Guru Dutt

by Yasser Usman

  Veteran film producer and lyricist, Amit Khanna, who worked closely with Dev Anand for many years says, ‘Many times Dev Saab and Raj Khosla used to talk about Guru Dutt. Dev Anand remembered fondly how he and Guru would go together to watch English films. He said Guru Dutt believed strongly in the popular appeal of cinema. Commercial success of his films was really important for him.’

  Though it is often said that Guru Dutt was a reluctant actor but some people suggested that he actually wanted to be talked about as an actor-star. That’s the reason that in most of his films, though the first choice of the lead actor used to be someone else, ultimately, he used to cast himself as the hero.

  This began with a small appearance in his first film Baazi. After Baazi, Guru again had a Hitchcockian appearance as an unshaven, shirtless fisherman in the song ‘Zor lagake haiya’ in Jaal. It can be said that during Jaal he had started considering the idea of becoming a full-fledged actor. V.K. Murthy said, ‘I said you look like a hero, why do you want other people to act as heroes in your films? At first, he didn’t agree then I said, “Let me take a screen test, you judge for yourself.” So in the first schedule of Jaal, when we were shooting an outdoor sequence, I told him, “You come and do this role.” It was not an important role, just a fisherman. We did the shoot, he looked at the results and they proved what I had said.’

  During the making of Jaal, Guru Dutt met S. Guruswamy, the production in-charge, who would become an integral part of all his films starting with Jaal.

  Guruswamy had earlier worked with the famous Bombay Talkies and a couple of years at Indian National Pictures. In Bombay Talkies, Guruswamy rose to become the production secretary. In 1947, after the death of Bombay Talkies’ founder, Himanshu Rai, Guruswamy became the secretary to his wife, the famous Devika Rani. When Devika Rani quit films to marry the Russian painter Roerich, Guruswamy too left in 1949.

  ‘Guruswamy was Guru Dutt’s most trusted team member. Guru Dutt met him during the shooting of Jaal and they became friends. Later Guru Dutt invited him to join as the production-in-charge in his film company,’ says Lalitha Lajmi.

  ‘Guru Dutt gave me great freedom in business dealings, although the final decision would rightly be his,’ recalled Guruswamy.

  Guru Dutt had directed his two initial films (Baazi and Jaal) with two different producers. In both the films he was dissatisfied with the interference of the producers. He wanted to produce films himself. But he didn’t have enough money. Geeta Bali, the lead actress of both films, offered him a business partnership. In September 1952, Geeta Bali’s elder sister Haridarshan Kaur and Guru Dutt formed a new film production company. They named it H.G. Films, taking the initials of the two partners. The first film to be produced by this company was named Baaz.58

  Baaz was a costume drama inspired by western high sea thrillers and a complete misfire and unarguably Guru Dutt’s worst film. It is mainly remembered for the fact that this was the first film where Guru Dutt appeared in a lead role. But despite his good looks, his performance as an actor in Baaz was unremarkable.

  As a director too, he seemed disinterested in the proceedings. Clunky screenplay, ridiculous dialogues and cheap special effects marred Guru Dutt’s dream to produce a grand high seas adventure. The huge ship where most of the action takes place was built in an open field behind Shrikant Studio in Chembur. Unfortunately, owing to the juvenile special effects, the boat looked like a toy boat in the movie.

  Geeta suggested Guru to work with a then little-known music composer O.P. Nayyar (Onkar Prasad Nayyar). Geeta told Guru that O.P. was a commercially oriented music director and combined with Guru Dutt’s sense of song picturisations, the result could be special.

  ‘Geeta Dutt had the most original voice in film music. She was the one who introduced me to Guru Dutt,’ recalled O.P. Nayyar.

  Geeta was right about Nayyar. Baaz witnessed the emergence of a winsome combination of Guru-Geeta and the gifted O.P. Nayyar. Together they were going to create magic.

  As a ‘debutante lead actor’ Guru Dutt was criticised a lot in Baaz. This was also to be taken head-on in Guru Dutt’s next film.

  27

  THE MAN WHO GAVE WORDS

  TO GURU’S ANGST

  ‘I told him that the dialogues of the movie should be according to the character.’

  —Abrar Alvi

  During the making of Baaz, there were major arguments between Dutt and the dialogue writer, Sarshar Sailani. Sarshar followed the heavy theatrical style of writing dialogues in Urdu, a form prevalent in those times, especially for period dramas. Guru Dutt had a very modern outlook when it came to film-making. He believed that writing for screen is different from writing for stage productions. His visual sense and characterisation needed a new form of writing. He wanted a writer whose writing was less loud or verbose and more natural with free flowing humour. He found this gift in writer Abrar Alvi.

  After dabbling in theatre, and a stint directing radio plays in Nagpur, Abrar Alvi eventually came to join the Bombay film industry with the help of his cousin, a young actor named Jaswant. This cousin was playing an important role in Guru Dutt’s Baaz and was dating the co-producer Haridarshan Kaur.

  One day after an argument with Baaz’s dialogue writer, Sarshar Sailani, Guru Dutt asked his assistant Raj Khosla to re-work on the dialogues for a scene. Abrar was present on the sets accompanying his cousin.

  Abrar recalled, ‘I loved driving and, therefore, I started going to the shooting of Baaz as a driver with Jaswant. I soon became good friends with the film’s assistant director Raj Khosla.’59

  That day when Guru Dutt asked Raj Khosla to work on the dialogues, Raj asked for Abrar Alvi’s suggestion. Abrar told him he couldn’t suggest how a character would speak till he knew their background, class and education. After Raj explained, Abrar went on to improvise the scene, without realising that Guru Dutt’s sharp eyes had already recognised the hidden talent.

  Guru Dutt was impressed with Abrar’s observations about dialogue writing. He inquired about Abrar, his background and his educational qualifications. A few days later, Guru Dutt called Abrar Alvi home and asked him directly, ‘Would you work with me on writing my next film?’

  Abrar Alvi told Guru Dutt that he had no experience of screenwriting, and that he had only written plays during his college days. To be fully sure, Guru Dutt tested Abrar for the next one week. He called Abrar home every day and gave him a situation or scene to write. The condition was Abrar couldn’t leave his home and had to write in isolation. Guru Dutt wanted to make sure that Abrar didn’t take anyone else’s help.

  He was building a team and screenwriting was going to be the most important pillar from then on. Whatever Abrar was writing in those seven days, Guru Dutt was discussing that material with other trusted friends and even with his mother. Vasanthi told Guru that she liked Abrar’s style of storytelling.

  That sealed the deal.

  Guru Dutt called Abrar and told him, ‘You’re going to write my next film,’ with a caveat that he will be present on the shooting throughout and would guide the actors in emoting and delivering the dialogues properly. Abrar agreed.

  Guru Dutt’s mother Vasanthi wrote about this crucial association, ‘Guru gave a chance to Abrar Ali in this picture. They became good friends in later years.’

  In those moments, neither Abrar nor Guru Dutt had the slightest idea that together they would create a body of work that would stand the test of time for its craft and universal emotions.

  28

  THE CAMARADERIE OF

  ‘TEAM GURU DUTT’

  ‘He’d sit back and enjoy the verbal sparring like watching two cocks fight. This was one of Guru’s favourite pastimes. And Johnny and I always fell for it.’60

  —Abrar Alvi

  Baaz was trashed for every aspect but the reviews were particularly harsh for Guru Dutt’s direction and his debut as a lead actor. The review in Filmfare61 said:

  What could have been a good swashbuckling adventure
film is here reduced to a comparatively tame picture owing to the inadequate direction and unknowing treatment of an otherwise action-packed story…(The drawing of the Portuguese characters in the film is naively done and shows a conspicuous lack of polish, especially in the direction.)…

  Dutt as the hero is not dashing enough, and plays the part too tamely.

  Such savage reactions for his work used to hurt Guru Dutt. After making a successful debut with Baazi, his graph was on a decline with an average earner Jaal and the flop Baaz. He wanted acknowledgement as a film-maker. As an actor it made him question his decision to play lead roles. He asked writer Abrar Alvi what he thought of the film (Baaz) and his performance in it. Alvi, in an effort to sound evasive, replied, ‘Aap bahut photogenic hain [You are very photogenic].’ Guru Dutt answered back, ‘Kucch actogenic bhi hain ya nahin [Am I also a little actogenic or not].’62

  The huge failure of Baaz and the heavy financial losses incurred by the newly formed company H.G. Films led to Guru Dutt and Haridarshan Kaur going separate ways. Guru Dutt, with the help of Geeta, bought Haridarshan Kaur’s share and started his own company: Guru Dutt Films Private Ltd.

  The failure had its silver lining too. Guru Dutt was now free to make films of his choice without anyone interfering or dictating the terms. In a way, the ‘Guru Dutt cinema’ as we know today truly began taking shape post the failure of Baaz.

  The wedding of Guru and Geeta definitely brought the much needed luck for Guru Dutt. He had already begun working for his next film Aar Paar.

  Geeta Dutt was closely involved with the casting and the music of the film. Nabendu Ghosh was writing the screenplay and writer Abrar Alvi, the new addition to Team Guru Dutt, was to contribute to the screenplay as well as write the dialogues.

  As the lead actor of Aar Paar, Guru Dutt gave a confident performance but few know that he had in fact decided to cast Shammi Kapoor for the role after shooting a few reels with himself. In a meeting between them, Shammi keenly watched the scenes with Guru Dutt as the lead actor. Refusing to sign the film, Shammi convinced Guru Dutt that he himself was indeed the best choice for the lead role. Guru Dutt finally took up the challenge and acted with a resurrected confidence after his dismal performance in Baaz.

  For the lead actress, Shyama’s name was suggested by Geeta Dutt. However, Geeta herself was present during the shooting of the romantic scenes. Shyama fondly recalled, ‘Guru Dutt was a romantic really, and Geeta was very possessive. She would come to the sets and used to keep an eye on him. That made me laugh.’

  In Aar Paar, Guru Dutt also gave Johnny Walker a major role as a comedian. Abrar Alvi recalls, ‘Johnny Walker had a wonderful sense of humor. I myself was very good at repartee and Johnny could crack jokes. Guru Dutt exploited this weakness by deliberately leading us on to get into acerbic conversations; then he’d sit back and enjoy the verbal sparring like watching two cocks fight. This was one of Guru’s favourite pastimes. And Johnny and I always fell for it.’63

  Guru Dutt liked the simplicity and talent of Johnny Walker. ‘So strong became their relationship that he was part of every film Guru Dutt made either as director or as a producer. Except one—Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam—which I directed,’ said Abrar Alvi.

  Together Guru Dutt, Johnny Walker, Abrar Alvi and Guruswamy would go on hunting expeditions. They worked together, they partied together.

  This camaraderie of the team members was translating beautifully on celluloid too.

  Aar Paar was a charming film with the crime noir part wonderfully infused with romance and humor. Guru Dutt’s character had some of the elements that remained common in most of his lead characters: The hero was an underdog, looked towards society with sarcasm, was shunned by his family but loved by two women. One of the women was the proverbial ‘fallen woman’.

  Most of Guru Dutt’s iconic films have an underlying premise of the ‘other woman’. In Baazi it was Kalpana vs Geeta Bali, in Aar Paar, Shyama vs Shakila, in C.I.D., Shakila vs Waheeda Rahman, Pyaasa had Mala Sinha and Waheeda Rahman, Kaagaz Ke Phool had the wife and the actress (Waheeda).

  This is the film where Guru Dutt seemed in control. As a director, he would lend a freshness to the plot with his innovative framing, pace and superb song picturisations. ‘He was a tiger on the set,’64 recalls his cinematographer V.K. Murthy.

  The critics had torn apart his earlier films Jaal and Baaz. Aar Paar changed it all. The encouraging review of Aar Paar in Filmindia magazine said:

  Guru Dutt however has produced Aar Paar with such an accent on entertainment, making the crime content incidental, that the picture does become quite enjoyable with its fast and furious action. Production values are quite good…Photography is quite pleasing and there is a rare sense of harmony in cameraman Murthy’s work… Guru Dutt’s direction is quite smooth for his limited purpose of entertaining without straining the mind.

  V.K. Murthy said, ‘He would never compromise on the way the film turned out, the way each scene linked with the other. He was an obsessive director, and until the shot came out just as he wanted he would continue with as many takes as he needed, without a break.’ Murthy added, ‘He never said “Okay, jaane do”.’

  29

  THE WIZARD OF SONG

  PICTURISATION

  ‘Many people copy him but he was the first to make the song visually interesting…he’d spend nights thinking of song situations.’

  —Majrooh Sultanpuri

  The biggest reason behind Aar Paar’s success was undoubtedly the O.P. Nayyar-Geeta Dutt combo. Out of the eight chartbusting songs, seven had Geeta Dutt’s vocals. Praising Geeta Dutt, O.P. Nayyar said, ‘Who will deny there is a unique quality to her singing? Give her a blatantly westernised tune this moment and a complex classical composition the next, and she will do equal justice to both with an ease of expression which a singer can only be born with…Geeta Dutt is an asset to any music director.’

  The evergreen song ‘Babuji dheere chalna’ was inspired from ‘Quizás, Quizás, Quizás’, written in 1947 by Osvaldo Farrés, a Cuban songwriter settled in New Jersey. Geeta Dutt created magic with her seductive vocals. Coupled with Guru Dutt’s inimitable style of song filming, the seductive cabaret song picturised on Shakila gave a new dimesion to the club songs of those times. Shakila remembered the hard work she had to put in for the songs, ‘Guru Dutt was a wonderful person and a perfectionist. In Aar Paar I had a song sequence which he wanted me to do in a particular way. He took 30-40 takes before he was satisfied!’

  ‘Hoon abhi main jawan’ had Geeta Dutt projecting in her intoxicated voice the deadly mix of vulnerability and seduction. Then there was the vivacious ‘Yeh lo main haari piya’ picturised in a taxi, in O.P. Nayyar’s rhythmic beats. And who can forget the ever romantic ‘Sun sun sun sun zalima’ sung by Mohd Rafi and Geeta Dutt.

  In an interview with author Nasreen Munni Kabir,65 the lyrics writer Majrooh Sultanpuri narrates an interesting anecdote. Sultanpuri had initially written ‘Sun sun sun sun zalima, Pyar mujhko tujhse ho gaya.’ But Guru Dutt wanted to change it to ‘Pyar humko tumse ho gaya’. Sultanpuri disagreed saying it was grammatically incorrect as you can only say ‘tumse’ if you use the plural ‘suno suno’ (not ‘sun sun’). Majrooh recalled, ‘I still remember the way Guru Dutt said, “Arey yaar, Majrooh, chhodo na, gaana sunne ki cheez hoti hai, itna kaun wahaan tumhara grammar leke baithega?’ (Oh come on Majrooh, forget it—a song is a thing to be listened to, who is going to bother about your grammar?) Majrooh had to agree. ‘The song was a big hit even though there was a grammatical fault in it,’ laughed Majrooh.

  Majrooh Sultanpuri further notes, ‘Many people copy him but he was the first to make the song visually interesting. His greatest talent was his consistency. His songs were always on a higher level, they had impact. He gave them much thought, he’d spend nights thinking of song situations.’ The norm of those times was to picturise songs indoors or on sets, sometimes unconnected to the characters singing the song or their background. But Guru Dutt pr
eferred locations that his characters inhabited in the story—so the ‘Kabhi aar kabhi paar’ song is not in a park or a romantic setting so typical in the films of those times, but under the scorching sun near a construction site, next to a broken car. The romantic ‘Sun sun sun sun zalima’ is filmed in a garage with an old car as the main prop. The long tracking shots with smooth camera movements, intelligent play of light and shades, poetic silhouettes and the wonderful use of close-ups, all these were trademark Guru Dutt elements that gave his songs and films a distinct lyrical quality. With Aar Paar these hallmarks had started to fall in place.

  Another unusual quality in Guru Dutt’s songs was that any character could sing in his films. So it wasn’t just the lead actors on whom Guru Dutt picturised the songs. In his films, some of the most popular songs feature character actors or even characters who had no connection with the story. So a random construction worker sings the very popular title song of ‘Kabhi aar kabhi paar laaga teer-e-nazar’. This character is never seen again in the film. The only non-Geeta Dutt song, it was sung by Shamshad Begum in her usual robust style. And since it was mandatory in a Guru Dutt film to have a song picturised on Johnny Walker, Aar Paar had ‘Na na na tauba tauba’ sung by Mohd Rafi. Johnny Walker’s natural flair for comedy combined with Guru Dutt’s unorthodox style of song picturisation gave the ‘comic relief song’ genre a new meaning.