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Note : The films I am looking at and the points I am trying to get across are from a personal capacity. They may or may not include the obvious.
Baazi ( 1951 )
Aar Paar ( 1954 )
Pyaasa ( 1957 )
Kaagaz ke Phool ( 1959 )
Guru Dutt's first film as director. The film, clearly influenced by the film noir movement of Hollywood in the 1940s, does appear stilted and dated today. It's various elements represent the classic clichés we have come to see in Indian films. The hero being lead to a life of crime since he cannot afford keeping his sick sister in a sanatorium, the goody two shoes heroine bent on reforming him, the moll who loves him and takes the bullet meant for him, asking him to acknowledge that she's not such a bad woman after all and dying before he can say so in his arms, and the villain is ...no surprises...the heroine's father, on the surface a decent and well respected man! But while viewing Baazi we have to remember it was the first of its type. In fact Baazi set the tone for the spate of urban crime films that were to come out of Bollywood in the 1950s and early 1960s.
But there are some moments of inventiveness and experimentation which give a glimpse of the genius of Guru Dutt which were to be seen in later films. Songs were integrated into the story line rather than standard items or appendages to the plot. The entire scene where the moll warns the hero he is going to be killed is done through a club dance 'Suno gajar kyagaaye.' A ghazal 'Tadbir se bigdi hui taqdeer' was set to a hep western beat as the moll tries to seduce the hero. The experiment worked and how! The song was a huge hit. In fact the entire music score had a lively and zingy beat to it, all in all a most jazzy score by S.D. Burman. The songs also saw an untapped side of singer and wife to be Geeta Roy. Known only for sad songs till then, the ease with which she went western was marvellous to behold. The sex appeal in her voice was brought to the fore and helped her build an identity of her own, a style no singer could copy. ( Asha Bhonsle did try but thankfully for her she was pulled out of the rut by S.D. Burman and O.P. Nayyar who helped in shaping her to have her own vocal identity. She went on to become the most versatile singer the Indian film scene has ever seen. No type of song was beyond her )
Baazi promoted a lot of new talent, several of whom went on to make quite a name for themselves. Lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi, choreographer Zohra Sehgal, comedian Johnny Walker, actress Kalpana Kartik. The screenplay was by well known actor Balraj Sahni.
The film though being a trend-setter interestingly also shows Guru Dutt's traditional attitude to women. The moll is mostly dressed in western clothes, while the goody two shoes heroine is always in traditional Indian attire. The moll is immoral and she has to pay for it with her life, her redemption being taking the bullet meant for the hero. ( This attitudeto women was further noticed even in the posters of Mr.and Mrs 55 where the poster on one half showed the heroine Madhubala dressed in western attire making the hero, Guru Dutt, buckle her shoe while the right half showed the heroine in a traditional sari touching the hero's feet.)
Baazi also showed a criminal hero with a tough as nails exterior but of course with a heart of gold inside. The film took actor Dev Anand to dramatic star status. { He already was a star with Ziddi( 1948 ) } He was the ideal actor for the crime wave films and played in a number of them - Jaal( 1952 ), Pocketmaar ( 1955 ), C.I.D. ( 1956 ), Nau Do Gyarah ( 1957 ),Kaala Bazaar ( 1960 ), Jaali Note ( 1960 ).
It was with Aar Paar that Guru Dutt really arrived as a film maker to be reckoned with. The film was a crime thriller in the genre of Baazibut by now with Jaal and Baaz also behind him, Guru Dutt had polished his skills and Aar Paar stands out as among the best of the genre. The plot of the film may now seem formulaic but scores in its treatment. It's great strength lies in the way even the minor characters are fleshed out - be it the barman, the street urchin or the newspaper vendor. ( This was one of the strong pointsof Guru Dutt's films. And since he repeated artistes he worked with, the minor roles done in his films by artistes like Kum Kum and Tun Tun standout for their individual wit and integrity ) And for once characters spoke with a language that reflected their background. The hero is from Madhya Pradesh in central India so he speaks in a particular style. The garage owner, a Punjabi, spoke with a punjabi slang. ( Actuallya glimpse of this was seen in Baazi itself when the hero is asked for his last wish before hanging and in true and typical Bambaiya street language says " Ek special chai." )
Taking a further cue out of film noir, the city is very much a character in Aar Paar. Much shooting was done on actual outdoor locations of Bombay rather than confining oneself to the studios. In fact even the garage where thehero worked was shot on location at the South Indian Garage in Parel, a locality of Bombay.
In Aar Paar Guru Dutt took his talent for song picturisations to several notches above the commonplace. Many directors choose to enhance the fantasy elements by setting it in unreal and glamorous locations but in Guru Dutt's films, the songs are rarely separate from the personalities who enacted them. Songs in his films often take place in locations inhabited by the characters in his films. A fine example here is the romantic duet 'Sun sun sun sun zaalima.' The song is set in the stark and unromantic atmosphere of a garage with a car providing the centre-piece but the way the two lovers circle around each other within this restricted space is a brilliant piece of choreography. Further, Guru Dutt was very particular in sticking to the vocabulary of his characters even in the songs. And often started songs without any introductory music using it as an extension of the dialogue. Thus beyond considerations of language and space, the songs in his films appear better integrated than in most Indian films. Aar Paar was a major turning point in the life of composer O.P. Nayyar who wenton to become an extremely successful music director.
Last but not least Guru Dutt reveals a zany sense of humour. There is a wonderfully staged sequence in the film wherein it looks like a major gang operation is on only to be revealed at the end of it that it was a test run!
Pyaasa is Guru Dutt's real masterpiece. It tells of the thirst for love, for recognition, for spiritual fulfilment. There is a strong parallel between the hero, a poet, the outsider trying to make a place for himself in the society he inhabits and the director, the outsider trying to leave his independent stamp in a world of formulaic cinema. It is in Pyaasa where we really see Guru Dutt transcend way above the ordinary and succeed in totality. Many individual shots and scenes become impressionistic images telling of his lyricism. An example which immediately comes to mind is the song'Aaj sajan mohe ang lagalo.' It is a kirtan- a Bengali devotional song telling of longing and desire. Though we see baul singers perform the song, it in fact voices the prostitute's passion for the poet. She follows the poet up the stairs to the terrace where he stands his back to her. She moves towards him but cannot bring herself to touch him and she runs away. The earthly love she feels is uplifted and given a spiritual dimension through the words. And this is further reinforced by the amazing rendering of the song by Geeta Dutt. In the last scene of the film an instrumental version of the song is played as the prostitute overcome with joy at seeing the poet at her doorway runs down the steps of her house into his arms. They are one. What is most interesting to note in their relationship is that the prostitute shares with the poet a greater attraction for spiritual fulfilment rather than materialistic fulfilment.
In many of Guru Dutt's films we see him caught between two women - Baazi, Aar Paar, Kaagaz ke Phool and Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam. In Pyaasa too there is another woman , his ex-girlfriend from college who leaves him and marries for security. Her priority is clearly materialistic fulfilment. In fact though having negative shades to it, this is actually the more difficult and challenging role in the film as against the standard prostitute with a heart of gold. The role has its shades of grey and counts as one of actress Mala Sinha's better performances, otherwise a rather mechanical and melodramatic performer. Talking of the acting, Waheeda Rehman is outstanding in the role of the prostitute and Guru Dutt himself is fine in the role of the poet. Perhaps the parallels between him and the character help him in coming out with his best everscreen performance.
Interestingly, Pyaasa has that rare element in a Guru Dutt film. A song treated like a fantasy. An idyllic daydream of the hero. The song 'Hum aapki aankhon mein' is picturised amongst clouds as the heroine descends from the moon. It sticks out when viewed against the whole film. Perhaps Guru Dutt picturised it in such a manner just to get back at the distributors who felt that an 'item' was needed! So he provided them with one!
The music by S.D. Burman is extraordinary as is the rendering of the songs. The background music helps to create the necessary atmosphere for a number of individual scenes. The Mala Sinha character has her own signature tune - a simple yet haunting melody played on the harmonica. Whenever the poet sees her, the tune is repeated representing for him the love he has lost.
But if one person is the soul of Pyaasa it is lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi on whose poems the lyrics were based. Sahir's words seem to articulate Guru Dutt's own view of the world and experience of tragedy. Pyaasa sees some of Sahir's best work. 'Yeh mehlon, yeh thakhton', 'Jaane woh kaise log the jinke' and 'Jinhe naaz hai Hind par woh kahaan hai' - the last looking at the disillusionment that had set in a decade after the giddy euphoria of Indian Independence. It was taken from his poem Chakle( Brothels ). A fine example of political comment combined with humanitarian compassion.
To sum it up simply, a classic! Need one say more?!
Kaagaz ke Phool has been considered Guru Dutt's finest film by many. A cinematic masterpiece that went over the audience's heads and sank like the Titanic so to say. But it is actually quite an inconsistent film with its share of lows. However in its better moments it is nothing short of brilliant. Lyrical and poetic, it represents some of the finest work that Guru Dutt has ever done. The screenplay however is weak and the film at its worst moments appears to be totally narcissistic. Perhaps with the success of Pyaasa Guru Dutt felt he could make yet another serious film but Kaagaz ke Phool with its defeatist attitude ( at least Pyaasa had a happy ending of sorts ) appears almost morbid. Guru Dutt was known to be an extremely indecisive person and the script of the film kept changing during the making. Also, unlike his earlier films where the characters were so beautifully drawn out, the family of the film director's wife who want nothing to do with him are treated as cardboard caricatures. And Johnny Walker's angle to provide relief appears to be forced in the film rather than integrated into it. As Guru Dutt himself admitted in an interview to Filmfare in 1963,
" It was good in patches. It was too slow and it went over the head of audiences."
After the film flopped, a dejected Guru Dutt never officially directed a film again.
But for all its flaws, like any Guru Dutt film, the highs far outweigh the lows. Technically the film is perhaps his best film. The camerawork with its use of light and shadows is magical. The frames have been beautifully composed keeping in mind the cinemascope format. ( It is India's first ever film in cinemascope and got cinematographer V.K. Murthy the Filmfare award. ) The relationship between the director and his protégé is delicately handled on a very human plane. The film making scenes are shot with meticulous attention to detail. The ambience of the film studios is most effectively created. ( Although audiences could not digest this breaking down of the myth surrounding the film world, its aura and glamour ) And song picturisations, as mentioned already a strong point of Guru Dutt, are taken to new heights particularly 'Dekhi zamaane ki yaari' and 'Waqt ne kiya kya haseen situm.' Sheer poetry.
Ironically, today Kaagaz ke Phool enjoys a cult following and goes house full whenever re-released.
Guru Dutt
Geeta Dutt
The Guru Dutt - Geeta Dutt home page
e-mail me at : filmnoir@bom4.vsnl.net.in
