Long before Ranbir Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan, there came Dev Anand, India’s first urbane, suave hero. Regarded as a major, influential figure in Hindi cinema, his films, the dark urban thrillers of the ’50s and the romantic films of the ’60s, helped in pushing the envelope of Bollywood.
At one point in Bawarchi (1972), Raghu (Rajesh Khanna), the newly-appointed servant casually professes to one of the family members, “It is so simple to be happy, but it is so difficult to be simple.” This famous line originally came from poet Rabindranath Tagore, but it couldn’t have found a better home in Hindi cinema than Bawarchi, a film that tells us life is as simple or complicated as we make it — and if there’s one artist in popular Hindi cinema who truly exemplified the importance of simplicity in art, it has to be director Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
“If I modeled myself in the lines of anyone, it was Nutan,” said actress Sadhana, 1991 after Nutan’s death.
Bimal Ray was fascinated by Sadhana’s innocence, good looks and sonorous voice. No wonder he cast her as the heroine in his social satire Parakh in 1960. Sadhana’s lipping, O Sajna Barkha Bahar Aye in natural light created a sensation.
