Guru Dutt:Ek Sanjida Filmmaker
9 july ko Guru Dutt ka janmadin hai.mumkin hai patra-patrikaon,news chaneels aur filmy channels par unke sambandh mein apne-apne anaz mein har koi kuchh na kuchh likhe,bole aur bataye.aaj unhen aur unki filmon ko yaad karte hue sabhi ek hi raag alap rahe honge.bagair unki films dekhe,samjhe aur niji taur par aatmasaat kiye hi har koi tarif kar raha hota hai.waqt aa gaya hai ki ham Guru Dutt ka sahi moolyankan karen aur aaj ke sandarbh mein dekhen ki woh kitne prasangik aur mahtvapoorn hain.
main yahan unka likha ek lekh post kar raha hoon.yah lekh unhonne Screen ke liye likha tha.yah lekh mujhe Shashikant Kinikar ki pustak ‘Guru Dutt 1925-1964′ mein mila.pustak mein koi tarikh nahin di gayi hai,lekin lekh mein aaye dev anand aur geeta bali ke zikra se lagta hai ki 1955-56 ke aaspaas likha gaya hoga.is pustak mein unke aur bhi do lekh hain.agar koi unhen yahan post kare to unki samjh se sabhi parichit honge.
pesh hai Guru Dutt ka lekh…
WE MUST EVOLVE INDIAN TECHNIQUE
Guru Dutt
one of the chief aims of a director should be to select subjects with inherent human values and illustrate them cleverly with incidents.
It was not uncommon for producers to present hackneyed themes,which continued to be accepted by a majority of cinegoers,most of whom were illitrate.Before the war,Indian films were patronised mostly by middle classes,a majority of whom were also educated.Filmfare provided then was intellectual in content.
The outbreak of war saw the rise of well-paid labour and the rich farmer,whose purchasing power had increased.These unlettered people were only concerned with relief from daily cares.Their demand were not excating.Owing to the patronage of taht class,producers continued to cash in on their ignorance by makingby making ‘relief’ films.recently,however,a slight change has been noticed in the mind of the average cinegoer.He seems to be tired of producers repeting the same theme.
FRUSTRATION
Some people,in attempting to set off the beaten track of producing box-office pictures,commit the folly of selecting subtler themes.The failure of these films led to frustration among the bold directors and well-wishers of Indian films.For my part,I would prefer the golden mean of handling a simple subject paccked with illustrations.My picture ‘Jaal’ is on these lines and it is considered a success.
Subjects touching burnig or controversial topics should not be selected for the screen,unless these carry solutions to the questions raised.Though,technically,our films compare favourably with foregn films,bad script writing is the main weakness in the production of our pictures.Besides,we have few outstanding directors.
The flood of songs in Indian films was due to ‘weak’ directors leaning for support on good music to give value to their pictures.It was possible to eliminate songs totally from the majority of films,as the audience were essentially music minded.Music in India forms part of everyday existence of the people.
The opening up of the foreign markets will guarantee that films of the future will be made according to the schedule and planning.Another healthy result will be the rise in the production values.Producers will also be compelled to pay greator attention to the stories with human interest and make more entertaing pictures,too.Better talent will natuarally be drawn to our industry.
BOX OFFICE NEEDS
Pictures that appeal to the basic emotions of the people are found to be a success at the box-office.A wise producer should make a picture with an eye on the box-office,else he will not be making pictures anymore.
No director should specialise in one style of picture making but should strive to direct different kinds of subjects as these will help him to increase his talent.The work of each director has a definite character about it and work of outstanding man is easily recognised.A picture directed by Shantaram is known for its excellent craftsmanship in technique,that of Debaki Bose for emotions and Mehboob for a subject with popular appeal and high ideal.
A director is the soul of the picture.On him lies the onusto give life to the story.Unlike the star,a director should not handle more than two pictures at a time.To produce a work of brilliance,I feel,it is necessary that he directs only one film in a year.The director has to conceive the style of the piece,of acting and the manner in which the story must be told forcefully.this requires long and patient work and study.A star has comparatively to do little,because he or she follows the guidance given by the director.
Hindi screen does not have large number of talented stars.Judging by the standard of acting seen in pictures,I feel so.It is likely that this is due to directors not being able to tap the talents of the artists properly.Another reason is that aacting is not taken as a science by artists,many of whom lack education,which is necessary to understand a role properly.
Theatre acting can not be called an asset to a screen star,as the actor on the stage has to lay stress on his voice,,and,to some extent,his face to portray his role.The screen calls for more skillfulperformance for a star,because of his close proximity to the camera,which is the eye of the audience.A screen actor has to register wide and varied expression and bring greater realism to his performances.
STORIES
Lackof good stories is another difficulty which many an artist has to face,as better stories allow greater scope and opportunity to display his talent.It may be that due to this shortcoming a star has not been ableto give his best.It ia also one of the reasons why directors are unable to get the best from the actors and actresses they direct.
Many a time a diretor is unable to give his best because due to lack of support and scope from producer,who is only interested in the ’shooting’ of a picture cheaply and quickly.I have personally lucky in obtaining facilities from producers and fortunate in having talented stars like Geeta Bali and Dev Anand to act in my films.
English films had,to a great extent,influenced a number of directos.It was becoming a fashion in Indian films for certain ’shots’ to be copied from foreign films.I hope that someone from our industry would rise and evolve technique for Indian films.
To give an example,I refer to a Japanese film ‘Roshoman’ in which one could feel throughout that the film had an oriental air about it.I hope that Indian producers would experiment and produce films that were definitely be Indian in technique,evolve a different style of placing a camera and present themes in a predominently Indian.
50 salon ke baad bhi hamare imaandar filmmaker inhin sawalon se joohj rahe hain.phir humne kya vikas kiya ya hindi cinema ko kya vistaar diya?
Tags: 9 july, box office, Guru Dutt, hindi cinema, Story, technique
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
ajayji,
dil khus ho gaya ye lekh padh k. jab aap kehte hain ki 50 saal badd bhi hum unhi sawalon se jujh rahe hain to ye bilkul sahi hai, filmein hi kyun humara samucha visaal bharatvars aaj bhi unhi sawalon se jujh rha hai jo 50 saal pehle the.
aisa nahi hai ki 50 saalon mein kuch alag nahi hua, kuch log aye unhone apne tarike se kaamm kiya aur apne tarike ki filmein banayi, aur bahut se aaye jo yehi sonch k aaye parr yahan aake apni sari dharnao ko bhool k “quick money” banane mein reh gaye.
sayad hum bhartiya isi ko wastawikta mann k jine lage hain, apka ye kathan ki “50 salon ke baad bhi hamare imaandar filmmaker inhin sawalon se joohj rahe hain” sirf filmmaker hi nahi harr kisi pe lagu hota hai. aappe aur humpe bhi.
khair sirf baaton se koi koi fayda nahi, dhanyavad apaka is lekh ko yahan post karne k liye. bahut dino badd itni acchi hindi padhke mann bhaw-vihal ho gaya. chama kare agar meri hindi mein kuch trutiyaa hon.
I just can say THANKS man for such a unique stuff…………………..
history repeats itself….
Is lekh ke liye dhanyavad……ajay ji…
I think Gurudutt’s article in 50’s still holds true. It hasn’t changed much in Indian film industry overall. We at PFC talk/discuss/argue about the same issues that were raised in this article.
Wow…Ajay ji.. hats off to you. You are a true film journalist. Thanks for all those interviews (Ashutosh Gowarikar & Prakash Jha) and of course RK sir for translating.
Keep them coming.
~Vivek H
SUPERB AJAYJI ..
DIL KHUSH HO GAYA
btw ..kya aapne guru dutt ka classics and cash padha hai PFC par jo maine post kiya tha kaafi samay pehley ?
http://passionforcinema.com/classics-and-cash-guru-dutts-speaks/
kk,
haan padha hai.unka wk chhota article,WANTED MEW FACES bhi hai. use kal post karoonga.aap teenon articles ko ek hi post mein daal den to sabhi bloggers and readers ko suvidha hogi.
thanks A just A,shashank,vineet and vick.
vick, need your feedback,suggestions and good wishes.hindi film idustry ke log generally journalist aur specially hindi film journalist ko tarjeeh nahin dete.need your support,wishes and suggestions.
[Theatre acting can not be called an asset to a screen star,as the actor on the stage has to lay stress on his voice,,and,to some extent,his face to portray his role.The screen calls for more skillfulperformance for a star,because of his close proximity to the camera,which is the eye of the audience.A screen actor has to register wide and varied expression and bring greater realism to his performances.]
Very true… theatre artists normally have very loud expression and an over dramatized approach. Films need subtlity and some times theatre people find it very difficult to control themselves. Only advantage you have is that they don’t have any inhibitions, what so ever. Some veterans of course are exceptions but then there always are.
“Subjects touching burnig or controversial topics should not be selected for the screen,unless these carry solutions to the questions raised”>> I really would like to understand why he states this. Personally I feel “controversial and burning” topics can result in “good” cinema and question the issues further and make the audience think. Is a ‘director” God ? that he should or has the capability to give “answers”?. I really doubt that “cinema” can bring about social change but atleast it can raise meaningful questions!. These are my personal thoughts with due respect to Guru Dutt.
@Ajay
Ye to hamara sabse bada durbhagya hai ki hindi chalchitro mein hindi patrakaro ko tarjeeh nahi di jati……meri matrubhasha hindi nahi hai par main bhasha mein aayi milavat ke viruddh hoon……aajkal adhiktar gaano mein angrezi ki milavat bhari hui hai…..aur unhe angrezi ka rap banakar prastut kiya jata hai……really miss gulzaar saab and zaved akhtar sahab…..
tarjeeh na dene ki ek aur vajah ye bhi hai ki kai hindi film patrikayen sirf kuda-karkat chaapti hain ,aisa nahi hai ki english magazines unse achhi hain par is desh mein achhe film patrakaro ki kami hai ,visheshkar hindi patrakaron ki.
achha kaam karte rahiye…
Ajay,
Thanks for posting this…
Btw, for all Guru Dutt fans, Moser Baer has released a Guru Dutt Collection DVD Set… it’s a set of 6 Guru Dutt titles, incuding Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Mr. & Mrs. 55, etc… for only Rs. 275.
Finally… someone saw value in releasing this.
Wow..tx for this info Nirav…
Incidentally I have bought the Guru Dutt films on Moserbaer recently…I don’t know what to say..I bought Kaagaz ke Phool and Pyaasa around 2 years back on Indus Rs. 150 per VCD…when I got down to see them I was so angry with someone, Indus or whoever was responsible for maintaing the movies master prints over the years for they were very bad…Nevertheless it was great to have finally seen them..I’m a sucker for Moserbaer films and finally when I saw Kaagaz Ke Phool, Pyaasa and the other films for Rs. 30(VCD) and Rs.40(DVD)….I was really happy..I mean thats what I wanted Moserbaer revolution to do…make these movies readily available to the people…I bought them but after sometime I couldn’t help but think that these movies were way more worth than their pricing…well hell with taht…now more people, the people who wanna watch but can’t due to financial constraints, will be able to watch these classics…
recently i bought Moserbaer DVds of Namkeen, ijaazat, Rangbirangi, Ek chalis ki last local, khamoshi-old, keetab… moserbear has become milestone in home entertainment like Gulshankumar in 90s by his cheap casettes.
I just wish that Moserbaer would market them well because they have huge potential to make the cinebuffs run to them and experience some great movies ranging from V Shantaram, Guru Dutt, Gulzar to Pushpak to Jab We Met to a whole range of English movie collection….
~~~~
I heard somewhere that Ek Chalis Ki Last Local sold some 12 lakh copies in its Moserbaer release, is it true? Well if it is then I guess in the end it works out well both for the audience and the company.
neel,burning and contoversial subjects nahi chunne ki guru dutt ki salah ko hindi filmon ke nirdeshkon ke sandarbh mein samjhen.agar vishay ki sahi jaankari nahi ho to aap achchhi film nahi bana sakte.
yah mala debatable hai ki nirdeshak ko solution ya answer dena chaahiye ya nahi?
meri samjh mein agar nirdeshak mudde ki rajneetik aur samajik samjh rakhta hai to use awashya burning issues par films banani chahiye.
vineet,
yah sach hai ki bade star hindi mein baat karne mein kathinayi mehsoos karte hain.kewal amitabh bachchan,manoj bajpai,ashutosh rana,raj babbar,shatrughan sinha aur dr chandraprakash dwivedi se sawal poochhte samay hindi mein panpi jigyashaon ka english anuvaad nahin karna padta.srk,aamir se lekar naye stars tak hindi bolne aur samjhne mein dikkat mehsoos karte hain.
yah vidambna hai.
meri samajh mein agar wo samajh rakhta hai to use apna answer zaroor dena chahiye….kisi bhi mudde pe wo saare nazariye dikha ke use sahi galat k asmanjas mein logon ko aur confuse nahiin karna chahiye.
I had heard that T Series had also released some stuff 2 or 3 years back on GD ?
kshitij,
bilkul.main sahmat hoon,lekin nirdeshak se umeed ki ja sakti hai ki woh darshkon ki soch ko disha de.sirf ‘relief’ ya ‘manoranjan’ nahi hai cinema.
Ajay..kya kahen..aapne ham jaise chalchitra premikon ke liye ek naya bhandaar khol rakh diya hai apne kalam ki zor se..aapko anek dhanyavaad..shubh kaamnaiyein..aapse humein kaafi jaankaariyan prapt ho rahi hai..haalat tab bhi sangeen the..haalaat ab bhi sangeen hain…kahaniyan tab bhi gayab thi..kahaniyaan ab bhi gaayab hain!!
indranil,
thanks.happy reading…visit my blog…
http://chavannichap.blogspot.com/
Ajay,
Main maanta hun ki agar kalakar ki kala mein kshamta hai to weh mujhe kheench kar apne andar dubo legi aur jab main ubhar kar niklu to us kalakaar aur uski kala ke prati gratitude ka “relief” hoga…aur main us creation ki himani se apni ek nayi kala ki nadi utpann kar paun to meri samajh mein us art/creation ki sahi maiine mein safal yatra poorna hogi..
Legendary film director Guru Dutt’s life has been documented several times, and with reason. The filmmaker, whose untimely death robbed Hindi cinema of many more classics, inspired many writers to profile him.
Sathya Saran, editor of DNA’s Me supplement, has authored a book on the filmmaker, with a difference.
Ten Years With Guru Dutt — Abrar Alvi’s Journey follows the director through the eyes of his close friend Abrar Alvi, who directed the all-time classic Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam.
We present an excerpt from the book:
Abrar is categorical that Geeta [Dutt] was in some ways to blame for the growing closeness between Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman. Her immature behaviour and suspicious nature made Guru Dutt seek solace in Waheeda. He narrates two incidents which throw light on this aspect of Geeta’s mental make-up. The first took place at the time the writer and the director were preparing to go to London before the shooting of Kagaaz Ke Phool. Guru Dutt was embarking on his search for a lens that could shoot in cinemascope and convert to 35mm, and he had wanted Abrar to go along.
Geeta had by then realised that Guru Dutt was close to me, and that I had an influence on him. That is probably why one morning she came over to my house. My wife came to tell me, ‘Geeta has come.’ I thought it was Geeta Bali, but she said, ‘No, it is Mrs Dutt.’
I met her, and she put on what I now believe was a great act, even shedding a few tears. I think, seeing that the mother of my children was also present, she thought she could enlist her help, woman to woman, to work on me, to influence her husband.
‘Please understand me,’ she said, ‘I am at my wits’ end, helpless. You are travelling with him, please try to reason with him, he is crazy about Waheeda.’
I told her, ‘I know Waheeda very well by now. There is nothing between them. Please understand that if he does anything that breaks the sanctity of married life, there are at least two people in his unit, Niranjan and me, who will not work with him after that. He has become a father, and we will not brook any irresponsibility on his part towards his children.’
She listened quietly and left. But before she went, she dried her eyes, and said in a very calm voice, ‘Don’t tell him I was here.’
I believe she came only to verify her suspicions. And though I gave Guru Dutt a clean chit, it did little to ally Geeta’s doubts. She was influenced a lot by Smriti Biswas, who also taught her ways to test whether her suspicions were valid and, if possible, catch her husband red-handed. One day, Guru Dutt handed me a letter. ‘Read it,’ he said. I opened it gingerly and saw that it was signed ‘Yours, Waheeda’. I looked at him, but he said again, ‘Read it.’
The letter was a torrid declaration of love. It said: ‘I need to talk to you, I can’t hold myself back, so I am writing to you, you have driven me to distraction, I am losing my senses, I don’t know what you have done to me…’ And so on. The letter ended with a request for an assignation. ‘Today at 6.30 to 7, meet me at Nariman Point.’
When I looked up after reading the letter, Guru Dutt asked, ‘What do you think?’
I replied, ‘I don’t think Waheeda has written this.’
‘I agree,’ Guru Dutt said.
I said, ‘You meet her every day, have enough opportunity to meet her in private, in her make-up room. Why would she write this, and why would she want to meet you in a public place like Nariman Point? Why call you there?’
We decided on a plan. He would drive towards Nariman Point and stop near the Cricket Club of India. I would, in my car, take another road, and check out who came there.
I took my second-hand khatara car and parked it in the by-lane next to the CCI. I knew where Guru Dutt was waiting and watching. I saw a car approach and slow down near Nariman Point. Geeta Dutt and Smriti Biswas were sitting in the backseat of the chauffeur-driven car. It moved to the Nariman Point area, waited and watched and then moved on to Marine Drive. I followed the car and went back to Guru Dutt, who had seen the whole drama.
I think this was the first time, that night after going home, that he confronted Geeta with the episode and, as he confessed to me later, raised his hand on her. Baharen was to cause Dutt much grief. By the time he had shot about twelve reels, the director had lost faith in his subject.
‘Somehow he knew that the film would not succeed,’ Abrar says. He lost all enthusiasm and would gladly have scrapped it as was his way with things he did not find up to the mark, but he was too far gone, too committed to back out. He had taken a loan to make the film and there was no going back.
‘I really don’t know whether the turmoil over his latest project contributed to his suicide,’ Abrar says. The fact was that, unlike in the past, when Dutt closed a project summarily the moment he decided that he was unhappy with the way it was turning out, with no thought of the money spent, the director was forced to keep going with Baharen, even though his heart was not in it. In fact, Abrar and he were working on the script even on that fateful night when Dutt decided to take his own life.
There was no premonition, absolutely no warning. If there had been any inkling, Abrar says, he would have hung around and kept his friend and mentor company. He would have ensured that the loneliness, the depression, did not overcome Dutt, leading him to the point of no return.
The evening was like any other with Dutt pondering over his project, though in the throes of a dark mood, while Abrar toiled on the next set of scenes. Perhaps it was coincidental that the scene Abrar was working on was the one in which the heroine dies a sad, lonely death. Thwarted in love, with her loved one being the lover of her younger sister, the broken-hearted woman has nothing to live for, and it is the depression that causes her death.
It was a delicate scene to write and one that needed concentration and a fine balance, if it was not to slip into the maudlin. Abrar worried the scene like a dog worries a bone, looking at it in his typical fashion, logically and critically. Dutt would infuse the sequence with emotion while shooting it. Abrar’s role was to ensure that it made practical sense and kept the story credible and logical. The evening rolled on, with a friend dropping in, bouts of drinking and desultory talk. Dutt was not in the mood for chatter, and Abrar was too engrossed with the job on hand. There was a series of phone calls to and from Geeta. Abrar did not know then what had transpired between Dutt and his estranged wife during those calls — the phone was downstairs.
As the night dragged on, the visitor was persuaded to have his dinner by himself, and having to go to work the next day, took his leave. Guru Dutt was by then in a foul mood. His conversations with Geeta had made him bitter and melancholic. Even after all these years, that evening plays in Abrar’s mind like an unending roll of film in a projector.
As it was, he had been drinking since early evening — his Man Friday had mentioned that to me — and it had left him with a strangely sullen disposition. I tried to get him out of it, but not only did I fail, I also had to watch helplessly as he sank deeper into melancholy.
Worse still, he refused to have his dinner with the visitor and insisted on waiting for me, drinking steadily. He was really embittered and mentioned a tiff with Geeta over their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter visiting him. He wanted her to come over and Geeta was adamant that she would not send the child. Dutt had told her the refusal would cost her his life or something to that effect. I wish I had sensed that those words were more seriously meant than I had thought at the time. I was not sharing his quarters as I had done often in the past. I was on contract with Lekh, on his new film, and when I was done with my writing for Dutt, I planned to leave for Lekh’s house to retire for the night, as there was a morning schedule.
By the time I finished my scene, it was almost midnight, Dutt agreed to sit for dinner, but ate nothing. I was hungry. I polished off a meal to my complete satisfaction. Dutt was not quite drunk, he could hold his liquor well, but his mood was decidedly terrible. I wanted to read the script to him, but he was in no frame of mind to listen to it. That should have been a warning.
Dutt told Abrar to leave the script with Ratan. ‘If you don’t mind I would like to retire’, he said, and got up to go to his room. These would be the last words Abrar would hear from the man with whom he had shared the 10 most creative years of his life.
There is nothing to prove that his unhappiness with the way his latest film was shaping up was one of the causes behind his suicide, but the fact remains, sadly and irrevocably, that before he could complete his film, Dutt was dead. The story of one of India’s most sensitive filmmakers had prematurely come to an end.
http://books.rediff.com/bookshop/bkproductdisplay.jsp?prrfnbr=81880300&pvrfnbr=82527999&multiple=&frompg=books-editorial_100708
http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/jul/10slid1.htm
interesting video
http://ishare.rediff.com/filevideo.php?id=390219