by Yasser Usman
Waheeda Rehman was completely stunned. ‘I knew he had tried to commit suicide before, but it was still a terrible shock,’ recalled Waheeda who came back to Bombay immediately with Johhny Walker to see Guru Dutt one last time.
‘I know that he had always wished for it, longed for it…and he got it,’ wrote Waheeda Rehman later on Guru Dutt’s death.’141
O.P. Nayyar, who had a long association with Guru Dutt, was sad and angry, ‘True to my straight talking nature, I just blasted those two women for ruining Guru’s life—Geeta, right there in front of Guru’s dead body in the drawing room and Waheeda at the time of the funeral!’
The sobs and cries filled the house. The smoke of the incense made everything hazy. Guru Dutt was going on his final journey dressed immaculately in a blue suit. His mother could not bear the sight of his last rites being performed. Heartbroken she left for Lalitha’s house.
The Mughal-e-Azam director, K. Asif, had come to see his friend’s face for the last time, ‘I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t see his face.’ Guru was playing the lead role in Asif’s Love and God. Dev Anand, Raj and Shammi Kapoor were requesting the people to stay quiet. Shammi Kapoor helped K. Asif through the crowd and brought him to see Guru Dutt’s face for the final time. Asif bent down and lovingly touched Guru Dutt’s cheeks and said to Raj Kapoor: ‘How innocent he looks…as if he were only asleep.’142
Director Shahid Lateef, Johnny Walker’s cousin, and two others lifted the bier. Chants of ‘Ram naam satya hai’, ‘Gopal Naam Satya Hai’ could be heard. Guru Dutt was on his last journey.143
A crying Geeta rushed behind it. Meena Kumari held her. Waheeda Rehman stood there teary eyed with her sister Sayeeda.
It was time to leave. To say the final goodbye.
EPILOGUE
During one of my many conversations with Lalitha Lajmi, the eminent artist who also happened to be Guru Dutt’s much loved younger sister, having witnessed his life and times at close quarters, I asked, ‘What is the first image that comes to your mind when you think about your brother Guru Dutt?
She went silent for a few moments, her face acquiring a deeply melancholic look as if traveling back in time.‘For years I had dreams of Guru Dutt lying on his bed with his eyes half open and an unfinished book. I try to wake him up. I say, ‘Get up! get up! your admirers are waiting below the balcony!’ I keep looking at his face. He looks like he is in a deep sleep. I keep waiting for him to get up but he is dead. The moment in time is frozen for me forever,’ replied a teary-eyed Lalitha.
His wife, Geeta Dutt was shattered and kept on blaming herself for Guru’s death. She suffered a nervous breakdown, during which she failed to recognize even her own children or Lalitha. Later, she became a chronic alcoholic and the chances of a career revival also became bleak.
On 20 July 1972, eight years after Guru Dutt passed away, Geeta Dutt died of cirrhosis of the liver. She was 41.
It was a traumatic childhood for the kids Tarun, Arun and Neena. Both the sons wanted to carry forward their parents’ legacy. But they could never repeat their father’s success. In 1984, they produced Rekha-Vinod Mehta starrer Bindiya Chamkegi (1984) under their father’s banner Guru Dutt Films Pvt. Ltd. Directed by Tarun Dutt, the film didn’t do well.
They began making another film Khule-aam. The action film had Dharmendra-Chunkey Pandey in lead roles. It got stuck and took years to complete.
Tarun Dutt reportedly took his own life in 1989.
Arun Dutt completed the film Khule-aam (1992) which was a disaster at the box office. ‘The film was completed in 6-7 years and looked dated. He lost a lot of money and Arun never recovered from its failure,’ says Lalitha.
The gentle Arun Dutt organized many Guru Dutt retrospectives in India and abroad.
Arun Dutt died on July 2014 by multiple organ failure and cardiac arrest due to prolonged and intense intake of alcohol.
Guru Dutt is survived by his daughter Nina, brother Devi Dutt and sister Lalitha Lajmi.
It has been 56 years to Guru Dutt’s death. He was only 39 years of age when he died. He made his brilliant and much-celebrated classics like Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam in his early thirties. During the extensive research for this book I realised a strange thing: There is not even a single direct interview of Guru Dutt. The media coverage on him was almost zilch while he was alive. Almost all his contemporaries were in the film magazines in the form of interviews or cover stories, but not Guru Dutt. This despite the fact that he mostly made commercially successful films.
Years after his death, Guru Dutt’s cinema began getting immense recognition not just in India but in many parts of Europe. It was as if destiny played out the theme of his immortal Pyaasa in real life—the posthumous fame of an artist.
In the late seventies and eighties, a French writer and critic, Henri Micciollo, published a wonderful study of Guru Dutt’s cinema. Later, author and filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir’s detailed work on Guru Dutt’s cinema helped immensely in decoding his art. There are many more excellent books written about Guru Dutt’s cinema, superb documentaries including interviews of his associates, detailing and applauding his spectacular career. His craft of filmmaking is discussed and studied in many film schools across the world. But most of them do not go into the making and then the unmaking of Guru Dutt, the person. Much has often been said about Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool and their semi-autobiographical references. During the research I realized that events in his personal life that transpired during the shooting of a even a shelved film (Gouri) found resonance in the scenes of his next film, Kaagaz Ke Phool. The line between real and reel kept gradually blurring till it reached a point when the thin line vanished. Where reel became real, with his death. I feel it is very important to recount the story of Guru Dutt in all its three dimensional facets because his cinema was mostly a reflection of his life and atimes.
Starting from the 1980s many Guru Dutt retrospectives were organized, his films were shown in films festivals across the world. The popularity and the connect that Guru Dutt’s films found everywhere proved that their emotions were universal and have not become dated even after decades.
Years ago, this author, as a young boy out of college, had the privilege of watching Guru Dutt’s films on big screen at the film club of the India Habitat Centre (New Delhi). The magic I felt remained with me.
Lalitha Lajmi says, ‘I was at a screening of Pyaasa at the prestigious National Theatre in London. When a young man heard that I am Guru Dutt’s sister, he came forward to touch my feet. I had tears in my eyes. How I wish my brother was alive to witness the celebration of his cinema. This baggage from the past and memories are all I have. Time cannot fade these memories.’
FILMOGRAPHY
ACTOR
Picnic 1964
Sanjh Aur Savera as Dr Shankar Chaudhry 1964
Bahurani as Raghu Singh 1964
Suhagan as Vijay Kumar 1964
Bharosa as Bansi Das 1963
Sautela Bhai as Gokul 1962
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam as Atulya Chakraborty ‘Bhootnath’ 1962
Chaudhvin Ka Chand as Aslam 1960
Kaagaz Ke Phool as Suresh Sinha 1959
12 O’Clock as Ajoye Kumar 1958
Pyaasa as Vijay 1957
Mr. & Mrs. ’55 as Preetam Kumar 1955
Aar-Paar as Kalu 1954
Suhagan 1954
Baaz as Raj Kumar Ravi 1953
Hum Ek Hain 1946
DIRECTOR
Kaagaz Ke Phool 1959
Pyaasa 1957
Sailaab 1956
Mr. & Mrs. ’55 1955
Aar-Paar 1954
Baaz 1953
Jaal 1952
Baazi 1951
PRODUCER
Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi 1966
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam 1962
Chaudhvin Ka Chand 1960
Jawani Ki Hawa 1959
Kaagaz Ke Phool 1959
Pyaasa 1957
C.I.D. 1956
NOTES
1. Conversations with Waheeda Rehman, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Penguin Viking, 2014.
2. A Journey Down Melody Lane, Raju Bharatan, Hay House India, 2010.
3. Interview with the author.
4. ‘The last scene’, Filmfare, May 1966.
5. ‘The pain of having a home sometimes can outweigh the pain of not having one.’
6. My Son Gurudutt, Vasanthi Padukone, India, serialised in The Imprint, April 1979.
7. It is interesting to note that the name ‘Gurudutt’ was one word. But later, he separated it by a space and made it ‘Guru Dutt’ which gave the impression that Dutt was his surname. Perhaps as an ode to Bengal where he spent the most beautiful years of his life. Throughout her memoir that was published after Guru Dutt’s death, his mother spells Gurudutt as one word.
8. Unfinished Symphony.
9. Calcutta left a profound impact on Guru Dutt, and his connection with the city remained integrated in most of his important films. Irrespective of whether the story setting demanded it or not, Bengal made an appearance in his films like a character, consciously or sub-consciously.
10. Earthen lamps.
11. Prayers.
12. Interview with the author
13. TIME Magazine’s All Time 100 Movies List of the greatest films made since 1923 has only three films from India— including Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa.
14. ‘There was a certain nobility about him’, Guruswamy, Screen, 13 October 1989.
15. Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey, Sathya Saran, Penguin, 2011.
16. Auspicious prayers and first shot of a new film marking the commencement of its principal photography.
17. https://www.filmfare.com/features/women-were-ready-to-do-anything-for-guru-dutt-devi-dutt-28634-3.html.
18. V.K. Murthy’s interview with Patcy N., Rediff.com, 8 October 2004, https://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/08spec1.htm.
19. Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey, Sathya Saran.
20. Pyaasa also had a ‘dream song’ that remains the only dream song in any Guru Dutt film—the romantic duet: ‘Hum aapki aankhon mein’. It was added to the film as an afterthought to provide ‘relief’ in the midst of a serious story.
21. ‘Women were ready to do anything for Guru Dutt: Devi Dutt’, Farhana Farook, Filmfare, 9 July 2019.
22. Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Oxford University Press, 1997.
23. Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema, Nasreen Munni Kabir.
24. Now in the state of Uttarakhand, India.
25. Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey, Sathya Saran.
26. Waheeda Rehman interview, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Mint, 4 May 2013, https://www.livemint.com/Leisure/LUEeD357OifFGP xluE1BgL/Waheeda-Rehman.html.
27. Binidra, Bimal Mitra, Mitra & Ghosh Publishers.
28. Do Bhai (1947).
29. Guru Dutt’s initial films are heavily influenced by the Gyan Mukherjee school of filmmaking.
30. ‘Guru Dutt and Geeta had a tempestuous marriage’, Filmfare, August 2014.
31. ‘My friend Guru’, Dev Anand, Open Magazine, 31 May 2011.
32. Bimal Mitra’s Binidra.
33. ‘Will sound like I am going to supervise a marriage ritual.’
34. ‘Qazi Saheb’s son has become an actor.’ (Films were not considered a very respectable profession then.)
35. ‘Here is your scene, your dialogue, this is the shot. If you can do better, go ahead.’
36. ‘Both of us technically started at the same time.’
37. ‘During those days, one would keep one’s word in relationships.’
38. In Search of Guru Dutt (1989).
39. Balraj Sahni, Balraj Sahni, Hind Pocket Books, 1979.
40. Romancing with Life, Dev Anand, Penguin, 2007.
41. Cinema Modern: The Navketan Story, Sidharth Bhatia, Harper Collins, 2011.
42. Geeta Roy’s family had moved to Santacruz in Bombay.
43. Sandalwood.
44. Bimal Mitra was a renowned Bengali writer who wrote more than one hundred novels and short stories. Many of Bimal Mitra’s novels have been made into successful films. One of his most popular works, Shaheb Bibi Golam (January 1953) was adapted into a hugely popular movie in Bengal. Guru Dutt later bought the rights of the same novel and made it into one of his most celebrated films in Hindi: Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962). During the making of the film, Guru Dutt and Geeta Dutt became close to Bimal Mitra and he would stay at their farmhouse during his many extended trips to Bombay. During his stay, Mitra also witnessed many important events in Guru Dutt’s life and career during the course of almost two years. Mitra profoundly reflects on Guru Dutt’s life and times and Guru–Geeta’s relationship in his book Binidra (Mitra & Ghosh Publishers).
45. ‘Dusky’.
46. ‘Don’t bore me.’
47. ‘Why did Guru Dutt abandon his Bengali directorial debut starring Geeta?’, Priyanka Dasgupta, The Times of India, 9 July 2018.
48. ‘So all you want is for me to look worse than Waheeda Rahman, right?’
49. Bimal Mitra’s book.
50. My Son Gurudutt, Vasanthi Padukone.
51. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bengali/movies/news/why-did-guru-dutt-abandon-his-bengali-directorial-debut-starring-geeta/articleshow/64922979.cms).
52. ‘Singing practice.’
53. ‘Guru Dutt and Geeta had a tempestuous marriage’, Farhana Farook, Filmfare, 4 August 2014.
54. Yours Guru Dutt, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Lusture Publishers, 2006.
55. ‘He was a perfectionist to a fault’, R.M. Kumtakar, Screen, 13 October 1989.
56. ‘The Falcon.’
57. ‘“Koi door se aawaz de chale aao”: Abrar Alvi’, Beete Hue Din, Shishir Krishna Sharma, 23 March 2020, https://www.cinemaazi.com/feature/koi-door-se-awaz-de-chale-aao-abrar-alvi.
58. ‘A Born Artiste’, Abrar Alvi, Outlook, 31 July 2003.
59. Filmfare, August 1953.
60. Abrar Alvi in Filmfare, March 1985.
61. ‘A Born Artiste’, Abrar Alvi.
62. ‘What made actor-director Guru Dutt the master of feelings,’ Nasreen Munni Kabir, India Today, 16 September 2017.
63. Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema, Nasreen Munni Kabir.
64. ‘The Artist’s First Love’, Geeta Dutt, 1958.
65. https://cineplot.com/the-artists-first-love-by-geeta-dutt/.
66. Filmfare, June 1963.
67. https://tanqeed.com/my-friend-guru-dev-anand-interview-on-guru-dutt/.
68. My Son Gurudutt, Vasanthi Padukone.
69. ‘Guru Dutt–O.P. Nayyar: A Rare Tuning’, Girija Rajendran, Screen, 13 October 1989.
70. ‘I am the director, you don’t talk to me.’
71. V.K. Murthy’s interview with Patcy N., Rediff.com, 8 October 2004.
72. It should be hangd that a few years later Guru Dutt’s former assistant, Raj Khosla, used the same story and made the very successful film Woh Kaun Thi? (1964). There was another film called Professor that he had announced when he was making Pyaasa. It had Kishore Kumar and Waheeda Rehman in the lead roles. Guru Dutt never made it. But it was later produced by F.C. Mehra in 1962 whith Shammi Kapoor as the hero. It was a huge hit.
73. ‘Guru Dutt, the prankster’, Sathya Saran, The Pioneer, 5 January 2014.
74. ‘Women were ready to do anything for Guru Dutt’, Devi Dutt by Farhana Farook, 9 July 2019.
75. ‘Guru Dutt asked me to show him how cars flew in English films’, V.K. Murthy, The Times of India, 4 September 2013.
76. V.K. Murthy’s interview with Patcy N., Rediff.com, 8 October 2004.
77. Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema, Nasreen Munni Kabir.
78. ‘Something must have gone wrong.’
79. Interview with the author.
80. ‘Something in him had died.’
81. ‘My Friend Guru Dutt’, Dev Anand, Open Magazine, 31 May 2011.
82. For the BBC documentary In Search of Guru Dutt (1989).
83. ‘We had grown close when we were working together. I belive the song “Bichhde sabhi baari baari” was also his own story that he couldn’t communicate on screen properly.’
84. Nasir Kazi, Johnny Walker’s son, in an interview with the author.
85. Based on Sarat Chandra’s eponymous novel that has been retold through many adapations in many languages.
86. ‘But the things he used to beautifully express through his camera, he was unable to express them himself. What he wanted, he found it very difficult to communicate. His weakness was that he wasn’t good at expressing his own feelings.’
87. In Search of Guru Dutt (1989), Nasreen Munni Kabir, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJbpT2j7ZBY.
88. ‘Nobody really knows what happened on October 10’, Raja Sen, 11 October 2004, https://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/11guru.htm.
89. ‘It’s okay, let’s just make a film together.’
90. Ravi’s interview, Screen, 13 October 1989.
91. Waheeda Rehman interview, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, Mint, 4 May 2013.
92. ‘Guruji and I’, Waheeda Rehman, Journal of Film Industry, 17 November 1967.
93. ‘Guruji and I’, Waheeda Rehman, Journal of Film Industry, 17 November 1967.
94. Shama, October 1960.
95. ‘O.P. Nayyar: An Intimate Interview’, Dr Mandar V. Bichu, Cinema Sangeet, http://www.cinemasangeet.com/hindi-film-music/interviews/o-p-nayyar-an-intimate-interview.html.
96. O.P. Nayyar’s interview, http://www.opnayyar.org/theman.htm.
97. Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi’s Journey, Sathya Saran.
98. ‘I feel this way. I wanted to become a director, I became one; I wanted to become an actor, I became one; I wanted to make good films, I made them. I have money, I have everything, yet I have nothing.’
99. V.K. Murthy’s interview with Patcy N., Rediff.com, 8 October 2004.
100. ‘Hamlet of Films’, Abrar Alvi, Filmfare, 1964.
101. ‘He was a very generous man’, Ravi’s interview, Screen, 13 October 1989.