Aandhi

Aandhi (transl. 'Storm') is a 1975 Indian political drama film starring Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen, and directed by Gulzar. At the time it was alleged that the film was based on the life of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her relationship with her estranged husband, but in reality, only the look was inspired by the politician Tarkeshwari Sinha and Indira Gandhi. The story is based on a chance meeting of an estranged couple after several years, when wife Aarti Devi, now a leading politician happens to stay in the hotel run by her husband during an election campaign. The movie is noted for its songs composed by Rahul Dev Burman, written by Gulzar and sung by Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.

Suchitra Sen, the noted actress from Bengali cinema, who also worked in a few Hindi films, played the lead role of Aarti Devi.

The movie was not allowed a full proper release when Mrs. Gandhi was in power. The film was banned during the national emergency of 1975 a few months after its release. This film was banned on the alleged grounds of violation of the Model Election Code of Conduct, claiming it can cause damage to the reputation of the Congress party. So Election Commission stopped the film from releasing. The ban got further added with the declaration of National Emergency. The ban immediately made the film a national topic. After her defeat in the 1977 national elections, the ruling Janata Party cleared it and had it premiered on the state-run television channel. It proved to be an important film in the career of Sen, and also her last Hindi film, as she retired from films altogether in 1978. At the 23rd Filmfare Awards, she was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Actress, while Sanjeev Kumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor. The film itself won the Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics).

J.K. (played by Sanjeev Kumar) is a Hotel manager. One day he gallantly comes to the rescue of a politician's drunk daughter, Aarti (Suchitra Sen). Aarti falls in love with J.K. and both get married in a small ceremony. After few years, the married couple face many differences due to which they decide to separate. Years later, J.K. and Aarti meet again when she is an established politician. Despite the separation, both of them feel the closeness but fearing that her name might be tarnished and her career might be jeopardised, Aarti does not want to step forward. But at last when the opposite party holds a rally to defame Aarti Devi and insult her, She reaches there and explains to the public and voters that she left her husband and family to serve the people of this country. People believe her and are really impressed by her speech and sacrifice. J.K. also reaches there and supports her, she is very happy and leaves the spot, declaring that she would go back to home and leave politics. But J.K. then says that he wants her to be happy and succeed in whatever aspect she wants to. She fights the election and wins it. In the end, J.K. accepts the differences between him and Aarti and drops her to the helicopter that takes her away from the hotel.

Gulzar said the film had no semblance with the personal life of then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. He wanted to make film about modern Indian politician, and so he modelled the character on Indira Gandhi and to some extent on noted parliamentarian from Bihar, Tarkeshwari Sinha.

An early version of the film's story was written by veteran screenwriter Sachin Bhowmick, however it did not go well with Gulzar. He had an idea of an estranged couple meeting in a hotel after years, and started developing it. Hindi writer Kamleshwar joined as the writing crew, as the film started shooting. He later went on to write a full-fledged novel, Kali Aandhi (Black Storm), which is quite different from the film. Subsequently, the film was written simultaneously along with another Gulzar film, Mausam (1975), which was also written by Bhushan Banmali and Gulzar. Along with Khushboo, Aandhi also released in the same year; 1975 proving to be the most prolific for director-screenwriter Gulzar's career.

The lead role of Aarti Devi was offered to actress Vyjayanthimala, who refused as she was fazed by physical resemblance of her character with Indira Gandhi. Later in 2011, she recounted Aandhi as one of few films she regretted not doing besides Mr and Mrs 55 (1955) by Guru Dutt and Bandini (1963) by Bimal Roy, "I admired Indiraji (Gandhi) so much so that I got cold feet when the role was offered to me."

In the early 1960s, director Gulzar had approached Suchitra Sen, with screenplay for a film to be produced by Sohanlal Kanwar, however when she suggested some changes which Gulzar didn't agree upon, the film never got made. For film Aandhi producer J. Om Prakash insisted upon Gulzar to approach Sen again and actor Sanjeev Kumar was also keen on working with Sen. This time when the new script was done, Gulzar went to meet her in Kolkata, she agreed without any script issues, resulting in a casting coup. In fact, Sen now promised Gulzar to not suggest any changes, and she stuck to her promise all through the filming. For the role Aarti Devi's estranged husband Sanjeev Kumar was already cast, who had previously worked in Gulzar's Koshish (1973), again as an older man. Kumar, one of the finest actors of his generation, went on to collaborate with Gulzar in numerous films, like Mausam (1975), Angoor (1981) and Namkeen (1982).