While working on his book Guru Dutt: Annefinished Story, I came to know such aspects of his life and his thoughts, which are very interesting and surprising like his films. The thing that caused me the most, was thirsty, filmmakers who made classical films like Pyaasa, Paper flower, Sahab Bibi and Ghulam heavy in personal life
He was struggling with a round of upheaval and delicate mental conditions. His era was extremely restless and his mind was unstable, but his creative talent was at the peak. One of his unique and most different specialty was a situation of curious tendency and indifference. His characteristics used to remain constant amidst magnificent successes, especially indifference. Amidst spectacular successes like Baji, Pyasa or Sahab Bibi and Ghulam, there were films which were shot to some extent by spending a lot of money, but later remained incomplete and left.
Gauri (Guru Dutt-Geeta Dutt), Raj (Sunil Dutt-Vaheida Rehman), Moti’s Mausi (Salim Khan-Tanuja), Kaneez (Guru Dutt-Simi Garewal), Picnic (Guru Dutt-Sadhana), Bengali film Ek Tuku Chhua (Vishwajit-Nanda) and some other such projects were victims of his deep restlessness and dhulmul mental system.
His complete films were also victims of indifference and expensive oversushooting. People close to Guru Dutt have said many times that they did not believe in shooting any film according to the script or shooting schedule. As he used to shape the film on the set, he was fond of ‘advancing’. Usually, he used to make major changes in screenplay and dialogues in the middle shooting. Abrar Alvi had said that Guru Dutt used to shoot films not in any particular order, but randomly and usually he could complete three films with the resources used in a film. Senior lyricist and filmmaker Amit Khanna, who worked together with Dev Anand, told me, “There were other people like Raj Kapoor, Ramesh Sippy and Manoj Kumar, who used to cancel some scenes by shooting, but Guru Dutt was made of some other mud.” He used to cancel films shot for months. He was always a victim of indecision or presented new conditions. ”
By the time Guru Dutt made thirsty, his indifference or new curiosities had increased manifold. He used to keep shooting continuously and in a particular scene, he was not completely determined about what he wanted or his thinking would change in the middle. He also took 104 teaks with himself for the famous climax scene of Pyaasa! He used to forget the dialogue again and again because he was a very long shot, but they wanted to do it perfectly. When something was not right, Guru Dutt used to scream and lose his temper. Before Pyaasa, he used to remove only one or two shots of the film instead of the entire scene. But thirsty and then the process of removing the scenes and re -shooting the scenes had increased considerably. People close to him also felt restless from this change. When his great work Pyaasa was released in 1957, everyone was shocked. She was like a revelation. Nobody had expected such a dense and serious film from Guru Dutt, which till then made romantic comedy and thriller films like Baji, A-Paar and Mr. and Mrs. 55. It is necessary to say that like a poetry-story, thirsty or flow seems to flow into a stream apart from the style of indifferent or irregular shooting of Guru Dutt. The film is equally strong and relevant today.
Encouraged by Pyaasa’s success, Guru Dutt started work on his extremely ambitious Hindi-Bengali project Gauri. The motive was to launch his wife Geeta like the lead actress and become the country’s first cinemaskop film. But after shooting the first schedule in Calcutta, the film was suddenly abandoned, causing more bitterness in his already delicate family relationship. The next film was half autobiography and half -fasting paper flower. Many colleagues and close friends have publicly stated that even during the shooting of the film, his thinking did not seem to be seen. The situation in the house was unstable and their mood would change completely. His indecision situation was at the peak. Dutt had also greatly extended the film’s time limit, shooting long scenes and left him due to uncertainty, which ruined a lot of money and resources.
He asked his Assistant Niranjan to direct the suspense thriller film Raj based on the novel The Woman in White by Wilki Collins. Waheeda Rehman was taken in a dual role (role of two sisters), while Sunil Dutt was signed in the lead role of a military doctor. In Raj’s poster, only Waheeda Rehman was shown, whose ‘fast ahead’ was written on the right corner. Raj’s shooting began in snow -covered Shimla. But soon Sunil Dutt got out of the film. They were very annoyed because they were not given any reason to remove. Then came the news that Guru Dutt will now play the lead role himself. The shooting resumed in Shimla and spent a lot of money on the schedule and set-up of the military hospital. Two songs are also composer R.D. Burman recorded, who was starting his innings as a musician with this film.
After returning to Bombay, Guru Dutt edited the scenes shot in Shimla, so he did not like it. So according to his style, he canceled it and despite spending so much time and money, the secret was abandoned. His close friend, actor Dev Anand said, “He always looked depressed and remained restless. He had a wonderful understanding of cinematic understanding and his lyarance, but he kept shooting continuously, and ruined a lot of footage. Those who felt right at one time, the second moment used to be doubted and new scenes were eager to shoot.
Screen writer Abrar Alvi wrote, “He was the hemlet of films … As soon as he felt that the film is not being done, he used to lose enthusiasm. After losing enthusiasm, the fear of any kind of advice or economic loss could not stop them from closing the project … hardly anyone cared for money. I have seen them looting millions of rupees, not for personal amenities, but for their art. How many artists were signed and paid for money, but they were never used, how many stories were purchased which never came on screen, how many films which were shot, have never been completed.
But there are also occasions when Guru Dutt used to make a complete solid and adamant decisions about someone. According to the author Bimal Mitra, on whose novel, Sahab Bibi and Ghulam (1962) were made, the reactions of the audience were mixed in the beginning, some scenes were disliked. The very sensitive Guru Dutt was sitting silently in the first show of Bombay’s Minerva Theater to know the very sensitive Guru Dutt. He noticed that some scenes were expressed displeasure, for example, the beautiful climax in which Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari) travels in a car while traveling in the lap of Bhootnath (Guru Dutt). People took it as a ‘relationship’ or ‘physical lust’ between the younger daughter -in -law and Bhootnath. There was also an objection to another scene when the small multiple demands the last drop of alcohol. Guru Dutt also felt that Afsana is weak with the last song ‘Sahil Kaar’.
Guru Dutt, the victim of Anishachi, directly Mughal-e-Azam director K.K. Asif came to seek advice. At that time Guru Dutt was playing the lead role in his next film Love and God. Asif’s advice was clear, lighten the atmosphere. He said, “Listen, finally say that the younger daughter -in -law has stopped drinking alcohol. Now that is fine. Everything is fine between husband and wife and they are always happy. ”
Guru Dutt came out of his house and immediately called his team. Abrar Alvi and Bimal Mitra were asked to write a new climax. Meena Kumari was requested to shoot for a day. He started writing a new scene, but the next evening the very restless Guru Dutt appeared. Now took concrete intention. He said, “No, Bimal Babu, I have thought a lot. I will not change the end of the film. “Everyone was shocked. Guru Dutt said, “I don’t care even if no one can watch my film, even if I lose millions. I don’t care But I will not change the climax. This film, its climax, cannot be really changed. This is a different kind of story. If people do not understand this, then this is their loss, not mine. Of. Whatever Asif says, I am also a filmmaker, I have my own mind and understanding. I will not change the end at any cost, never. ”
However, he finally decided to remove the scene, in which the younger daughter -in -law was holding her head in the lap of Bhootnath and at the same time the climax song. The dialogues between Chhoti Bahu and Bhootnath were placed in that car. The new scenes were put in every print running in theaters.
Guru Dutt could not sleep on the night before the reviews and reports were published in newspapers. He called close colleagues of the team in the morning. When they reached there, there was a pile of newspapers around them, English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi. Every newspaper. The Times of India wrote it ‘Classic on screen’. Light glow emerged in Dutt’s eyes. Then every member of the team started reading the other newspapers loudly. Guru Dutt was smiling, listening quietly. He praised director Abrar Alvi for making an excellent film. Everyone saw how happy Guru Dutt was that day. Appreciation was being received from all sides. Such recognition was always very important to him. Guru Dutt was such a unique creator.
(Yasir Usman Guru Dutt: Ain is the author of the book book)
