india's orson welles

jaane woh kaise log dhe jinke /
wonder what were those people
pyaar ko pyaar mila /
who got love in return for love
humnein jab kaliyaan maange /
when i had asked for a garden
kaanton ka haar mila /
i got a garland of thorns instead
- pyaasa / thirsty (1957)

when in hyderabad at the start of the century, i used to frequently buy filmfare mag. i first read about guru dutt when filmfare came out with a hard-bound '100 greatest stars of all time'. nasreen munni kabir's 'guru dutt: a life in cinema' was published in 1997 and considered to be a in-depth work. i bought the book and read it. then came the guru dutt film festival - a 7 day festival showcasing his best. i bought a 'season' ticket of 200 rs. and went with my fellow-animator kiran to watch the movies in the evenings. i couldnt see all, but made it to watch his best three - pyaasa (1957), kaagaz ke phool (1959) and sahib, bibi aur ghulam (1962). i was stung. the b/w song picturisations, the characters and the flow of the narrative were stunning. he was indeed, one of the greatest indian film-makers who ushered in an artistic narrative yet not too arty, but accessable to the common man. he made brillaint lyrical and artistical films within the context of the masala hindi cinema of the 50's. several of his works have a cult following with his movies going full house when re-released in germany, france and japan. pyaasa and kaagaz ke phool are included among the greatest films of all time by 'time' magazine and by the critics of 'sight and sound'. critics poll have included him in the list of greatest film-makers of all time.

vasanth kumar shivashankar padukone was born on july 9, 1925 in a chitrapur saraswats in a village in south kanara district of the kingdom of mysore (present-day karnataka). his father was a headmaster and then a bank employee while his mother was a teacher who also wrote short stories and translated bengali literature to kannada. strained relationship with his parents, financial difficulties, hostility from maternal families, the insanity of a maternal uncle and the death of his 7-month old brother - all gave him a tough childhood. a childhood accident led to him being renamed as guru shivashankar padukone dutt. he spent a lot of time with his mother's cousin who painted cinema posters. one of the paintings was that of a snake-dancer which greatly influenced guru and he produced many inspired movements and persuaded his uncle to paint them. he won a cash prize of rs. 5 when he performed the snake-dance at a function. when his grandmother used to perform arathi, he would use his fingers to make shapes on the wall with the diya. when his father joined the burmah shell company, the family moved to calcutta where guru finished his schooling. though he was a good student, financial troubles didnt allow him to join college. the bengali tradition and culture greatly influenced guru. instead of joining college, at the age of 16, he joined the uday shankar india cultural center at almora where, under a scholarship of rs. 75 annually, he studied dance, drama and music for 5 years, till 1944 when the center had to be closed because of the advancing ww2. when he moved to bombay, he dropped the middle names to be known as guru dutt.

guru got a job as telephone operator at lever brothers factory in calcutta. disinterested with the job, he left it and joined his parents in bombay. his uncle got him a 3-year contract job at prabhat film company in pune, where he gained the friendship of dev anand and rehman. in 1944, he made a cameo as sri krishna for chand. the next year, he acted and was assistant director for lakhrani. the next year he worked as assistant director and choregraphed the dances for hum ek hain. when his contract came to an end, he joined as freelance assistant with baburao pai, the ceo of prabhat, but was unemployed for nearly 10 months during which he developed his flair for english and wrote short stories for 'the illustrated weekly of india'. during this stage of unemployment, he wrote an autobiographical script called 'kashmakash' (the struggle). prabhat hired him as choreographer but he also worked as an actor and assistant director. he regained his friendship with dev anand and rehman. guru and dev promised each other that, if guru were to become a film-maker, he would cast dev as hero and if dev were to produce a film, he would hand over the direction to guru. when prabhat closed down in 1947, guru shifted to bombay and assisted leading directors like amiya chakravarthy and gyan mukherjee.

baazi (1951):
after the first film under his production house 'navketan' failed, dev anand fulfilled his part of the promise by offering guru the chance to direct 'baazi' (the wager). the movie was a crime thriller like the 1940's hollywood movies which had a morally ambigious hero. the movie starred dev anand, geeta bali, kalpana kirtik, k.n. singh and johnny walker. the music was by s.d. burman. the film introduced the 'guru dutt shot' which are close-ups used either with a 75mm or a 100mm lens. the film had 14 such shots. the film also used songs to further the narrative of the plot. the film was a huge success.

jaal (1952):
guru's second directorial was 'jaal' (the net) with dev anand, geeta bali, k.n. singh and johnny walker. the music was by s.d. burman and cinematography by v.k. murthy. set in the goan fishing villages, the film told the love story of a good-for-nothing man from the city and an innocent village girl. the film had the christian messages of love and forgiveness and also had a strong religious fervour, both of which were missing in later guru films. the songs were a huge hit and the film had an average run. creative differences between guru and dev's elder brother, film-maker chetan anand made future colloborations impossible.

the 'guru dutt crew' had been formed. it consisted of the directors guru and raj khosla; the writer abrar alvi; the cinematographer v.k. murthy; the lyricists sahir ludhianvi and kaifi azmi; musician s.d. burman and singers mohammed rafi and geeta bali. guru also encouraged the actor rehman and the comedian johnny walker.

baaz (1953):
the third was 'baaz' (the hawk) set in the 16th century and told about a young woman who rose in defiance against the portugease with the help of an indian prince. the film was an action adventure abroad a ship and had the guru dutt team. since guru couldnt find any actor to play the lead, he starred as the hero. the film didnt make much money. the movie was the first production under the 'guru dutt movies pvt. ltd.' (gdmpl)

aar paar (1954):
the fourth was a light-hearted movie 'aar paar' (both sides)which starred guru, shyama, shakila and johnny walker. the lyrics were by majrooh sultanpuri and music by o.p. nayyar. the plot was the love story of a convict who gets job at a garage, falls in love with the owner's daughter, gets fired and is mistakenly hired as the driver of a gangster. the movie had stylish dialogue, great songs and pace. the film was produced by gdmpl and was a huge success.

mr. and mrs. 55 (1955):
the fifth was a socially-critical romantic comedy starring guru, madhubala, lalita pawar and johnny walker. it had lyrics by majrooh sultanpuri and music by o.p. nayyar. it told the story of a struggling cartoonist who gets into a sham marriage with a young socialite as planned by her feminist aunt who wants the couple to divorce at the earliest, but the pair starts to realise their feelings. the cartoons in the movie were drawn by r.k. laxman.the film was produced by gdmpl and was a huge success.

the fourth movie under gdmpl was the 1956 crime thriller 'c.i.d'. the movie starred dev anand, shakila, johnny walker and waheeda rehman. guru had produced the movie but it was directed by raj khosla. as per their promise, guru should have directed it but it didnt happen. guru had spotted waheeda in a telugu movie and gave her a supporting role as a vamp in 'c.i.d' to prepare her for later movies. the film had choreography done by zohra sehgal, costumes by bhanumati (who later came to be known as bhanu athaiya and won an oscar award for her work in the 1982 richard attenborough directed 'gandhi'), lyrics by majrooh sultanpuri and jaan nissar akhtar with music by o.p. nayyar.

sailaab (1956):
this was guru's sixth directorial and it starred abhi bhattacharya and geeta bali. it was produced by guru's brother-in-law mukul roy. the plot was that of an amnesic patient who falls in love but later cannot recognise his lover when he regains his memory following a shock accident. finally the lovers meet. the film had some good songs with music by mukul roy, but the film was a huge disaster.

pyaasa (1957):
'pyaasa' (thirsty) was actually 'kashmakash' the script guru had written during his stage of unemployment. the movie was a product of the 'guru dutt crew'. it was dedicated to his guru, gyan mukherjee. it starred guru, mala sinha, rehman, johnny walker and waheeda rehman in her first leading role. the story was that of an unsuccessful poet who is not recognised by society or his family. a prostitute gets hold of some of his poems. when the poet is mistaken to be dead, the prostitute gets the poems published in the name of the dead poet and they are critically acclaimed. the living poet tries in vain to prove his identity but gets admitted in a mental asylum by the publisher of his poems, who also happens to be the husband of his college sweetheart. he escapes from the asylum to arrive at a memorial being conducted in his name. at the memorial he denounces the corrupt, materialistic world. when his brothers decide to prove his identity for monetary benefits, the poet himself rejects his individuality and walks off with the prostitute to start a new life. the film had some of the best works of sahir ludhianvi, s.d. burman, geeta dutt and mohd. rafi. guru wanted dilip kumar to play the poet, but when the 'tragedy king' declined the offer, the director donned the role. guru's close associates had predicted a failure but, after a slow opening, the movie became a major commercial success. the film has a cult following in france and germany. it was a huge commercial success during its 1984 french premiere. the movie is a regular at international film festivals. in 2002, 'sight & sound' critics listed the film in their list of all-time greatest films. in 2004, they considered the soundtrack of the movie to be 'the best music in film'. in 2005, time magazine had this film in its list of the 100 all-time best films. the readers of time mag listed the movie in top 10 movies of all time.

kaagaz ke phool (1959):
motivated by the success of 'pyaasa' guru decided on another socially challenging movie. guru's eighth and last directorial was 'kaagaz ke phool' (paper flowers). it starred guru, waheeda rehman, johnny walker and mahmood. it was a product of the 'guru dutt crew'. the film told the story of a film director who is facing a rocky marriage and is not allowed to meet his daughter since film-making is considered a job lacking social dignity. he introduces a new actress who becomes an acclaimed star and the relation between them fill the gossip pages. upon th daughter's plea, the actress leaves the film world to teach at a school. the separation causes the destruction of the once-respected director who finally dies a lonely, forgotten death at old age in the director's chair of a film studio closed for lunch break. it was the first indian film to be made in 75mm cinemascope. the song 'waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam' and its picturisation are still unmatched today. the theme and execution of the film was ahead of the indian audience who were used to simple plots. the president of india, dr. rajendra prased, who had been invited as special guest walked out deeply offended by the movie. audiences at delhi cinema halls threw stones and damaged the screens. the film became a disaster. many claim that the film is autobiogrpahical, owing to the strained relation guru was having with his wife and the alleged love affair with his find, waheeda rehman. it is also said that the plot was based on the life of gyan mukherjee, the eminent director whom guru had assisted. gyan had tasted success in 'qismet' in 1941 but his later failures made him an introvert. the songs 'waqt ne kiya' by geeta dutt anf 'dekhi hai zamaana ki yaari' by mohd. rafi are classic gems of indian cinema. the failure of the movie affected guru so much that, he stopped direction. he had spend a great deal of passion and the failure made him believe that his name as director didnt attract benefits. the 1984 re-release in france and japan made it a commercial hit. from the 1980's the film enjoyed cult followings in europe and asia. in 2002, 'sight & sound' critics listed this film in their list of all-time greatest film.

chaudhvin ka chand (1960):
the movie was about lucknow at the start of the century. the team worked hard on the details. it was directed by mohammed sadiq and starred guru, rehman, waheeda and johnny walker. the plot was of two friends caught in a love triangle with the same woman. by the time the shoot was nearly complete, color cinema was just filtering in india. guru wanted to re-shoot the entire movie in color, however his financiers and distributors didnt allow him. however, guru compromised with them and had the memorable title song in color. the lyrics were by shakeel badayuni and music by ravi. the movie was the biggest hit of guru dutt's career. the team was sure that the movie would succeed but the magnitude was beyond reason. the film saved gdmpl from bankruptcy.though not directed by guru, the movie does have his signature styles.

sahib, bibi aur ghulam (1962):

this is the third movie for which guru dutt will always be remembered for. it was directed and written by abrar alvi; and produced by gdmpl. it was based on a book by bimal mitra exploring the tragic fall of havelis in bengal during the british raj. the plot is about a lower-class uneducated youngster who arrives in bengal to work at the mohini sindoor factory which is next to the grand haveli of the choudhary's. contrary to his belief, the life inside the haveli is all in shambles. the choudhary brothers engage in a decadent lifestyle. it is when the choti bahu (youngest daughter-in-law) asks him for the mohini sindoor to keep her husband at home, that he realises the strained relationship. the youngster becomes a trainee architect and leaves the factory. the choti bahu resorts to drinking in order to keep her husband at home by providing him company. the architect comes back years later to find that he had been betrothed as a youngster to the daughter of the factory owner. he finds out that the choti bahu is a hopeless alcoholic and her husband has become paralyzed. when she goes out to the temple with the architect to pray for her husband's health, the other zamindars punish her for consorting with someone outisde the household. the shame forces the choti bahu tl leave the haveli. years later, the middle-aged architect arrives at the broken-down haveli and during excavation finds the remains of the choti bahu. the movie starred meena kumari, guru, rehman and waheeda. the lyrics were by shakeel badayuni and music by hemant kumar. the performance by meena kumari as the choti bahu is one of the finest in indian cinema. the film was a critical and commercial success. it was nominated for the 'golden bear' at the berlin international film festival and was chosen as india's official entry to the oscars. there has always been a debate as to the director of the movie. since the film is characteristic of guru, it is impossible to think of abrar as the director. guru never made any claims when abrar won awards for the best director.

in between, guru had acted in the movies, suhagan (1954), 12 o'clock (1958), sautela bhai (1962). after 'sahib,bibi aur ghulam', he acted in movies like bharosa (1963), sanjh aur savera (1964), just to keep his production house running so that he could work on projects of his choice.

on october 10, 1964, at the age of 39, guru dutt was found dead in his rented apartment. the death was supposedly because of the lethal combination of excessive alcohol and sleeping pills. if it was a suicide attempt, it should have been his third attempt. at the time of his death, he was acting in two projects (picnic, love and god) and was having talks about his upcoming film 'baharein phir bhi aayenge'. he also had talks with raj kapoor on making color films. though there were instances earlier in life that could have driven him to suicide (which he actually did twice), at the time of his death, he was in full creative swing. he had been talking the night before with abrar alvi, who later recalled that guru was tense but was also excited about his upcoming ventures. incidentally, abrar alvi was one of the very few persons who seemed to believe that it was not a suicide attempt.

in 1953, guru had married the well-known playback singer geeta roy overcoming oppositions from both families. although guru was a strict disciplinarian in his works, his personal life was totally undisciplined. he smoked heavily, dranked heavily, ate at odd times and slept only 3-4 hours. his relation with his protege waheeda rehman created problems in his family life. at the time of his death, guru was separated from his wife geeta dutt and waheeda had distanced herself from him not to wreck his marriage. he had three children, tarun, arun and nina.

upon his death, the mourning was first for that of a movie star. as years passed, it became clearer that it was the director in him that should be remembered. from 1973, film festivals in his name are being shown every year in different parts of the world, especially in europe. along-wih satyajit ray, he was considered around the world as an intelligent film-maker. his song picturisations and vivid characters are still etched in the minds of his followers, of which i am one. contrary to the image, all of his movies were money-makers except for the 1969 'kaagaz ke phool' which is now a cult classic, a film much ahead of its times. the movie is part of cinema study in many international universities.

'dekho na, mujhe director banna tha, director ban gaya; actor banna tha, actor ban gya; picture achcha bananna tha, achche banaya. paisa hai, sab kuch hai, par kuch nahi raha'

- see, i wanted to be a director, i became one; wanted to be an actor, i became one; wanted to make good pictures, i have done that too. i have money, i have everyhting but i have nothing left.

these were guru's words which clearly showed the angst inside him.

booze in gandhi-land

though i was never a supporter of gandhiji or his teachings, i did visit his home-town porbander, when i had been to gujarat for the wedding of a friend of mine. i had reached two days in advance, and so, went round the place with another frined of ours.

my friend - the bridegroom, was from a huge guju joint-family that dabbled in well...almost everything. they had their hands in the manufacture of pump-sets to shell-caps for the para-military forces. he was a regular at our weekly booze nights in banjara hills, hyderabad. a peculiar thing about his habit was that he used to become deeply emotional after each peg of his favourite rum, old monks. he starts to cry on becoming tipsy (or tully). i have experienced laziness when a pint of beer makes me ballooned up in the bladders, so much that, i am forced to go for a pee. in this guy's case, he used to cry out the rum and soda. he used to bawl about his failed relations and how he would never be able to run the family business efficiently because of his waywardness. but he was a person who played for the gallery (like sehwag) rather than making records for himself (like tendulkar he he). he used to spend proficiently for his friends. he had a nice vocabulary about the drinks and its various mixes.

so, when i was invited for his wedding, i expected nothing short of champagne and caviar. from cochin, i boarded the train for ahmedabad. the journey was nice. it was when i landed at the railway station that i learned, rather shocked to learn that, gujarat is a state where 'prohibition' is in. prohibition is the state policy of legal ban on alcoholic products, owing to being the birth-state of the father of the nation, gandhiji. but it was at the bachelor party that i howled in relief when i realised that the law was a joke.

kerala, along-with punjab held the record sales for selling liquor. in cochin, i had to arrive at the supplies by 7 in the evening, stand in a long queue and the bottles would be handed over in black polythene bags by 9. a good 2 hours would be spend reading the labels and planning out good mixtures inside the head. i had to hold the bottles safely in the pillion seat while the two-wheeler would speed past the streets to avoid being noticed by anyone. ironically, in the alcohol-prohibited state of gujarat, i just had to sit at home and...abracadabra... the bottle is in front of me. the supply chain is well organised and the neighbourhood bootlegger supplies the request at home. nobody drinks publicly but huge parties serving quality brands are organised behind the doors. the policemen look the other way because a large part of their income is from this business. on the weekends there is massive traffic on the roads to neighbouring mount abu, diu and daman. being out of gujarat, revellers can drink openly strewing the roads with empty bottles and generally making a nuisance of themselves. by keeping up the farce of prohibition, gujarat loses in annual revenues an estimated 2,500 crore or more that could have been charged by way of excise duty, but the state government cannot gather courage to do away totally with prohibition.

gandhiji believed that free flow of liquor encourages the poor and others to drink excessively resulting in the sapping of their health, making them incapable of working; they end up neglecting their families. but the point to note is that it is the poor who are affected the most by prohibition. the gandhians of gujarat think that the streets of gujarat are immune from the sort of crime seen in other places because of prohibition. lifting prohibition will be akin to opening the gates of a dam, they argue.

the recent hooch tragedy didnt shock me. over 130 people died in ahmedabad after consuming illicit hooch. most of the people who have died are poor and according to reports, over 80 per cent of them are dalits or gandhiji's so-called harijans. incidentally the epicentre of the tragedy is in chief minister narendra modi’s very own maninagar area of ahmedabad.

why is narendra modi unable to muster the courage to lift this farce of a law that has been part of state policy in gandhi-land for the last 50 years. he does not lift prohibition not because he is in awe of gandhian thinking or any care for the people as projected in his public stunts. his reluctance stems from the fact that he lacks boldness and vision which is....contrary to his general image.