Yesterday I had a healthy debate about Guru Dutt with some of my friends and while we started discussing about his personal profile - I have realised that 70% of the group is of the opinion that he is a Bengali and rest sweared on god that he is a Punjabi.
I know Guru Dutt as a South Indian Brahmin from Karnataka but I was almost convinced by the group that he is a Bengali. So, I read some articles about Guru Dutt last night and thought of sharing the same with MS friends.
Yes - I was correct - He was Vasant Kumar Padukone, a Sarawat Brahmin from Bangalore who spend his school years in West Bengal and hence misunderstood as a Bengali. He could speak Bengali and later on married (might be his third marriage) a Bengali (famoust singer Geeta Roy).
Guru Dutt is remembered as an artist par excellence who had a bad personal life.
When he is found dead with overdose of sleeping pills in his rented apartment in Mumbai at the young age of 39 ---- he left a great legacy behind --- and his death is often termed as colossal waste of human life. He was an embodiment of talent - as a writer, actor, director, producer --- but the talent could never be tranlated to actions in the best manner. The years he spend for Hindi Movie was so memorable. This is my tribute to this genius.
Personal Profile
Born on 9 July, 1925 in Bangalore. Childhood was not colorful - financial difficulties, strained relation with parents, death of younger brother --
He was close to his uncle Balakrishna Benegal (Uncle of Famous Film Director Shyam Benegal) who was a painter and did many work for Film Posters.
He spend his school years in West Bengal as his father was working there.
He has three brothers and one sister. Famous Director Kalpana Lajmi is his sister’s daughter
The way to film industry
He was good at dancing and had organised many competitions with the blessing from his uncle B B Benegal. He joined Uday Shankar India Culture centre in Almora on a five year scholar ship and his uncle supported him in this. Later on he took up a job with then Uni Levers in Kolkotta but later on joined Prabhat Film Company in my city Pune.
There he assisted directors and started casting small roles in the movies from the company. He had choreographed for many movies also during this period. After finishing three year contract with the company he returned to Mumbai and started writing inIllustrated weekly. He completed the semi autobiographic work "Pyasa" during this period.
He was very close to Dev Anand and he promised to engage Guru Dutt as director for a movie produced by him and he kept the promise through the film Bazi. It was a huge success and a trend setter for many movies later.
On the personal front - he met Geeta Roy during a recording and their blossomed their affair. They got married and had three kids. Their personal life was on rocks mainly due the differences between the couple on varioius issues - Geeta Dutt was also alcoholic and Guru Dutt was alcoholic and workholic. Also, his alleged affair with Waheeda Rahman (for whom he was a God Father) also was one of the reason behind the strained relation. The couple got separated and was living separately.
Guru Dutt’s Master Touch as a Director, Actor, Producer ---
As a director Dutt was a perfectionist who never compromised on quality. He was a genius who created a unique atmosphere through his sense of music, unique picturization of songs, subtle but intelligent dialogues, novel themes, depth of his characters, excellent use of lighting with light and shade, and superb shots sometimes followed by close ups of actors highlighting their expression which go beyond their narrative function and makes an impression of their own. He was also the one to introduce the use of long focal-length lenses, and 100 mm as 75 mm for close ups in Indian films. One of my friend from Pune Film Institute told me that this shot is still described as "Guru Dutt Shot"
Filmography
Jaal was a big success especially in the picturization of its songs, the movie is directed by him
Sailab’ which was a flop, and also acted, directed and produced
’Baaz’ was his first film as an actor but a great flop except for its songs which became popular; ’Aaar Par’ and ’Mr and Mrs 55’ categorized as his comedies which had a slick pace and intelligent banter especially the latter where the heroine (Madhubala) is a woman struggling for independence and her rights
’Pyaasa’ a real masterpiece which elevated him to the height of his career in which he played the introverted poet Vijay. Technically the black and white shots in the film depicting the dark moods were perfect.
’Kaagaz ke Phool’ Perhaps his best draw, with some remarkable visuals which was lyrical and poetic but it failed miserably at the box office. He also lost heavily financially and a dejected Dutt never directed a film again. Then he produced and acted in ’Chaudhvin Ka Chand’ based on Muslim culture of Lucknow and got it directed by Saddiq Sahib which was a huge success.
Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam won the Presidents silver medal as well as nominated to the Berlin Film Festival and being India’s official entry for the Oscars.
He passed away during the making of the film ’Baharein Phir Aayengi’ which was completed by his brother Atmaram with Dharmendra in the lead.
Along with his own productions, Guru Dutt acted in outside productions like Twelve o’clock, Sautela Bhai, Bahurani , Bharosa , Suhagan, Sanjh Aur Savera etc. with almost all the famous heroines.
Last Shot
On October 10, 1964 Hindi film world suffered a great loss...Guru Dutt at the young age of 39, succumbed to an overdose of sleeping pills although doubts still linger as to whether his death was accidental. The prevailing magic of his films even now decades after his tragic end, testifies the skill of this genius who lived much ahead of his times...