the legendary filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and he dedicated the film to the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) and his best friend Raj Kapoor, who used to call Mukherjee Babu Moshai.
Its is quite an interesting story that before Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan, Mukherjee wanted Kishore Kumar to play the titular character and Mehmood as Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee in Anand. But, when the director went to Kishore's home to narrate the film, he was denied entry due to a misunderstanding.
The legendary singer-actor Kishore Kumar had instructed his gatekeeper to not allow any Bengali into his home, as he was having a financial dispute with a Bengali show organiser at that time. The gatekeeper refused Mukherjee to enter Kishore's home. Hurt by this unwelcoming gesture, the filmmaker decided to not work with the singer.
This is the same reason why the soundtrack of Anand, composed by Salil Chowdhary with lyrics written by Yogesh and Gulzar, has no Kishore Kumar songs. The beautiful tracks such as Kahin Door Jab, Maine Tere Liye, Zindagi Kaisi Hai Paheli are sung by Mukesh, Manna Dey, and Lata Mangeshkar.
Anand went on to win the National Award for Best Film in Hindi, and also won six Filmfare Awards for Best Film, Best Actor to Rajesh Khanna, Best Supporting Actor to Amitabh Bachchan, Best Dialogue to Gulzar, Best Story and Best Editing to Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
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