As a kid i remember watching this old hindi movie song coming on TV so
often, a stranger shouting "jalaa do jalaa do jalaa do ye duniya, mere
saamne se hata lo ye duniya" (burn it, burn it, burn it to ashes, take this world out of my sight). The tune was catchy, but back then i
could never relate to the angst and fury of this guy asking the world
to be burnt down for some reason only he knows.
After all growing up in the 80s an 90s was all fun and happiness, or so i thought. Gradually I learned, most likely from my father that the guy is called Guru Dutt, supposedly a master movie maker. But still, this stuff was all too dark and intense for me and Govinda and the Khans were doling out some really hilarious movies and on the other hand Mr. Dutt wants everything burnt down, the guy must be crazy, i used to think to myself. I never bothered to watch a Guru Dutt movie, may be caught a few glimpses of them playing on some movie channel that bothered playing them, but that was it, untill recently.
It was the wife, I don't know what inspired her, but here we were watching Sahib Bibi aur Gulaam, Pyaasa and then Kagaz ke Phool, yes we are hooked on to Guru Dutt cinema and cant wait for the next one.
Its almost an obsession now, everything about his cinema though of an age i have only heard about from my grandparents sounds so real and believable. Even his angst was only understated in trade mark Guru Dutt style in that song of Pyaasa, after the misery of the poet being ignored all his life in spite of his great poetry, dumped by his girlfriend and relatives for not having a future and then getting the recognition only after the world mistakenly thinks he is dead.
But the stories in his movies become all the more fascinating when you study the life of Guru Dutt. Like the protagonist of Pyaasa, Guru Dutt got most of the recognition for his work after his death, and this time it was for real. Then there is Kagaz Ke Phool, which is pretty much a biopic and mirrors his life or what would be his life with Guru Dutt playing himself, a genius obsessed by his work and unlucky with love. The movie is an artist's tribute to his own genius as the world around him chooses to ignore his art and ridicules his obsession for making meaningful cinema.
I am not the one to know the techniques of film making, but Dutt's cinema has been trendsetting to say the least, his camera work and the use of space and lighting is to date being copied in Bollywood. The songs in his movies were always an integral part of the story and a way of furthering the narrative and yet they were great music compositions on their own.
With all this and his craving for perfection in his work, you would have thought that Dutt would have wanted to work with the best of the talent available in the Cinema world, i was surprised to learn that he created and stuck to his team of people through all his career. He nourished his professional relationships with his kindness. Johnny Walker was a bus conductor before Dutt got him into so many of his movies, creating roles for him to introduce an element of humour. It is sad to learn that he didnt get much work after Dutt's demise.
Yes, Dutt's movies are for an audience who does not look for just entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. It is something that bites at the social injustice and scorns the society for being insensitive and ridiculously hypocrite.
At an age of just 39, Dutt left his movies with us to understand him and his passion for this art form. His work and his life are two tales so inter-twined that sometimes one feels if the real Dutt, the thinking Guru Dutt is the one who plays that forlorn Director past his prime in Kagaz ke Phool or the poet in Pyaasa, or the man who drank himself one night to his death and got relieved of the demands from a world he tried to make sense of in his cinema.
Salute to the Guru of Golden Age of Indian Cinema.
After all growing up in the 80s an 90s was all fun and happiness, or so i thought. Gradually I learned, most likely from my father that the guy is called Guru Dutt, supposedly a master movie maker. But still, this stuff was all too dark and intense for me and Govinda and the Khans were doling out some really hilarious movies and on the other hand Mr. Dutt wants everything burnt down, the guy must be crazy, i used to think to myself. I never bothered to watch a Guru Dutt movie, may be caught a few glimpses of them playing on some movie channel that bothered playing them, but that was it, untill recently.
It was the wife, I don't know what inspired her, but here we were watching Sahib Bibi aur Gulaam, Pyaasa and then Kagaz ke Phool, yes we are hooked on to Guru Dutt cinema and cant wait for the next one.
Its almost an obsession now, everything about his cinema though of an age i have only heard about from my grandparents sounds so real and believable. Even his angst was only understated in trade mark Guru Dutt style in that song of Pyaasa, after the misery of the poet being ignored all his life in spite of his great poetry, dumped by his girlfriend and relatives for not having a future and then getting the recognition only after the world mistakenly thinks he is dead.
But the stories in his movies become all the more fascinating when you study the life of Guru Dutt. Like the protagonist of Pyaasa, Guru Dutt got most of the recognition for his work after his death, and this time it was for real. Then there is Kagaz Ke Phool, which is pretty much a biopic and mirrors his life or what would be his life with Guru Dutt playing himself, a genius obsessed by his work and unlucky with love. The movie is an artist's tribute to his own genius as the world around him chooses to ignore his art and ridicules his obsession for making meaningful cinema.
I am not the one to know the techniques of film making, but Dutt's cinema has been trendsetting to say the least, his camera work and the use of space and lighting is to date being copied in Bollywood. The songs in his movies were always an integral part of the story and a way of furthering the narrative and yet they were great music compositions on their own.
With all this and his craving for perfection in his work, you would have thought that Dutt would have wanted to work with the best of the talent available in the Cinema world, i was surprised to learn that he created and stuck to his team of people through all his career. He nourished his professional relationships with his kindness. Johnny Walker was a bus conductor before Dutt got him into so many of his movies, creating roles for him to introduce an element of humour. It is sad to learn that he didnt get much work after Dutt's demise.
Yes, Dutt's movies are for an audience who does not look for just entertainment, entertainment and entertainment. It is something that bites at the social injustice and scorns the society for being insensitive and ridiculously hypocrite.
At an age of just 39, Dutt left his movies with us to understand him and his passion for this art form. His work and his life are two tales so inter-twined that sometimes one feels if the real Dutt, the thinking Guru Dutt is the one who plays that forlorn Director past his prime in Kagaz ke Phool or the poet in Pyaasa, or the man who drank himself one night to his death and got relieved of the demands from a world he tried to make sense of in his cinema.
Salute to the Guru of Golden Age of Indian Cinema.
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