Anamika, (1973)

The life of a successful novelist is changed one night when he and his family witness a woman thrown out of a car. And when that woman is Jaya Bhaduri, you know there’s going to be one hell of an explanation.

The author, Devendra (Sanjeev Kumar) insists on calling the police, but his uncle convinces him to take her home to save her and her family’s reputation. As it turns out, however, the woman suffers from a diagnosed case of “amnesia plus wishful thinking,” imagining herself to be Devendra’s wife. Devendra, who has enough woman issues from having been jilted in love, is not happy with the arrangement. He allows the woman, whom he calls Anamika (“the nameless one”), to stay, hoping that her mental condition will gradually improve.

Things get even more mysterious after Devendra’s publisher’s son rolls in. Soon after there’s kidnapping, intrigue, deceit, arson, attempted murder - and to make matters worse, just as Devendra opens his heart to Anamika, he learns that she’s married, or worse, a prostitute. At first she was a woman without an identity, but after a while Devendra is unable to reconcile her diverse identities with the image of the woman he loves.

Comic relief provided courtesy of Hanuman Singh, Devendra’s daydreaming secretary. Mod dance numbers provided courtesy of Helen as Miss Ruby. Music provided courtesy of the ever-wonderful R.D. Burman.

The complaint I most often hear about older Bollywood movies is that their pace is too slow for our MTV attention spans - this is not the case with Anamika. It barely tops two hours, complete with song. The effect is that the movie is condensed appropriately, and only seems to lag in parts. In any case, the performances of Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri should keep you tuned in.