The genius behind the melancholic director- Guru Dutt

Yeh kooche yeh neelam-ghar dilkashi ke 

Ye lutte hue karvaan zindagi ke 

Kahan hai kahan hai muhafiz khudi ke

yahaan peer bhi aa chuke hain jawaan bhi 

 tanomand bete bhi, ha ha abbaa miyaan bhi (also the lusty sons, even their father!)   

The song from reflects the cynical and gloomy side of Guru Dutt, the greatest intellectual, philosopher, whose movies have left an indelible imprint on the movie lovers globally. Many books have been written on him. Guru Dutt saw the film making as a medium to reflect the crude realities of life. Guru Dutt movies are philosophical. He is the only filmmaker from India, whose films and directions are hailed by the global media, press, critics, film makers, Magazines and journals equally. His name is written in golden words in Times Magazine, Sight & sound and IMDB. In this piece from the Sight & Sound archive, Mark Cousins highlights “one of the great, brooding figures in post-Independence Indian cinema”: an actor-director who brought stillness, self-criticism and unexpected pessimism to the whirl of Indian melodrama, making himself its Orson Welles.

Corruption, existing at all levels of all societies in varying degrees, is a behavioural consequence of power and greed, the massive corruption which is perpetuating unabated is giving a severe setback to the social balance. Guru Dutt was one such director who exposes this rot but unfortunately succumbs to the outcome of the frustrations of the white-collar system, Since, he was gazing long enough into an abyss, the abyss have gaze backed into him, taking his life.”

The people who have been closely associated with him have revealed that Guru Dutt was suffering from self-actualization needs as put by Abram Maslow as highest intellectual need. He was unsatisfied personality. Despite making the movies like Pyassa, Kagaz ke phool, Sahib biwi aur Ghulam and Chadhvi Ka chand. All masterpieces and cult classics, he was yearning for more as if there was lot of flaws in the movies. He was suffering from OCPD- Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder characterized by extreme perfectionism. As a result he tried to commit suicide three times in his life and finally succumbed in 1964. His death still remains to be a mystery that if he committed suicide or was an accidental death  by consuming alcohol with sleeping pills.

This perfectionist got stuck between his  talent, his wife Geeta Dutt and Waheeda Rehman. He got romantically inclined towards actress Waheeda Rehman despite marrying to Geeta Dutt. Many people claim the relation between Guru Dutt and Wahida as, Guru & Shishya (Teacher & Disciple). But majority of the people claim, that he was romantically inclining towards Waheeda Rehman as depicted in his movie " Kagaz Ke phool" showing an extra martial relationship of a director with an actresses, Which is the crude reality of the Bollywood. We have too many real examples.  Boney kapoor & Sridevi;Aditya Chopra and Rani Mukherjee; Anurag Kashyap and Kalki , Koechlin; Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan;Prakash Jha and Deepti Naval;Sarika and Kamal Hassan and the list is never ending. This took a toll on his married life which resulted in regular fights. Their financial issues too peaked up and they had to move out from their bungalow. While Dutt rented a posh flat at the Peddar Road vicinity of Mumbai, Geeta returned to her mother’s place with the children. 

One thing is very clear, that he was a perfectionist and as a result was never satisfied with his work and was unable to take failures. Contrary to a general belief about the viability of his film projects, Dutt more or less produced commercially successful films and there was no reason to be frustrated with the failure of " Kaggaz Ke Phool" which is one of the greatest movie ever made by any director in any language in India after Pyassa. The movie was a cult classic but didn’t go well with the Indian audience, who viewed the subject as Tabooed, since it uncovers the controversial topic of "extramarital relationship '.  Kagaz Ke phool was as an intense disappointment. He had invested a great deal of love, money, and energy in this film, which was a self-absorbed tale of a famous director (played by Guru Dutt) who falls in love with an actress (played by Waheeda Rehman, Dutt's real-life love interest). Kaagaz Ke Phool failed at the box office and Dutt was devastated. All subsequent films from his studio were, thereafter, officially headed by other directors since Dutt felt that his name was anathema to the box office. Waheeda Rehman's character was based on real life character. Abrar Alvi when he visited Mumbai with his friends they went to red light area where they met a girl called Gulabo.  Alvi claimed that it was the first time she was given such respect in life rather than abuses the same lines were used by Abrar Alvi in films.

Raj Kapoor invested too much on dis dream project. Mera Naaam Joker, which failed too, the same way as Kagaz Ke phool of Guru Dutt, but Raj Kappor bounced back and produced a commercially success movie Bobby recovering all the losses suffered from Joker, but unfortunately Guru Dutt was unable to do so. He went into severe depression and did not direct any movie post the failure of Kagaz ke Phool, as he considered his name to be s unlucky. But everybody knows that he ghost directed the cult classic " Sahib, biwi aur Ghulam" as Abrar alvi the story writer of his films could not  have directed the film " Sahib, biwi aur Ghulam" the way it was directed. The Film reflects a unique and distinct style of Guru Dutt.  As the public, we usually only learn about these individuals and their companies once they have made it big. We admire their success yet rarely witness the immense struggle they went through to get there. By not being exposed to their failures, we are unfortunately only left to compare ourselves to their achievements.  Be Guru Dutt or Sushant Singh, we make them famous post their deaths only.

 जब हम चलें तो साथ हमारा साया भी न दे

 जब तुम चलो ज़मीं चले आस्मां चले

 जब हम रुकें तो साथ रुके शम-ए-बेकसी 

जब तुम रुको बहार रुके चाँदनी रुके 

 हम ग़मज़दा हैं, लाएं कहाँ से खुशी के गीत 

देंगे वोही हो पाएंगे इस ज़िंदगी से हम  

The above song from his movie Pyassa reflects a chasm between have and have-nots.  It displays the tainted reflection and reciprocation of social norms which forces people to be depressed. 

Now take the instance of one more song from " Kagaz Ke phool"; Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam", As if he is asking the question to both Geeta Dutt and Wahida Rehman , seeking love . Unfortuantely neither Geeta nor Wahida were able to reciprocate the love. Guru Dutt was seriously depressed too and so was Geeta Dutt, who took alchol and as a result she too died very soon. Geeta Dutt died on 20 July 1972 due to Cirrohosis of liver  at the age of 41.

Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and his great Friend Dev Ananad also professed that Guru Dutt could not handle the failure. After Dutt's death, Anand said that "He was a young man; he should not have made depressing pictures. He should have refrained from making such philosophical films. He was engulfed by depression because he always felt he wasn't able to give enough to his relationships and to his films," says Nadira, once his neighbour and friend. In life and death, Guru Dutt remains an enigma. He remains the source of inspiration for so many film makers.

Let me provide you some facts as collated by Deccan Chronicle.

1.       He was a reluctant actor. He never wanted to face the camera. The most famous role in Pyaasa came to Guru Dutt by default. Dilip Kumar had been signed to play the defeatist post-Nehruvian poet. But then Dilip Kumar was already doing  what he thought to  be  similar role in Bimal Roy’s Devdas. When the Thespian backed out Guru Dutt stepped in front of the camera more out of defiance than desire.

2.       In Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Shashi Kapoor was to pay the innocent Bhootnath. But again the casting backfired and Guru Dutt had to step into the role reluctantly.

3.       Guru Dutt’s wife Geeta Dutt refused to sing for Waheeda Rehman in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. Hence all of Waheeda’s songs were ghost-voiced by Asha Bhosle, while Geeta Dutt’s pain-lacerated voice went on Meena Kumari.

4.       Guru Dutt launched India’s first cinemascope  film Gouri with his wife Geeta Dutt in the lead. Sachin Dev Burman recorded two songs and Guru Dutt shot a couple of scenes. But he decided  to shelve the film probably because he had imagined his muse Waheeda Rehman in the role. Years later Waheedaji did a film on the same theme as Gouri — about the rehabilitation of a sex worker — called Darpan.

5.       In 1963 Guru Dutt launched India’s first colour film Kaneez with Simi Garewal in the lead. It was apparently an Arabian Nights fantasy. This is one project that I am glad Guru Dutt never made. It would have been like Satyajit Ray making Amar Akbar Anthony.

6.       After his most ambitious film Kaagaz Ke Phool tanked in 1959, Guru Dutt never took official directorial credit ever again although it is believed that Chaudhvin Ka Chand (which did for Guru Dutt after Kaagaz Ke Phool, what Bobby did for Raj Kapoor after Mera Naam Joker) was ghost-directed by the Maestro himself.

7.       For all his sensitive cinema, Guru Dutt was a ruthless professional in real life. When Sachin Dev Burman fell ill during the shooting of Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi, Guru Dutt replaced Sachinda with O.P. Nayyar  within no time at all. Dev Anand on the other hand postponed the shooting of Guide until Sachinda recovered.

8.       In  1964, Guru Dutt took his own life. At that time he was directing and acting in Baharen Phir Bhi Ayengi. The film was eventually released with Dharmendra playing Guru Dutt’s role. In another incomplete Guru Dutt starrer Love & God, Sanjeev Kumar replaced Guru Dutt. They were both born on the same day, and they both died young.