Women Were Ready To Do Anything For Guru Dutt

Producer and brother Devi Dutt debunks the conjecture that Guru Dutt committed suicide. He decodes the late filmmaker’s ‘death wish’ in conversation with Farhana Farook

- Farhana Farook

An incomplete story is always fascinating. That’s why Guru Dutt, more than five decades after his demise, continues to intrigue. Because his was a story of unrequited dreams, unresolved relationships, unrealised ambitions and… an unwarranted death.

That’s why perhaps, the reason for his unnatural death at 39 continues to invite speculation. As a filmmaker, his achievement remains blending commercial success with creative aspirations, movies like C.I.D., Baazi, Pyaasa,Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam being a few examples. Even Kaagaz Ke Phool, which then crashed, is now regarded as a cult classic. The close-up shots with a 100 mm lens in his films, which became known as the ‘Guru Dutt shot’, the masterful play with light and even his melancholia soaked frames, still enthrall cineastes. But as a person, he lived on the edge. The genesis could be traced to his troubled childhood, a reckless adolescence and an inherent excess in the personality that dented his personal and professional identity. Guru Dutt, who could only live life in the extreme, once said, “What’s life about, friend? It’s only about two things success and failure. There’s nothing in between.” Much like the stark shadows and light that his films were so famous for… Here, younger brother/producer Devi Dutt, who was an integral part of Guru Dutt Movies Pvt. Ltd, shares memories of a loving brother, a talented filmmaker but a tempestuous person who vacillated between hope and despair…

EARLY MEMORIES