There are some songs that have come to define onscreen romantic pairings. For Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bachchan, it was Bahon Mein Chale Aao in Raghunath Jhalani’s romantic thriller Anamika (1973).
A romantic melody composed by RD Burman and sung by Lata Mangeshkar, the song is epitomised by Jaya’s character wooing Sanjeev’s character as he tries to leave the room after putting her to bed, but cannot, as she keeps pulling him back with Majrooh Sultanpuri’s soulful lyrics.
Anamika tells the story of a mysterious woman of the same name, who suffers from amnesia. Devendra Dutt (Sanjeev), a famous writer, is returning from a felicitation ceremony with his father and niece when they see her being thrown out of a car.
Devendra reluctantly takes the unconscious Anamika back to his house. When she wakes up the next day, she declares that she is Devendra’s wife. As Devendra tries to shoo her away, his father intervenes and suggests calling a doctor for advice.
The doctor, too, concludes that the woman suffers from trauma-induced amnesia and advises the family not to throw her out.
Devendra’s father Shiv Prasad (AK Hangal) is sympathetic to her plight. But Devendra realises that something is amiss. Even as he starts investigating Anamika’s past, Shiv Prasad tries to play cupid between his son and the young woman, who he thinks might be the answer to his son’s jaded view on love.
Soon, secrets start tumbling out, and it is discovered that Anamika in fact has multiple identities.
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A thriller with a message
The film shows how inherent biases can blind someone to reality. Devendra’s investigation into Anamika’s past is coloured by prejudice, rooted in the ‘betrayal’ by a woman he once loved.
His views on women and relationships are made clear early in the film. At the felicitation ceremony, an audience member asks, “All the female protagonists are shown as conniving and deceitful. Is this the only aspect of women you know?”Devendra replies curtly that the women he has met have been duplicitous.
From then on, he writes off every woman as having ulterior motives and is quick to accept every negative claim about Anamika. Naresh (Rajesh Behl), who once tried to assault her, paints her as a cunning woman — and Devendra believes him instantly. Later, when a cabaret dancer, Rubai (Helen), claims that Anamika is actually a sex worker, Devendra’s suspicions harden further, confirming his cynical theory about women.
For much of the film, the viewer only knows Anamika through the distorted accounts Devendra hears. It is only towards the end that she gets the chance to set the record straight.
This clever plot device underscores a common human tendency — to judge others on the basis of one painful experience — even making an otherwise astute, well-read man like Devendra jump to false conclusions that cause heartbreak.
The film also highlights how women are often forced to ‘justify’ their pasts, while men move on in life largely unscathed by the consequences of their own actions.
In a scathing showdown, Anamika tells Devendra: “You men kept all the rights, and left women with only helplessness.”
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Romance and music
Just a year earlier, Sanjeev and Jaya had starred in Koshish, playing a Deaf and non-speaking couple who fall in love as teenagers and eventually marry. Anamika takes a radical turn for the on-screen pair. Yet Sanjeev Kumar easily slips into the role of Devendra, torn between the scars of past love and a growing attraction to Anamika that he struggles to suppress.
The playful banter between the two, along with Devendra’s daydreams about her, keeps the viewer hooked on both the thriller and the romance. In one scene, Devendra imagines Anamika telling him, “I am your worshipper and you are my lord.” His reverie abruptly ends when a wet towel tossed by Anamika lands on his face.
Jaya’s impish smile and expressive eyes make her character immediately likeable, especially in Bahon Mein Chale Aao. Here, her character unabashedly expresses desire for Devendra, urging him tenderly: “Say sweet nothings to me sometimes, spend time with me.”
The song is one of the album’s two biggest hits. The other, Meri Bheegi Bheegi Si — originally penned by screenwriter Sachin Bhowmick in Bengali as Mone Pore Ruby Roy — plays when Devendra meets Anamika again, this time as Mrs Kashyap, the aloof owner of a publishing firm who fails to recognise him. A perplexed and heartbroken Devendra sings the song at a party, trying to revive the warmth Anamika had once so freely expressed.
When the two lovers finally reunite, director Raghunath Jhalani resists the urge for grand dialogue. Instead, he lets the image of the couple walking together, holding each other, with Bahon Mein Chale Aao playing in the background, say it all.
Cast: Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bhaduri. AK Hangal
Director: Raghunath Jhalani
Music: RD Burman
Story: Surendra Prakash
(Edited by Prashant)