09 July,2023 12:33 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Dev Anand (left) and Guru Dutt (right), Pic/mid-day archives
On Guru Dutt's 98th birth anniversary, we are remembering the legendary filmmaker, his rich and unusual friendship with Dev Anand and his troubled relationship with the camera, cinema and public life.
Born on July 9, 1925, the auteur-director died by suicide in 1965. Despite not receiving the recognition he deserved, Guru Dutt's passion for art was vividly expressed through his diverse filmography, spanning a mere 39 years. His impressive repertoire included timeless classics such as Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Kaagaz Ke Phool, as well as captivating entertainers like Baazi, Jaal, Aar Paar, Mr and Mrs 55, and CID. Upon watching these cinematic masterpieces, it becomes evident that Dutt's talents and contributions to the industry were truly exceptional, making his lack of recognition all the more difficult to comprehend.
Kaagaz Ke Phool performed poorly at the box office, and this is said to have affected Dutt so much that he quit film direction altogether. However, the audience of 1960s India had not been ready for a visionary film much ahead of its time. Raj Kapoor had been right when he had told Dutt, "Don't worry, you have produced the picture 15 years too early" - the film has rightly acquired a cult status in contemporary Indian cinema.
Hindi film enthusiasts are no stranger to Dutt and Dev Anand's long friendship and association. But what is especially interesting is that the spark of this lifelong bond was forged during a comical chance encounter at Pune's Prabhat Film Company.
"In 1946, I was on the payroll of Prabhat Film Company and was playing the lead in my first film, Hum Ek Hain. One day, as I was walking out of the studio, I saw a young man of about my age entering, and we exchanged polite hellos. A few seconds later, he turned and stared at my shirt. I looked at his. I realised he was wearing my shirt and I was wearing his. Obviously, the washerman had interchanged them. We had a hearty laugh and embraced each other," Dev Anand told journalist Shaikh Ayaz.
Dutt and Dev Anand thus might never have become friends had it not been for the fateful mistake of their laundryman.
As ambitious young men, Dutt and Anand had also promised each other that whenever they began their ascent to the top, they would take the other along for the ride. "We promised each other that the day I became a producer, I'd take him on as a director, and the day he directed a film, he'd cast me as a hero. And I'm not a promise-breaker. I did launch Guru as a director in Navketan's Baazi in 1951," Anand shared.
After Baazi's success, the filmmaker directed Jaal (1952) and Baaz (1953), Aar-Paar (1954) and Mr & Mrs 55 (1955) and CID (1956). But these films couldn't satiate Dutt's creative hunger, wanderlust or filmmaking ambitions. He felt he was in âsolitary confinement' which ended only with the release of Pyaasa.
In a 1957 Filmfare interview, he said, "When I joined films, the wanderer in me was put into a solitary confinement and the door of my âprison' was opened only after the release of Pyaasa." While making films, he also gave Hindi cinema talents like Johnny Walker (comedian), VK Murthy (cinematographer), and Abrar Alvi (writer and director) their debuts. Waheeda Rehman, whom he cast in Pyaasa, was also said to be his find.
Dev Anand also said that Guru Dutt "suffered from melancholia." The renowned filmmaker couldn't look at life beyond success and failure as he once said, "What's life about, friend? It's only about two things - success and failure. There's nothing in between." This black-and-white take on things, much like the monochromatic cinema that was Dutt's life and legacy made him the legendary yet tortured genius that he was.
