Guru Dutt, the man and the myth

Most of us, even those who have not lived in actor-filmmaker Guru Dutt’s time, swear by the artistry of his cinema. His cult following in the 21st century echoes the timeless appeal of his movies — packing a wealth of emotions with one glance, the sleight of the camera angle, play of light and those lilting, meaningful songs. The man and the myth have been explored in more than one book. In 2021, Yaseer Usman wrote ‘Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story’. In 2008, Sathya Saran recounted ‘Ten Years with Guru Dutt — Abrar Alvi’s Journey’, and made readers privy to his romance with cinema through the eyes of his writer and director Alvi.

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As we approach Guru Dutt’s birth centenary in 2025, one would have expected an in-depth tome and a diary on one of the finest auteurs of Hindi cinema to be a superficial exercise. But the endeavour conceived by Nasreen Munni Kabir, noted producer, director and author who has even made a documentary on him, is surprisingly insightful and delightful. For starters, we learn that he was named Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone, which was changed not because of any starry compulsions but on the advice of a healer when he fell sick. An astrologer had even made a prophecy and told his mother Vasanthi Padukone that she would give birth to a very famous son. Did fame extract its price on the man whose portrayal of melancholia is remembered till date as an epitome of sensitivity and beauty? No one has the answer to why he took his own life. He was 39 at the time. However, much has been said about his unique cinematic grammar. The backflap might read that ‘the idea is not to examine Guru Dutt’s cinematic legacy’, but the diary provides more than a sneak peek into his art and its pursuit.

Culled mostly out of interviews given to Nasreen, a multitude of voices — from Dutt’s associates such as Dev Anand, actor and producer of his first film ‘Baazi’, to his family members, including cousin Shyam Benegal — reflect on the man and the filmmaker. Shyama, his actress in ‘Aar Paar’, tells us that he was an actor’s director, enacting every scene and mannerisms for the actor. Johnny Walker, a must in most of his films, had a different point of view. Walker would often improvise, change dialogues and his director always applauded. Dutt, however, was not an easy man to please. Once, during the making of a film, he changed directors twice, only to shelve the project. Interestingly, the same story, ‘Raaz’, later became the superhit ‘Woh Kaun Thi’, helmed by his assistant director Raj Khosla.

Undeniably, Nasreen has chosen well and what we get are not simply laudatory notes. Friends and family are not just fawning over him, but also pointing out his foibles, his mercurial temperament, his stubborn nature, the whimsical streak. Rather, as Nasreen focuses on anecdotes, she does a remarkable job of bringing out his many facets. He was an introvert, most certainly a perfectionist and, above all, a pioneer.

VK Murthy, his cinematographer, recalls how he was the first to use the establishing shot, long focal length lens, the 75 mm and 100 mm. No wonder filmmakers would tell him to ‘shoot in Guru Dutt’s style’! Certain facts, for instance how Dilip Kumar was initially signed for ‘Pyaasa’, are already known. Only, Nasreen reimagines the very moment when Dutt decided to be the protagonist. Otherwise, the handsome man was not very fond of acting.

The diary, unfurling like vignettes from his life, throws enough light on his enigmatic persona. As it incorporates an article, ‘Classics and Cash’, written by Dutt himself, one is struck by how well read he was. His opinions on various aspects of filmmaking ring true even today. Take the one on how our yardstick for applauding a genius is dictated by international laurels. Why movies should be made on lesser budgets is a lesson contemporary makers could pay heed to. At more than one point, it’s emphasised how he did not care much for money and never sacrificed his art at the altar of mammon. Even when his ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ flopped, he was more concerned about why it did not strike a chord with the audiences. How was the man who died by suicide to know that one day it would inspire not only cinephiles, but even artists like Atul Dodiya. With the inclusion of Dodiya’s painting ‘Paper Flowers’, the diary becomes richer in content and visual appeal, both counts on which his films anyway stood out.

A brief account of Guru Dutt’s films, stills and some rare family pictures all go on to make it not just another diary, but almost a collectors’ item. Your reasons to browse through it can be very many, as also to know how brevity can become the soul of an offbeat exercise. Oscar Wilde said, ‘Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.’ This diary jots down memories of the significant others in Guru Dutt’s life.