Latest news with #GuruDutt:AnUnfinishedStory
Hindustan Times
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Guru Dutt's voice missing in stories about him: biographer Yasser Usman
New Delhi, Guru Dutt lives on only in the memories of those who knew him personally or professionally, his own voice "completely absent", says his biographer Yasser Usman describing the actor-director as a "chronic introvert". Guru Dutt's voice missing in stories about him: biographer Yasser Usman As reams get written about the legendary filmmaker, who would have been 100 on Wednesday, Usman says he remains an enigma despite so many books and documentaries analysing his life and works. Usman, the author of the 2021 "Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story", said he researched various archives, magazines and newspapers of Guru Dutt's time but couldn't find a single cover story on the filmmaker, one of the most influential cinema personalities of his time with a body of work that included "Pyaasa", "Kaagaz Ke Phool" and "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam". Guru Dutt was found dead on October 10, 1964 at his rented apartment in Mumbai's Peddar Road from a cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills. He was just 39. "Everything we know about Guru Dutt, almost 98 per cent, is through the memories of people who knew him professionally or personally," Usman told PTI in an interview. "I think that is the major reason of him carrying this mystique throughout. Even on his 100th birthday, we are talking about him, and there is a major amount of mystery surrounding his life and even his death," he said. The writer-journalist said Guru Dutt's masterpiece "Pyaasa" was a great commercial success and one of the biggest hits of 1957. However, during his deep dive on the filmmaker, he couldn't find a cover story or interview of the director. "I interviewed a few people who were alive then, most importantly, his younger sister, Lalita Lajmi. She was a witness to Guru Dutt's life, his cinema, as well as his turmoil and his childhood. But you need a person's voice to understand them better... The books, magazine stories of those times, none of them include his voice. It is completely absent. "There were many magazines that were covering all other stars and filmmakers, including Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, everyone got a cover story, except Guru Dutt... He was a chronic introvert, and he did not want to speak." The writer, who has also penned biographies of Rajesh Khanna, Sanjay Dutt and Rekha as well as the fiction book "As Dark as Blood: A Roshan Rana Mystery", said his fascination with Guru Dutt began after he saw the filmmaker's movies at a retrospective in Delhi in 2004-2005. "I realised that these films don't feel dated though they were made in the 1950s and 1960s. They were entertaining. When we talk about the greatness of a filmmaker or a writer, we never use such words. He was mainstream but artistic." Usman said he became more intrigued when he realised that the filmmaker made some of his biggest classics while his personal life was going through great turmoil. "He was trying to end his life. There were multiple suicide attempts. This was fascinating to me that someone who, on the sets while shooting or making his cinema, is creating such free-flowing, excellent artistic films, but simultaneously his personal life is completely devastated. "When I collaborated with Lalita Lajmi for the book, she told me that he was really suffering from mental health issues, but there was really no awareness in those times. So they didn't contemplate getting psychiatric treatment. She regretted that Guru Dutt, in a way, was crying for help, but they couldn't get the help he wanted or needed in those times," he said. His films, particularly "Pyaasa" and "Kaagaz Ke Phool", were intensely personal, giving a glimpse into his life and thought process, Usman said. " 'Pyaasa', of course, was based on the struggles of his father. His father wanted to be a writer, a poet but he was a clerk and he was busy paying bills for his big family and could never become a creative artist that he wanted to be." Guru Dutt's own struggles when he came to Mumbai from Pune and went without a job for months are reflected in "Pyaasa", which he initially wrote as a story titled "Kashmakash". "Kaagaz Ke Phool" was a semi-autobiographical story about a filmmaker with a fractured relationship with his wife and a confused relationship with his muse and one that tragically ends in the death of the filmmaker. "It was really close to his own life story... He put his heart and soul into the movie. At that time it was a major disaster and it completely broke his heart so much so that he never directed a film again. You know it's strange to see that now the film is considered a classic. It is like 'Pyaasa' playing all over. After an artist is dead you're going to praise his film which you rejected completely when it was released," Usman said. In his view, Guru Dutt's life can be divided into pre and post "Kaagaz Ke Phool" phases. "Commercially, his biggest blockbuster came right after 'Kaagaz Ke Phool' which was 'Chaudhavin Ka Chand'. It remains his most successful film and he made a brilliant comeback like eight-nine months after the disaster of 'Kaagaz Ke Phool'. His mental health completely went berserk. His constant refrain to many people who were working with him or were personally close to him was, 'I'm going mad. I think I'll go crazy'. "His sister told me that they after his second suicide attempt, which was after 'Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam', a year or two before his death, the family called a psychiatrist but they never followed it up. They regretted it because they said that they had no clue." Usman added that there was really little awareness in those times about such issues and Guru Dutt kept crying for help. He also reflected on the tumultuous marriage between Guru Dutt and Geeta Dutt, two very successful people who really could not come to terms with each other's creativity. When Guru Dutt married Geeta Dutt, she was the bigger star while he had just made his debut film, "Baazi". "Before they got married, he never said that you cannot sing outside my banner but after his marriage, he wanted Geeta Dutt to sing only for his films and he wanted her to take care of his house and kids. He had become a major star after 'Pyaasa' and she regretted the fact that she had lost her stardom and this kind of poisoned their bonding... But neither Guru Dutt nor Geeta Dutt ever talked about it. Their voices on the matter, and it's such a personal matter, are completely missing." The writer said he was so inspired by Guru Dutt's life that after writing the biography, he wrote his first crime fiction and modelled his lead protagonist as a brooding cop just like Guru Dutt." This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Guru Dutt@100: Bungalow that never became a home and the birthday demolition that followed
New Delhi, Bungalow No 48 in Pali Hills was a dream for many but not for its owner, filmmaker Guru Dutt. For his wife, singer Geeta Dutt, it was a haunted space, for him, never the sanctuary he longed for. In time, he had it demolished - that too on his birthday. Guru Dutt@100: Bungalow that never became a home and the birthday demolition that followed The heartbreaking story of the palatial house that never became a home for the celebrity couple has been vividly captured in two books, Bimal Mitra's "Bichhde Sabhi Baari Baari" and Yasser Usman's "Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story". Purchased for ₹1 lakh - and razed in 1963, the year before Guru Dutt was found dead after a cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills the bungalow was the filmmaker's prized possession. But tragedy soon seeped into its walls. It's the house in which he tried to end his life twice. 'I always wanted to be happy in my household. My house is the most beautiful among all the buildings in Pali Hill. Sitting in that house, it does not look like you are in Bombay. That garden, that ambience where else can I find it? Despite this, I could not stay in that house for much longer," Usman quotes Guru Dutt as saying. According to Lalitha Lajmi, Guru Dutt's sister, it was Geeta Dutt who suggested they leave the house. 'She believed that the bungalow was haunted. There was a particular tree in the house and she said there's a ghost who lives in that tree, who is bringing bad omen and ruining their marriage. She also had something against a Buddha statue that was kept in their huge drawing room," Lajmi, who witnessed the relationship from the early days of courtship till the end, recalls in Usman's book. Grappling with depression, a troubled marriage and his wife calling it "graveyard", the director-actor eventually made up his mind. According to Usman's book, on the morning of his birthday, the man who once dreamed of peace in his expansive bungalow yet often found resting only in a modest 7x7 foot room at his studio called in workers and instructed them to tear it down. 'I remember it was his birthday. He loved that house and he was heartbroken when it was demolished," says Lajmi. The abrupt demolition of the house is also recounted by writer and close friend Mitra, who held many fond memories of time spent at the Pali Hill bungalow. Mitra was the author of the Bengali bestseller "Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam", which Guru Dutt famously adapted into a critically acclaimed film. When Mitra visited Bombay at Guru Dutt's invitation, he was surprised to be taken not to the familiar Pali bungalow, but to a modest rented flat. Bewildered, he soon learned that the house had been demolished. Later, Guru Dutt drove him to the site of the now razed Bungalow No 48. Nothing looked the same. 'I felt as if he wasn't my Guru anymore, as if this wasn't Bombay as if this wasn't Pali Hill... Where Guru used to sleep, there was now a pile of flower garden at the front was now covered with thorny shrubs,' recounts Mitra, staring at the ruins of what was once a majestic bungalow where he had often stayed during his scriptwriting visits. Stunned, Mitra finally asked his friend why he had taken such a drastic step. Guru Dutt's reply, 'Because of Geeta... Ghar na hone ki takleef se, ghar hone ki takleef aur bhayanak hoti hai..' When Mitra posed the same query to Geeta, she said she had been sleeping in the guest house and, upon hearing a loud noise and looking out the window, saw that the workers had already torn down the entire house. "I immediately called up Guru who was in the studio and told him that labourers were demolishing the house. 'Let them do it! I have asked them to raze it to the ground,' replied Guru Dutt," reads the book. Guru Dutt, regarded as amongst the greats of Indian cinema with films such as 'Pyaasa', 'Kaagaz Ke Phool' and 'Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam', would have been 100 on July 9. He was found dead in 1964 when he was just 39. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
100 years of Guru Dutt: The movie maestro who was never bothered about critics
Guru Dutt was born on July 9, 1925. He made his film debut in 1951. 'That rare thing of commercially successful films that engage you intellectually, too — that was Guru Dutt 's cinema,' Yasser Usman, author of Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story, once said. His words ring true for anyone who has watched Pyaasa (1957), Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), Mr & Mrs 55 (1955), or Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960). Born on July 9, 1925, Guru Dutt - whose birth centenary is being marked today - emerged in the early 1950s and quickly found a deep connect with his audience. I n a 1956 interview, at the peak of his early success, Dutt had said, 'I don't want what they call the Guru Dutt style story anymore. I want new themes, daring themes. Hitherto, I preferred to stick to insubstantial themes, in order to perfect a screen style of my own.' He meant it. With Pyaasa, he shattered conventions, asking the haunting question: What is the meaning of art and life itself? In Dutt's world, love didn't always triumph - because it didn't always in life. On his 100th birth anniversary, many echo what his close friend Dev Anand once said, 'He should have made more films.' Guru Dutt died at just 39, but his cinema endures - lyrical, melancholic, and ahead of its time. As his mother Vasanthi Padukone recalled in the documentary 'In Search of Guru Dutt', 'He had an inquisitive mind... by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo He never listened to anyone and would do what pleased his heart.' In a short period of time, Guru Dutt became a master filmmaker and actor. WHAT GURU DUTT'S CONTEMPORARIES SAID ABOUT HIM He was his own critic: Raj Khosla It is one thing to love and another to say I love you. Guru Dutt loved but could never express it. That was his enigma. The whole thing came out in his films. You couldn't read through him but I read one thing, he was really lost: Lost in filmmaking, lost to life. It's his skill that I learnt, the use of the face, the eyes more than body movements. And the use of close-ups – they tell the main story. He never bothered about critics. He was his own critic and knew where he was going wrong. He was a man of few words: Abrar Alvi Guru Dutt was a man of few words. He was not a very communicative person. But very early on I realised that he had a habit of changing a scene even when he was in the process of shooting it. He was the sort of director who was never happy with his writers. Guru Dutt gave Indian cinema masterpieces like Pyaasa and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. He was a master of self-criticism: VK Murthy He was an ordinary man from a middle class family. He was a master of self-criticism. If he didn't like a scene, he would re-shoot even after the rushes, which is unheard of even today. Like all creative people, he was very demanding of his co-workers. He was particular about his songs: Majrooh Sultanpuri Dutt was particular about a few things. One was the vocabulary, the language and the manner in which a character speaks is present in the lyrics too or not. He would also see that it isn't dull and that the opening music is not too long. He would cut to songs from dialogues directly. He was my only friend: Dev Anand So many people came into my life, but Guru and I shared something different. Our journey began together. I've always said he was my only friend. ' A master of cinematic art' Guru Dutt didn't just inspire his contemporaries—his influence has rippled through generations of filmmakers and actors. Remembering the maestro on his 100th birth anniversary, filmmaker Mani Ratnam said, 'For me, Guru Dutt is the master who first blended mainstream cinema with aesthetics and sensibility. He brought poetry into popular cinema with outstanding music and song picturisation. His language of cinema remains a great source of inspiration till today.' I can watch Pyaasa anytime because it's a timeless film. I just loved Pyaasa – the way it is shot, performed, and edited is brilliant. It's one of those timeless films that I can watch anytime. I have always been inspired by his films due to the complexity of the characters and layered narratives. – Pratik Gandhi, actor MK Raina, theatre actor and director, added, "Guru Dutt was a master of cinematic art, who crafted a filmmaking tradition that stands as a school in itself. Along with cinematographer VK Murthy, he created an imagery on screen defined by a remarkable play of light – whether it was the lyrical framing in Jaane Kya Tune Kahi from Pyaasa or Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam in Kaagaz Ke Phool. His background in dance, his training in theatre and sense of rhythm translated into a cinematic language that was uniquely his own. There was maturity in every dialogue, movement, every track and in the panning of the camera." In Pyaasa, he makes the point that this world only remembers you after you die: Imtiaz Ali Imtiaz Ali said that Guru Dutt, "created masterpiece moments of Indian cinema." Film director Imtiaz Ali praised the late filmmaker, saying, "I love Guru Dutt's depiction of poetry in films. He was a true artiste because he would take poetry from great poets like Sahir Ludhianvi and Kaifi Azmi and translate them into magnificent and unforgettable cinematic moments like Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai or Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam. He created masterpiece moments of Indian cinema, and this is the highest achievement for any filmmaker and pinnacle of Dutt's contribution to cinema. In Pyaasa, I cannot get over the moment when he stands in the doorway as people commemorate his poetry in a big hall allegedly posthumously thinking that he's dead. He makes the point that this world only remembers you after you die and when you are alive, you are never appreciated. 'Yeh mehlon, yeh takhton, yeh taajon ki duniya' inspires this moment. I try to imbibe that quality of his in my films, to translate poetry into cinematic moments. At that time this sort of conceptualisation was not done, Guru Dutt made that possible. As a director, he taught filmmakers how to write using the camera: Sudhir Mishra Sudhir Mishra's favourite films of Guru Dutt include Pyaasa, Kagaz Ke Phool, Chaudvin Ka Chand, and Baaz. Filmmaker Sudhir Mishra expressed his fondness for Guru Dutt film Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. "My grandmother could relate to Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam because my grandfather left her and remarried. So she took me along to watch the film each time it re-released. I must have been 12 or 13 years old and watched it at least 20 times. Abrar Alvi is credited as director, but it has the Guru Dutt stamp all over it. It's a personal film yet a historical epic, a story of trapped desires, sensuality, betrayal and human condition. Everytime I watch the film, I discover something new. Everything is so poetically expressed," he said. "Guru Dutt as a director taught us filmmakers how to write using the camera. Filmmaking is not just shooting a scene multiple times and going to the editor too, it's much beyond that," concluded Mishra. 'Nothing could have saved him, he did not want to be saved' Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman in a film still. Waheeda Rehman once reflected on Dutt's untimely death. She said that while God had given him everything, contentment was the one thing he was denied. 'He was never satisfied, and I think he knew he would never be satisfied – that life would remain for him nothing more than a chain of successes and failures,' she said. Waheeda was unsure whether his death was accidental or intentional, but she had a haunting feeling that 'nothing could have saved him, he did not want to be saved. ' Dutt died on October 10, 1964. 'In his death,' Waheeda said, 'the film industry has lost a great director, humanity has lost a man of compassion, and I have lost a great friend.' Guru Dutt's Timeless Tracks "In the 1950s, Guru Dutt pioneered a new language of cinema that gave film songs the artistic respect they deserved. From a small streak of light and heavy shadows to the movement as minute as that of an eyelid to the wide panning shot on the tracks, each frame was immaculate. Together with cinematographer VK Murthy, he elevated the songs in films to an art form, which became the signature of Guru Dutt's storytelling ," said Professor Milind Damle, FTII. He recently took a course on appreciating Guru Dutt's songs at Triveni Kala Sangam. Tadbeer se bigdi hui taqdeer bana de (Baazi) Waqt ne kiya, kya haseen sitam/ Tum rahe na tum, hum rahe na hum (Kaagaz Ke Phool) Jaane wo kaise log the jinke pyar ko pyar mila (Pyaasa) Jaane kahan mera jigar gaya ji (Mr & Mrs 55) Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaye toh (Pyaasa) A nationwide retrospective showcasing Dutt's timeless classics, meticulously restored in 4K by National Film Development Corporation Ltd. (NFDC) and National Film Archive of India (NFAI), will be screened at theatres from August 8 to 10. The centrepiece of this tribute is the premiere of the 4K restored version of Dutt's iconic film Pyaasa, to be held on August 6, commemorating the maestro's 100th birth anniversary. – Inputs from Shivika Manchanda, Soumitra Das, Roopa Radhakrishnan, Renuka Vyavahare and Natasha Coutinho
India.com
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India.com
This ‘haunted' bungalow ruined lives of 2 superstars, the actor suffered sleepless nights, his wife used to heart loud noises, later they…, the bungalow is now…, Not Rajesh Khanna
The film Industry is filled with many mysterious stories, whether they have a somber ending or no conclusion at all. Today, we are going to discuss one of the most famous stories from the Journal of Indian Cinema that not only devastated two lives but also created a huge impact on the industry. So, without any further ado, let's start. The Devastating Tragedy of Guru Dutt-Geeta Dutt Here we are talking about the veteran actor-director Guru Dutt who created the biggest impact on the film industry with his stellar masterpieces. But, those who know him by their hearts know what a devastating phase this legendary actor had especially when he was living in a Pali Hill Bungalow with his wife Geeta Dutt. In a book titled 'Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story' the author Yaseer Usman mentioned the tragic incident that completely changed Guru Dutt's life. The Mystery of the Pali Hill Bungalow Earlier, during the conversation with the author, Geeta Dutt's sister Lalita Lazmi stated that her sister felt that there was some kind of entity in their bungalow that lives on the tree and is continuously trying to ruin her happy marriage with Guru Dutt. She also stated that there was a statue of Lord Buddha in their drawing from which Geeta was also frightened all the time. After a while, she told to her husband and asked him to leave the bungalow as soon as possible and after knowing this Guru Dutt got devastated by knowing the fact that this house was one of the most ambitious and wonderful things that he had ever accomplished. The Fights & The End Of Guru Dutt's Dreamy Mansion In the book, the author further stated that due to Geeta's fear their marriage started falling apart. Geeta had an intuition that this bungalow was the sole reason for all the chaos in her life which later turned Guru Dutt's life into many sleepless nights. As per the book, whenever Guru Dutt went to his studio for the shoot schedule, he took some time off and took a little bit of sleep for a while in a small room. One day, when Geeta was sleeping in her bungalow she heard some noises from the outside that made her worried as they were breaking into their house. She then instantly telephoned Guru Dutt who was in his studio at that time he answered in a breaking voice and said to Geeta 'Please let them… I've asked them to break it off.' After this Guru Dutt's dreamy mansion was demolished and later subsequently redeveloped, becoming a building called 'Imperial Heights.'
