April 30th, 2010

Anuradha (1960)

Balraj Sahni and Leela Naidu in Anuradha (1960)

Balraj Sahni and Leela Naidu in Anuradha (1960)

Cast: Balraj Sahni, Leela Naidu, Abhi Bhattacharya

Director: Hrishikesh Mukhenee

Music: Pandit Ravi Shankar

Lyrics: Shailendra

Capsule Review: A progressive drama, Anuradha, has stood the test of time with remarkable ease. The core of the theme—what Mallika Sherawat in Murder 44 years later described as the abject loneliness of a married woman—is splendidly intact. Leela Naidu plays a promising singer who gives up her art to be by her village-doctor husband, Balraj Sahni’s side. Soon a looming disenchantment sets in as the doctor devotes all his time caring for the sick and ill, unheedful of his own wife’s wounded heart and self- worth.

Drama