Did you know Hrishikesh Mukherjee planned a Bengali film with Raj Kapoor and Uttam kumar?

Director Hrishikesh Mukherjee once thought about making ‘Anand’ in Bengali as ‘Ananda Sangbad’ with Raj Kapoor and Uttam Kumar. The film was supposed to be produced by Ashim Dutta, who produced some of the Satyajit Ray classics and also happens to be the owner of Priya Cinema in Kolkata. In fact, Hrishikesh wanted Waheeda Rehman to play the role of Sumita Sanyal. The Bengali film was announced in 1962 but somehow it never materialized. It surely would have been a classic.
Years later Hrishikesh made the film in Hindi with Rajesh Khanna (he replaced Raj Kapoor) and Amitabh Bachchan (he replaced Uttam Kumar). In fact actress Sumita Sanyal in a chat show with late Rituparno Ghosh had once mentioned how Hrishikesh wanted to cast two most powerful actors from Indian cinema, which never happened. Uttam Kumar and Raj Kapoor both regretted that they couldn't work together. Incidentally they both loved the story, and Raj Kapoor had even agreed to learn Bengali to play the iconic character on screen.
Incidentally Raj Kapoor used to address Hrishikesh as "Babumoshai" and that's what he added in the character. The song ‘Amai Proshno Kore’, was supposed to be a part of the Bengali film, which was adapted in Hindi as ‘Kahin Door Jab’.
Even now, at the opening credit of the film Hrishikesh dedicated the film to Raj Kapoor, for some strange reason he missed out Uttam Kumar's name. Many believe since Hrishikesh always considered Raj Kapoor as his mentor he had mentioned the iconic actor’s name in the film’s credit.