Anari (अनाड़ी) (1959 film)

Anari (अनाड़ी, "the simpleton") is a 1959 Hindi-language comedy-drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, starring Raj Kapoor, Nutan, Motilal, and Lalita Pawar, with music by Shankar-Jaikishan.^{1 • 2} It was Mukherjee's second film as a director, after Musafir (1957), and his first notable commercial success; it topped the 1959 Indian box office and won Raj Kapoor the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.^{1 • 3}

Production and context

Raj Kapoor sensed the potential of the young director after seeing Musafir (1957) and proposed that Mukherjee move quickly on a next film in which he would take part; many of the R.K. Films team ultimately joined the production.³ Mukherjee, a Bengali who had trained under Bimal Roy, worked in what is often called a "middle class" mode: modest budgets, a closer-focus and unpretentious style, and stories centered on urban, educated people of secure but not lavish means.¹

Kapoor's role. The film is essentially another "Raju" film, showcasing Kapoor's trademark character of a lovable, idealistic, though naïve middle-class everyman navigating a callous and materialistic world, here named "Rajkumar" and trimmed down in Mukherjee's style. Kapoor is more pensive and less frenetic than in the "Raju" films he directed himself, such as Awaara and Shri 420, and the narrative places him in the lower-middle-class lodgings of a Bombay Christian matron rather than in a mansion or a slum.¹ Although directed and edited by Mukherjee, the film's cynical view of capital accumulation, its RK-banner collaborators (Shailendra, Hasrat, Shankar-Jaikishan), and the Mukesh solo in the philosophizing tramp mode ("Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe Ho Nisar") underline Kapoor's direct influence on the film.⁷

Casting notes. Unusually for her career, Lalita Pawar, typically cast in negative roles, played a positive character, while Motilal took on a role with shades of gray. In real life, Motilal, who played Nutan's uncle on screen, was closely associated with her family and lived near her mother, Shobhana Samarth.²

Music

Shankar-Jaikishan's score contains several musical numbers, several of which became notable hits and work to move the plot forward.¹ "Ban Ke Panchhi" introduces Aarti cycling with friends through the Western Ghats; "Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe" is Rajkumar's establishing song, a Shankar-Jaikishan classic whose melody had first been conceived in the background score of Shree 420 (1955).^{1 • 6} The romance unfolds through the garden duets "Woh Chand Khila Woh Tare Hanse" and "Dil Ki Nazar Se"; the cabaret number "1956, 1957, 1958, 1959" features Helen; Raj's discovery of Aarti's true identity occasions "Sab Kuch Seekha Humne", in which idealistic lyrics disguise a message of bitterness; and Aarti's pain at breaking with Raj is expressed in "Tera Jana".^{1 • 5}

Reception and awards

Released in January 1959, Anari was a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year and earning a "Super Hit" status from Box Office India; critics praised its screenplay and the lead performances.² Raj Kapoor won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the film.³ Shailendra won the Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for "Sab Kuch Seekha Humne".⁶ The film also received a Silver medal for best Hindi film at the National Film Awards, and Mukherjee won the President's Gold medal the following year for Anuradha (1960).⁸ On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.6/10 from about 1,000 users.⁴

Sources differ on the exact release date and runtime: the Tuli Research Centre gives 16 January 1959,² Bollywood Hungama and the Times of India list 1 January 1959,⁹ Moviebuff lists 5 January 1959,⁷ and runtimes are given variously as approximately 157 minutes,¹ 166 minutes,³ and 2 hours 36 minutes.¹⁰

Legacy

The film was remade in Tamil as Pasamum Nesamum (1964) and in Turkish as Derbeder (1960) and Enayi (1974).² Mukri's comic office line, "Aaj ka kaam kal karo, kal ka kaam parson" ("do today's work tomorrow, and tomorrow's work the day after"), was later echoed by Mukherjee in his 1979 hit Gol Maal.² The songs "Kisi Ki Muskurahaton Pe Ho Nisar" and "Tera Jana" continue to be performed by new contestants on music-based reality shows in India.² A print of the film is held by the National Film Archive of India, which supplied the restoration screened at the 2024 Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes as part of a tribute to Raj Kapoor.³

References

1. Anari, Indian Cinema, The University of Iowa
2. Anari (1959), Tuli Research Centre for India Studies
3. Anari, Festival des 3 Continents
4. Anari (1959), IMDb
5. Anari (1959) Soundtracks, IMDb
6. अनाड़ी (1959), MySwar
7. Anari (1959), Moviebuff
8. 30th National Film Awards catalogue, Directorate of Film Festivals
9. Anari Cast, Bollywood Hungama
10. Anari (1959), Rotten Tomatoes

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

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