Haqeeqat-

 

'Haqeeqat' is a 1964 war film set against the Indo-China conflict. It was the first Indian motion film to be shot in Ladakh. The film was not only a representation of war, but a dramatic retelling of the impact war has on the common soldier. Chetan Anand dedicated the film to Jawaharlal Nehru and the soldiers in Ladakh. 

The film was made with the government and army assistance. Even the main star Balraj Sahni worked for this film free of charge. The film was released in 1964 after the death of Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru. The film received the National Award for Best Film and Art Direction. The film was the first realistic portrayal of war in Hindi cinema. 

The film offered the Indian perspective of feeling stabbed in the back by a seeming friend, China. He used documentary footage and demonstrated the way in which China's Premier Chou En-lai was welcomed with open arms during his visit to India. In a rousing speech to the troops, Brigadier Singh emphasizes that despite the respect bestowed upon China, Chinese troops have sneakily attacked a peace-loving nation like India. 

The film stars Dharmendra, Balraj Sahni, Priya Rajvansh, Sudhir, Sanjay Khan and Vijay Anand in significant roles. The acting of all major actors was outstanding. Another highlight of the film was its music. The music was composed by Madan Mohan and all of the songs are written by Kaifi Azmi. The music begins with lively romantic tunes and moves to more epic war, sad and celebratory tunes. The song "Ab Tumhare Hawaale Watan Saathiyon" sung by Mohammed Rafi has become synonymous with patriotism in India. Another song "Ho Ke Majboor Mujhe Usne Bhulaya Hoga" is a gem of a song.

There were classic war films made earlier like Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani or Hum Dono in 1961, many more war films made after this but this remains the best.

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

" Fly the Flag". tells Dev Anand to Chetan Anand

Chetan Anand (3 January 1915 – 6 July 1997), while he was teaching History, wrote a film script on king Ashoka, which he went on to show to director Phani Majumdar in Bombay.  Phani Majumdar cast him as a hero in his Hindi film, Rajkumar, released in 1944. The film flopped and so his career. He soon took to film direction The first film he directed was Neecha Nagar. Though the film won the Golden Palm Award at the first Cannes Film Festival in 1946 but couldn't be released.No distributor was ready to distribute the film, the cinema halls were asking for heavy rentals.  This being Chetan's first directorial venture went unseen depressed him. He did not get any work offer after that.
After the release of  Ziddi Dev Anand was going great as an actor, a plan came to his mind. Without discussing with Chetan he went ahead to gather money to start a banner where Chetan could direct films.
After he was assured by one of his producers to give him the required money, he approached Chetan and said: " Fly the Flag". He asked him to name the banner where both of them will work together.
He pulled out bundles of notes and showed it to Chetan and said start a film with me as Hero and Suraiya as Heroine. That was the day when he saw a smile on the face of his brother after one and a half years
The fist film Afsar was started in 1949. The film was based on Nikolai Gogol's play The Government Inspector. This play.was played earlier many times by Balraj Sahni and Dev himself in Bombay.

.Unfortunately, the print of this film is not available. The film was an average success.  After this, the next film was Baazi released in 1951. This was directed by Guru Dutt as promised by Dev Anand to Guru Dutt on their struggling days. The film was a hit that established Navketan.  It became a training ground and school for many famous directors, producers, composers, and technicians.

The next film he directed was Navketan's Aandhiyan released in 1952 was again not a successful. So he refused to do the Navketan's next film Humsafar, in this film he plays the role of Vivek who is a good guy. This film also failed. 

The next film he directed was Taxi Driver released in 1954, it was a smash hit film, the first time he experienced success in Bollywood. After Baazi and Taxi Driver, the Navketan was a big banner. The next film of this banner was Funtoosh released in 1956, he directed this film but the film was not a runaway success. During the making of this film, some differences between the two brothers surfaced. He decided to do outside banner films. He directed Anjali (1957), Arpan(1957)and Kinare Kinare (1963) He acted in all the three films. He started his own company with Haqeeqat (1964) banner called Himalaya films. This banner produced films like Heer Ranjha, Hanste Zakhm, Hindustan Ki Kasam, and Saheb Bahadur. He also directed Navketan's Jaaneman after a gap of more than 20 years.
In the 1960s, well after being estranged from his wife, Anand fell in love with Priya Rajvansh, who had made her debut as a heroine of his film Haqeeqat. The two fell in love during the making of this film and their relationship lasted all their lives. 
He died on 6 July 1997, at the age of 76 in Mumbai 

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

Song of Afsar 1950

Song of Aandhiyan 1952

Song of Taxi Driver 1954

Song of Funtoosh 1956

Song of Kinare Kinare (1963)

Song of Haqeeqat (1964)

Song of Heer Raanjha (1970)

Song of Hanste Zakhm (1973)

50 Years of Heer Ranjha

This legendary tale of love, written in the 16th century by Warris Shah in poetry. Chetan Anand chose to make this film in that form only. He selected the great poet of that time Kaifi Azmi. He created lines not only for the leads, played by Raaj Kumar and Priya Rajvansh but for the rest of the ensemble cast which included  Pran, Prithviraj Kapoor, Ajit, Jayant, etc. 
A unique film told in verse, written by Kaifi Azmi and directed by Chetan Anand. Poetry on celluloid never attempted before and after. The film has immortal music by Madan Mohan, another beauty of the film was its photography.inspired by the paintings of Sobha Singh, a legendary painter from Punjab, the imagery of the film is wonderful. thanks to the cinematic genius of cinematographer Jal Mistry.
Told in a Romeo and Juliet style, the story concerns relative differences that rip apart childhood darlings Heer and Deedho, so Heer goes away to exist an unspecified life as a laborer.

Priya Rajvansh and Raaj Kumar both gave good performances in their respective parts as the title characters Heer and Raanja, Beside them, there are fine performances to be had from Pran, Ajit and Prithviraj Kapoor in their respective parts as Chhote Chaudhary, Saida, and the King. 

The film released on 19th June 1970 was a moderate success in the Box office.
The film  starts with an introductory Nazm by Kaifi Azmi, recited by Films Director "Chetan Anand :
"Dard Punjab ke seene se chura laya Hun Chand tukde tere waris ke utha laya hun Aag meri na sahi iska dhuan mera hai Heer Ranjha ki kahani hai bayan mera hai ....
Chetan Anand screen-tested Zeenat Aman for a supporting role in the film. But during the audition, Zeenat's Urdu was very terrible. Chetan ended up not signing Zeenat. It was the first time that Chetan Anand worked with Raj Kumar, who was known for his dialogue delivery
Songs of Heer Ranjha

Song	Singer (s)
Do Dil Toote Do Dil Haare	Lata Mangeshkar
Milo Na Tum To	Lata Mangeshkar
Nache Ang Ve	Jagjit Kaur, Shamshad Begum
Doli Chadte Heer	Lata Mangeshkar
Meri Duniya Mein Tum Aayi	Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi
Tere Kooche Mein Tera Diwana	Mohammed Rafi
Ye Duniya Yeh Mehfil	Mohammed Rafi

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Priya Rajvansh - Worked only for Chetan Anand.

Priya Rajvansh acted in only 6 movies in a span of 22 years from 1964 to 1986.  She was introduced to Bollywood by Chetan Anand. Her first film was Haqeeqat released in 1964.  Her next movie Heer Ranjha came 6 yrs later in 1970 which was also a super hit.
Chetan Anand cast her in all his movies, giving her the lead actress roles’ against Raaj Kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Dev Anand, and Naveen Nishchal. 
She was born as Veera Sunder Singh in Shimla on 30 Dec 1936. Her schooling and graduation were completed in Shimla. After that, she joined the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London  One of her photographs, clicked by a London photographer, somehow reached the Hindi film industry. A movie maker of that time called Thakur Ranbeer Singh who was also a friend of Chetan Anand brought her to meet Chetan Anand, in 1962 and they cast her in one of their films, Haqeeqat (1964). The film became a hit. 
 Priya Rajvansh was soon in a relationship with her mentor who had recently separated from his wife. Initially, the industry was hesitant to take her because of her anglicized accent and western femininity did not click well with the Indian audience. 
Her next film, Heer Raanjha came out only in 1970, where she acted opposite the rage of that time, actor Raaj Kumar, and the film was a hit. Then came Hanste Zakhm, arguably the finest film of her career, in 1973. Her other noted films were Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), with Raaj Kumar, and Kudrat (1981), paired opposite Rajesh Khanna, where she had a parallel role with Hema Malini as the lead. She also starred opposite Dev Anand in Saheb Bahadur in 1977. Her last film Haathon Ki Lakeeren came out in 1985, after which she ended her film career.
She was found dead in the bathroom of her bungalow on 27 March 2000. It was Chetan Anand's Ruia Park bungalow in Juhu, Mumbai, India. Police charged Chetan Anand's sons Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand along with their employees Mala Choudhary and Ashok Chinnaswamy with her murder.

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Hanste Zakhm 1973

Song of Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973)

Song of Saheb Bahadur 1977

Chetan Anand – The man behind Neecha Nagar

Long before the Art Cinema or Parallel cinema’s existence, Chetan Anand’s passion for filmmaking gave birth to the Art Cinema in 1946 by making Neecha Nagar. This was his debut film as a Director.
This film was a social drama and also the debut film for Pandit Ravi Shankar who scored the music, the debut film of Kamini Kaushal. It also starred his wife Uma Anand as a heroine, Rafiq Ahmed, and Zohra Sehgal. 

Neecha Nagar was awarded the Grand Prix Prize (Now Golden Palm) at the first-ever Cannes Film Festival in 1946.It had to compete with many amazing films that year like Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City (Italy), David Lean’s Brief Encounter (UK), and Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (USA). It is indeed a proud thing to say that it won the hearts of critics and viewers alike and emerged as a winner for the category.
You would be surprised to note that this film was not released in India even it won the prestigious award. Neecha Nagar was an expressionistic take on a social problem where a town is divided into an upper Ooncha Nagar and a lowly Neecha Nagar. 
The villagers of 'Neecha Nagar' harbor hate for Sarkar and their hatred is fueled even more by the fact that Sarkar plans to direct all the sewage into the village in order to make way for his housing project. The villagers protest this move with their head, Balraj (Rafiq Anwar) leading a movement against Sarkar's plan. Sarkar's daughter Maya (Uma Anand) joins the movement against her father and falls in love with Balraj.
 It is a poetic portrayal of destitution and deprivation of rural India and highlights the exploitation of the poor peasants by the aristocracy. The music of the film is noteworthy for its lyrics as much as for the fact that it happens to be the first film of Pandit Ravi Shankar as a Music Director. Two of the songs are revolutionary battle cries and it is surprising how the British authorities allowed them uncut.

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

Song of Neecha Nagar

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

The First Film of Prita Rajvansh was to be with,Dev Anand

Priya Rajvansh (Born on December 30th, 1939 ) was introduced to Bollywood by the Director Chetan Anand. She was cast opposite Dev Anand in the film Kaafir which was later shelved.
In Chetan Anand’s picture ‘Kafir’, Priya Rajvansh plays the role of a Pakistani Muslim girl in love with a Hindu doctor, a role which may be played by Chetan Anand himself. ^The story of his film was set during the period of Partition of the country when several innocent lives were lost. Four songs on this film had already been recorded and 6 reels of the film were shot but later the shooting of the film was stopped due to some controversies.
Priya Rajvansh was born as Veera Sunder Singh in Shimla. Her father Sunder Singh was a Conservator in the Forest Department. She grew up in Shimla along with her brothers. She passed intermediate from St. Bede's College, Shimla in 1953. Her father was on a UN assignment, so after graduation, she joined the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, UK.
 A movie maker of that time called Thakur Ranbeer Singh belonging to a Rajput Kota family came to know of her. He was a friend of Chetan Anand, he used to stay with Chetan Anand whenever he visited India. It was in 1960s Chetan Anand was lookout fora new girl to be cast in his next film.It was Ranveer Singh who suggested the name of Priya Rajvansh. Could you believe it when I say that he chose her for the role of the heroine in his film even without meeting her?
After the film, Kaafir was shelved in 1962. Chetan promised her that he will take her in his next venture which happened to be Haqeeqat. The film became a hit and is often counted as among the best Indian war-films. Soon she was in a relationship with her mentor, Chetan Anand, who had just separated from his wife.

After Haqeeqat Priya was the heroine of every film of Chetan Anand. In fact, she starred only in Chetan Anand films, in which she was involved in every aspect- starting from story to scripting, lyrics, and post-production.

Her next film, Heer Raanjha came out only in 1970, where she acted opposite the rage of that time, actor Raaj Kumar, and the film was a hit.  Hanste Zakhm, arguably the finest film of her career, in 1973. Her other noted films were Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973), with Raaj Kumar, and Kudrat (1981), paired opposite Rajesh Khanna , where she had a parallel role with Hema Malini as the lead. She also starred opposite Dev Anand in Saheb Bahadur in 1977. Her last film Haathon Ki Lakeeren came out in 1985, after which she ended her film career.She did only 7 films from 1962 to 1997.

She died on 27 March 2000 in Chetan Anand's Ruia Park bungalow in Juhu, Mumbai, India. Police charged Chetan Anand's sons Ketan Anand and Vivek Anand along with their employees Mala Choudhary and Ashok Chinnaswamy with her murder

Song of Haqeeqat 1964

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Hanste Zakhm 1973

Song of Sahib Bahadur 1977

Chetan Anand -An Unlucky Film Maker

The eldest of three brothers in the Hindi film industry (the younger ones being Dev and Vijay), Chetan Anand graduated in English from Lahore’s Government Law College. He worked with the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, and also taught at Doon School in Dehradun before moving to Mumbai in the 1940s with a script for a biographical movie on emperor Ashoka. While the film didn’t take off,but he was given the lead role in a film by Phani Mazumdar Rajkumar in 1944.
Unfortunately this film never released. Both of his attempt did not see the light of the day.
Anand then got involved with the Indian People’s Theatre Association writing plays for them,here too he did not get success. He was later offered to direct a film written by K A Abbas and produced by Rashid Anwar.
One of the most underrated films of its time, Neecha Nagar never saw the light of the day in our own country. Ironically, this film was never released in the country but it went on to win the top honor at Cannes.
After this film he was not offered any film,he wasj jobless for few years.In the mean time his younger brother Dev Anand established himself as an actor with the hit film Ziddi in 1948.
Seeing his elder brother depressed Dev Anand decided to start their own film company.Afsar, starring Dev Anand and Suraiya, was the first film made by Navketan, which turned out to be a moderate success. It was followed by Taxi Driver and Andhiyan, both of which he directed for the Navketan banner.
After this film he directed Andhiyan  with Dev Anand which was again a flop.it was in 1954 when he got success as a director with the release of Taxi Driver.
While he made his reputation as a director, Chetan Anand kept on acting too occasionally. He appeared in Humsafar made in 1957. In 1957 he directed two movies Arpan and Anjali, in which he played lead roles too. He went on to act in Kala Bazar, Kinare-Kinare, Aman, Kanch Aur Heera and Hindustan Ki Kasam, which he directed too.
In 1957 he directed two movies Arpan and Anjali outside of Navketan but both the films flopped.once again he could not get any film till he got Kinare-Kinare Kinare-Kinare in 1963.
Later on Chetan Anand started his own production banner called Himalaya films and teamed up with photographer Jal Mistry, music director Madan Mohan, lyrics writer Kaifi Azmi and actress Priya Rajvansh. Together they gave some of most memorable and unique films in Hindi cinema like Haqeeqat, Heer Raanjha, Hanste Zakhm, and Hindustan Ki Kasam.
Chetan Anand remained an underrated director though he gave some of the great films .He died on 6 July 1997, at the age of 76 in Mumbai.

Song of Neecha Nagar 1946

Song of Afsar 1950

Song of Aandhiyan 1953

Song of Taxi Driver 1954

Song of Funtoosh 1956

Song of Kinare-Kinare Kinare 1960

Song of Haqeekat 1964

Song of Heer Ranjha 1970

Song of Hanste Zakhm1973