94th anniversary of the birth of Guru Dutt: a master-director tormented by life | Bollywood



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No discussion of Indian cinema is complete without the mention of Guru Dutt. In the annals of the history of Hindi cinema, he rubs shoulders with such bands as Bimal Roy, V Shantaram, K. Asif, Mehbood Khan, Kamal Amrohi, BR Chopra and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Yet, his works have an incandescent quality. Working within the confines of traditional Hindi cinema, her sensibilities were rich, modern and subtle. Not surprisingly, one of his most memorable films, Pyaasa, is on Time magazine's list of the 100 best movies of all time.

His cinema is filled with pathos and pain, emotions born of rejection. Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool both told the story of a person's disenchantment with society. And yet, Guru Dutt has never cut the picture of misery in life as such. Pyaasa was a commercial success although Kaagaz Ke Phool delayed him by 17 lakhs, a considerable sum at the time. He recovered much of his money with his later films, Chaudhvin Ka Chaand and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. Guru Dutt had already had success with comedies and thrillers – Aar Paar, Mr. and Mrs. 55, Baazi and CID – all saw Guru Dutt as an actor-director or producer (eg, Dev Anand starrer CID ).

Guru Dutt in a photo of Pyaasa

Bollywood is also credited with some of his best talents: he has presented to Waheeda Rehman such talents as Badruddin Kazi (nicknamed Johnny Walker), screenwriter and director Abrar Alvi, and filmmaker VK Murthy.

However, many believe that Guru Dutt could never handle rejection. The journalist Dinesh Raheja, in Rediff.com, said at the end of Dev Anand: "He could not digest failure." Dev was a lifelong friend of Guru Dutt and a confidant once. The rejection of Kaagaz Ke Phool, who according to some would be his commentary on the show, hit him hard and stayed with him until his end; Guru Dutt died at the age of 39 years.

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With Waheeda Rehman in Kaagaz Ke Phool.

19659008] Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman in a photo of Chaudhvin Ka Chaand

Guru Dutt's personal life was also upside down. According to her sister, renowned painter Lalita Lajmi (mother of the late filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi), the marriage of Guru Dutt-Geeta Dutt was tumultuous. Both were sensitive souls – they could not live with each other either. While many attribute the presence of Waheeda to the bone of contention between Guru Dutt and Geeta Dutt, Lalita strongly refutes it. She agrees that Waheeda may have been his brother's muse, but attributing the problem to their marriage would be a mistake. In an article in Filmfare magazine, Lalita told Gehana that Geeta was a very gentle person, possessive by nature and that she suspected Guru Dutt of having an affair with all the actresses with whom he worked.

Guru Dutt and Madhubala in a photo of Mr. and Mrs. 55.

She reportedly said, "The problem with Geeta was that she was extremely possessive. This is a huge disappointment for any wedding. A creative person like a director / actor works with many actresses. It's a world of pretense. They must express their love on the screen and make it real. She was suspicious of every actress he worked with. If all the time you question a man, you will eventually push him away. She watched him all the time. It was his only loss. There would be frequent quarrels and she would take the children to her mother's house. He would beg her to come back. The next day he was in a depression and was calling us to tell us that Geeta had taken the children. Once during their court, too, she had disappeared after a tiff. She went to a friend's house in Nasik, leaving everyone worried. But undeniably, Guru Dutt loved Geeta deeply. "

Guru Dutt with Meena Kumari in a Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam still.

On the speculative relationship between Guru Dutt and Waheeda, Lalita says," Guru Dutt's speculated relationship with Waheeda has become a kind of myth today. She was unnecessarily blamed for her troubled marriage. Maybe Guru Dutt saw a muse in Waheeda. Love is an emotion difficult to define. And let me tell you that he did not commit suicide for one or the other of the two women. Professionally, Waheeda and Guru Dutt were far apart before his death. In fact, for the last scene of Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), he had to ask him to come on the set and complete it. "

It may be true that Guru Dutt was hurt when Waheeda decided to leave his films. to fend for yourself Dinesh Raheja writes that despite the success of Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, Waheeda has decided to move on: "Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam did not stop Dutt's life from collapsing: his break with Waheeda when she sought to establish her own identity apart from her wounded films. Dutt. "

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Incidentally, Guru Dutt presented it to CID and obtained it from Hyderabad under the contract of four CID films, Pyaasa, Kagaz Ke Phool and Saheb Bibi Aur Ghulam, according to Lalita.

Indeed, the failure of some of the most ambitious films, his close relationship with his wife and his muse, an unhappy childhood (apparently, his parents fought bitterly all their lives) and a possible suicidal tendency in his family have been the bane of his short but eventful life.

Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman at Kaagaz Ke Phool, magnificently filmed by the director of photography VK Murthy.

According to his sister, his brother had already tried to commit suicide twice. "Given Guru Dutt's suicidal tendencies, he had already attempted suicide twice. The second time, he was admitted to Nanavati Hospital and had fallen into a coma for three days. One afternoon, when he arrived, the first word he uttered was "Geeta!" At that time, both had embarked on a self-destructive journey. "His brother has never been an alcoholic, but towards the end of his life, depression pushed him to join him, but

Lalita mentions that a close cousin was suicide, as well as the eldest son of Guru Dutt, Tarun. However, at the end of October 10, 1964, Guru Dutt had been drinking with his friend and collaborator Abrar Alvi. He reported being asleep without dinner and taking sleeping pills. Lajmi concluded Lajmi the next morning, when the door was open, found dead, eyes half-open and hands gesturing, as if to say "freeze" in the cinematographic language.

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First publication:
09-Jul-2019 12:57 PM IST

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