1975 was the year of some of the biggest Bollywood blockbusters of all times: Jai Santoshi Maa (the low-budget mythological that raked in insane profits), Pratiggya (Dharmendra thinks it to be a better film that Sholay), Deewaar, Sanyasi (Manoj Kumar’s comeback film), Julie (“Lovely Laxmi as Joyous Julie,” read the poster blurb) and of course the mother of all blockbusters Sholay.
Mili was a middling success. Not one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s best, but assuredly an important work. It was a sort of gender-reversed version of Hrishida’s Anand where everyone’s favourite character is stricken with a deadly disease.
Hrishikesh Mukherjee used to tell a joke. Once a journalist asked him why someone or the other always died in all his films except Sabse Bada Sukh, the biggest flop of Hrishida’s illustrious career.
“Oh, you are wrong. Someone did die in Sabse Bada Sukh. The poor distributor,” Hrishida laughed.
Mili which was released in 1975 manifested two of the prolific director’s most prominent thematic obsession: losing a loved one, and espousing the virtues of the sunshine-spreading visitor from the outside.
In Anand, Bawarchi, Buddha Mil Gaya, Khubsoorat and Mili, the Sunshine Boy/ Girl played by Rajesh Khanna, Om Prakash , Rekha and Jaya Bhaduri filled the screen with an infectious radiance.
Hrishida shared his joy in creating such radiant characters. “I always looked for friends who made me laugh. I was a serious person, like Amitabh Bachchan in Anand looking some Anand or Khubsoorat in my life.”
At one point of time Raj Kapoor was Hrishida’s best friend. The fear of losing Raj Kapoor manifested itself in Anand and Mili.
Hrishida admitted Mili was a gender-flipped Anand. Jaya played a female version of Rajesh Khanna in Anand. And the brooder Amitabh Bachchan was a variation on what he had played in Anand, thought much darker.
Hrishida said, “If you look at my films right from the start in Musafir, they are all about trying to find happiness in the company of joyous human beings. Anand Sehgal and Mili Khanna were like twins in their determination to stay positive and optimistic in the face of death.”
