Guru Dutt's tragic affair with life, and Bollywood

Hindustan Times

12-07-2025

In the Hindi film world, Deepika is not the only famous Padukone. Many decades earlier there was another Padukone, arguably far more iconic. His name was Gurudutta Padukone, known to the world as Guru Dutt. July 9 marked his 100th birth anniversary.
Starting life as a telephone operator, Guru Dutt achieved, even before he was 30, unprecedented success in Hindi cinema. Making his directorial debut with the hit film Baazi in 1951 starring Dev Anand, he acted in/directed or produced four blockbusters between 1954 and 1956 — Aar Paar (1954), Mr & Mrs 1955 (1995), and CID and Sailaab in 1956. In 1960, he played the lead role in the unforgettable commercial hit, Chaudhvin ka Chand.
But apart from these successes, Guru Dutt will always be remembered for three of his films, Pyaasa (1957), Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959), and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962). In an era where most films were mythological dramas, the usual song and dance routines, or tales of simplistic morality, Dutt had the courage to create these celluloid indictments of a society that rewards mediocrity, punishes idealism, and fears introspection.
To understand Guru Dutt's genius, one must first understand Pyaasa, arguably his magnum opus. At its heart is Vijay, a penniless poet in a materialistic world, whose verses, suffused with anguish and truth, find no takers. In crafting Vijay, Dutt gave us a character who was as much a reflection of his own inner torment as he was a symbol of the artist in any era — ignored, misunderstood, and ultimately commodified. Dutt employed Sahir Ludhianvi's searing poetry — Jinhe naaz hai Hind par woh kahan hain? — to strip away the false pieties of a newly independent nation that had begun to forget its promises.
Pyaasa will be remembered too for the role of Gulabo, the courtesan played by Waheeda Rehman, who becomes the sole repository of compassion in a cruel world. Dutt subverts societal norms by investing dignity in the most marginalised. That, in essence, was his moral vision: the courage to see worth where others saw waste. In its stunning compositions, Dutt introduced a visual grammar rarely seen in Indian cinema at that time — deep shadows, noir-inspired frames, long tracking shots that mirrored the protagonist's emotional descent. In short, he turned cinema into poetry.
If Pyaasa — which was listed in the top 100 films ever by Time magazine — was Guru Dutt's lament for a callous society, Kaagaz Ke Phool was his bitter elegy to fame, failure, and the crushing loneliness of the creative spirit. Rarely has any filmmaker so nakedly exposed his inner disillusionment on screen. The film is an autobiographical confessional, cloaked in fictional narrative. Ironically, while regarded now as a cult classic, it was a commercial disaster.
The film's protagonist, Suresh Sinha, is a celebrated film director who falls from grace, destroyed by a society that first deifies and then discards him. It is a scathing commentary on the fickle nature of fame, on the voyeurism of a public that consumes the artist but offers him no solace. That iconic shot of light streaming through the studio roof onto a forlorn Sinha remains one of the most powerful visual metaphors in Indian film history.
In Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Guru Dutt turned his gaze towards the declining feudal order and, in doing so, offered one of Indian cinema's most nuanced portrayals of female suffering and resilience. While the film was directed by Abrar Alvi, its visual style, thematic undertones, and emotional palette bear the unmistakable stamp of Dutt.
Meena Kumari's haunting performance as Chhoti Bahu, the lonely wife who turns to alcohol to win her husband's love, is arguably the most tragic character in Dutt's oeuvre.
Guru Dutt's personal life was tormented. He drank and smoked excessively. His marriage to singer-artist Geeta Dutt was a failure. His rumoured infatuation with Waheeda Rehman also led nowhere. On October 10, 1964, at the age of 39, he was found dead, possibly due to an accidental overdose of alcohol and sleeping pills, but more likely suicide, which he had attempted twice before.
What sets Guru Dutt apart is his profound aesthetic solitude. He did not pander. He did not flatter. He did not conform. In today's age of algorithm-driven content, he insisted that art must have soul.
Pavan K Varma is author, diplomat, and former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha). The views expressed are personal.