For the record

In his essay about Chetan Anand,Rajiv Vijayakar says that Phani Majumdar’s film that had Chetan Anand against Nargis,never got made. This is not correct. This was Bharat Productions’ Anban (1944). Nargis’ hero in this was Pahadi Sanyal,not Chetan Anand. This was directed by Niren Lahiri. He appeared in another film of the same concern,Meena (1944). In this he seems to have played the lead against Hansa Wadkar. This was directed by Phani Majumdar and in both he was credited as Anand.

I pieced together this information based on vague clues contained in an interview with late Priya Rajvansh,published in a film periodical after Chetan’s death. Cast information was gathered from Harmandir’s Geet Kosh II. Vijayakar says that Chetan played tennis. Dev Anand goes one better; in his autobiography Romancing With Life,Dev says,on page 20. “He (Chetan) had played at Wimbledon and lost.” What does this mean,I wonder! Perhaps Mrs. Uma Anand can clarify these points to the benefit of film history.

Incidentally,the book Chetan Anand by Uma and Ketan Anand,does not mention Anban and Meena as his acting debut and follow up. It omits Kala Bazaar too!

V A K Ranga Rao
Chennai