Anusandhan (1981 film)

Anusandhan (in Bengali; /ə.nʊ.sən.d̪ʱaːn/ transl. Discovery) or Barsaat Ki Ek Raat (in Hindi; /bər.saːt kiː ek raːt/ transl. A Rainy Night) is a 1981 Indian bilingual action thriller film made in both Bengali and Hindi languages, produced and directed by Shakti Samanta under his banner of Shakti Films. Based on a novel of the same name by Shaktipada Rajguru, it stars Amitabh Bachchan in his debut in Bengali cinema, alongside Rakhee Gulzar, Amjad Khan, Utpal Dutt and Abhi Bhattacharya in lead roles. The film follows Inspector Abhijeet Rai in search of Kaliram, a criminal whom he arrested five years ago, after his pregnant wife gets injured by the latter.

The film marks the second collaboration between Samanta and Bachchan. Majorly filmed in Darjeeling, some portions of the film were shot in Kolkata and Mumbai. Music of the film is composed by R. D. Burman, with lyrics penned by Gauriprasanna Mazumder and Anand Bakshi in Bengali and Hindi respectively. Rajguru himself wrote the screenplay of both the versions, while Prabhat Roy and Kamleshwar served as the dialogue writers. Aloke Dasgupta and Bijoy Chowdhury handled its cinematography and editing respectively.

For the Bengali film, Bachchan himself dubbed his own voice, whereas he learned the lingual pronunciation from Prabhat Roy and Jaya Bhaduri, his wife. The film is remembered for the classic songs "Haye Re Pora Banshi, "Amar Swapno Je" and "Phete Gelo Kaliramer Dhol". The first song was remade by the Bombay Bicycle Club and the second was used in the international song Funky Bijou Anthem.