There are films that become hit- superhit but this film turned out to be a phenomenon. When it was released, it was a flop. But a few years later india understood the virgin beauty of this movie. And today, Kaagaz ke phool enjoys the honour of being one of the most highly acclaimed motion pictures of of India.
The story is set in the film-industry, and is about Gurudutt, a divorced director who wants to keep his daughter but the wife says no because he works in the film industry. He is looking for a face for his new movie, DEVDAS and meets Waheeda Rahmaan. They fall in love, but the director’s daughter asks the actress to move away from his father’s life so that she can make her mom-dad reunite. Waheeda very gracefully walks away from their lives, making the director of DEVDAS a real DEVDAS. His daughter is snatched away from him, his films fail and a gloomy, sad and depressing phase begins in his life. What happens next? Well, watch it yourself...
It is really hard to decide what is the most beautiful thing about this movie. The performances are extremely perfect. No one has overdone their role. Waheeda Rahmaan and Gurudutt are an immortal pair. They create magic on screen. The cinematography is par excellence. You can’t even imagine how beautiful the scenes look. Gurudutt, who also directed this movie, has done magic with a black and white camera. A magic that no director of today with his hi-fi gadgets can even think of doing. the movie has some immortal songs like WAOT NE KIYA... KYA HASEEN SITAM... and DEKHI ZAMAANE KI YAARI... BICHADE SABHI BAARI BAARI... The movie has no melodrama, no heavy lecture-like dialogues, no bhaari-bharkam background score. everything is kept real, believable and down to earth. The way the film-industry has been presented in this movie, looks beautiful. There is a soul in this movie. It looks alive. You can feel it. The eyes of the lead stars have a passion that we can’t see in any other movie.
The movie is a phenomenon.