Indian film director, producer, choreographer and actor
Guru Dutt
|
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Dutt in 1960
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Born
| Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone
(
1925-07-09
)
9 July 1925
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Died
| 10 October 1964
(1964-10-10)
(aged 39)
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Occupations
| - Actor
- film producer
- film director
- choreographer
|
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Years active
| 1946?1964
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Spouse
|
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Children
| 3
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Relatives
| |
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Guru Dutt
(born
Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone
; 9 July 1925 ? 10 October 1964) was an Indian film
actor
,
director
,
producer
,
choreographer
, and
writer
.
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
He is regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema.
[5]
[6]
Dutt was lauded for his artistry, notably his usage of
close-up shots
, lighting, and depictions of
melancholia
.
[7]
He directed a total of 8
Hindi films
, several of which have gained a
cult following
internationally.
[8]
This includes
Pyaasa
(1957), which made its way onto
Time
magazine's 100 Greatest Movies
list,
[9]
as well as
Kaagaz Ke Phool
(1959),
Chaudhvin Ka Chand
(1960), and
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
(1962), all of which are frequently listed among the greatest films in Hindi cinema.
[10]
[9]
[11]
[12]
He was included among
CNN
's "Top 25 Asian Actors" in 2012.
[13]
Early life
[
edit
]
Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone was born on 9 July 1925, in
Padukone
in the present-day state of
Karnataka
in
India
into a
Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin
family. His name was changed to
Gurudatta Padukone
following a childhood accident, the belief being that it was an auspicious choice.
[14]
His father, Shivashanker Rao Padukone, was a
headmaster
and a
banker
; his mother was Vasanthi, a teacher and writer.
[7]
Both parents were originally settled in
Karwar
but relocated. Dutt spent his early childhood in
Bhowanipore
,
Kolkata
, and spoke fluent
Bengali
.
[15]
He had one younger sister?
Lalita Lajmi
, who is an Indian painter?and 3 younger brothers,
Atma Ram
(a director), Devi (a producer), and Vijay.
[4]
[7]
Likewise, his niece
Kalpana Lajmi
was also a well known
Indian
film director
,
producer
and
screenwriter
. His
second cousin
Shyam Benegal
is a director and screenwriter.
[4]
He is also a
second cousin twice removed
of
Amrita Rao
, whose grandfather and Dutt were
second cousins
.
[16]
Career
[
edit
]
Early career
[
edit
]
Beginning in 1942, he studied at
Uday Shankar
's School of Dancing and Choreography in
Almora
,
[4]
: 93
but was taken out in 1944 after getting involved with the company's leading lady.
[7]
From there, gaining employment at a
telephone operator
at a
Lever Brothers
factory in Calcutta (now
Kolkata
),
[4]
: 93
Dutt wired home to say he had got the job. However, soon after, he was disenchanted by the job and left it.
[17]
Dutt briefly returned to his parents in
Bombay
before his uncle found him a job under a 3-year contract with the
Prabhat Film Company
in
Pune
later that year. This once-leading production company had already seen the departure of its best talent,
V. Shantaram
, who had by then launched his own production company called
Rajkamal Kalamandir
.
[
citation needed
]
It was at Prabhat that Dutt met two people who would remain his lifelong good friends?actors
Rehman
and
Dev Anand
, the latter of whom would later go on to produce Dutt's directorial debut.
[4]
In 1945, Dutt made his acting debut in
Vishram Bedekar
's
Lakhrani
(1945), as Lachman, a minor role.
[4]
: 303
In 1946, he worked as an assistant director and choreographed dances for P. L. Santoshi's film,
Hum Ek Hain
, in which Dev Anand made his acting debut.
[4]
: 306
[16]
While his contract with Prabhat ended in 1947, Dutt's mother got him a job as a freelance assistant with the company's CEO, Baburao Pai. Dutt once again lost his job after getting involved with the assistant dancer, Vidya, whom he
eloped
with as she already had a fiance. (The Vidya's fiance threatened police action, after which, the matter was resolved.)
[7]
From there, Dutt was unemployed for almost 10 months and stayed with his family at
Matunga
in Bombay. During this time, Dutt developed a flair for writing in English and wrote short stories for
The Illustrated Weekly of India
, a local weekly English language magazine.
[
citation needed
]
Breakthrough
[
edit
]
After his time with Prabhat failed in 1947, Dutt moved to Bombay, where he worked with two leading directors of the time:
Amiya Chakravarty
in
Girls' School
(1949); and
Gyan Mukherjee
in the
Bombay Talkies
film
Sangram
(1950).
[4]
[7]
Around this time,
Dev Anand
offered Dutt a job as a director in his new company,
Navketan
. Back in their time at Prabhat while both still new to the industry, Anand and Dutt reached an agreement that if Dutt were to become a filmmaker, he would hire Anand as his hero, and if Anand were to produce a film, he would use Dutt as its director. Keeping that promise, the duo made two super-hit films together in a row.
First, Anand hired Dutt for
Baazi
(1951), starring Anand himself and marking Dutt's directorial debut.
[4]
[16]
[7]
With its
morally ambiguous
hero, the transgressing siren, and shadow lighting, the film was a tribute to the 1940s
film noir
genre of Hollywood, and defined the noir genre for the following decade in Bollywood.
[18]
[4]
Baazi
, which was an immediate success, was followed by
Jaal
(1952), also directed by Dutt and starring Anand, and was again successful at the box office.
[4]
Dutt went on to cast Anand in
C.I.D.
(1956).
[4]
After Dutt's death, Anand said that "He was a young man, he should not have made depressing pictures."
[19]
Creative differences between Dutt, and
Chetan Anand
(Anand's elder brother), who was also a director, made future collaborations difficult.
[
citation needed
]
For his next project, Dutt directed and starred in
Baaz
(1953). Though the film did not perform very well at the box office, it brought together what would be known as the
Guru Dutt team
, who performed well in subsequent films.
[7]
The team included various filmmakers discovered and mentored by Dutt, including:
Johnny Walker
(actor-comedian),
V.K. Murthy
(cinematographer),
Abrar Alvi
(writer-director),
Raj Khosla
(writer),
Waheeda Rehman
(actress), among others.
Dutt's next films, however, were blockbusters:
Aar Paar
in 1954;
Mr. & Mrs. '55
in 1955;
C.I.D.
then
Sailaab
in 1956; and
Pyaasa
in 1957. Dutt played the lead role in three of these five films.
In 1959 came the release of Dutt's
Kaagaz Ke Phool
, the first Indian film produced in
CinemaScope
.
[4]
Despite the innovation,
Kaagaz
?about a famous director (played by Dutt) who falls in love with an actress (played by Waheeda Rehman, Dutt's real-life love interest)?was an intense disappointment at the box office.
[4]
All subsequent films from his studio were, thereafter, officially headed by other directors, since Dutt felt that his name was
anathema
to the box office. It would be the only film produced by Dutt that was considered a box office disaster, for which Dutt lost over Rs. 17 crore, a large amount by the standards of that time.
[9]
Later films
[
edit
]
In 1960, Dutt's team released
Chaudhvin Ka Chand
, directed by
M. Sadiq
and starring Dutt alongside Waheeda Rehman and Rehman. The film was a box-office smash hit, and more than recovered Dutt's losses from
Kaagaz
. The film's title track, "Chaudhvin Ka Chand Ho", is in a special colour sequence and is the only time one can see Guru Dutt in colour.
[20]
In 1962, his team released
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
, a critically successful film which was directed by Dutt's protege, Abrar Alvi, who won the
Filmfare Best Director Award
for the film. The film starred Dutt and
Meena Kumari
, along with Rehman and Waheeda Rehman in supporting roles.
[21]
In 1964, Dutt acted opposite Meena Kumari in his last film,
Sanjh Aur Savera
, directed by
Hrishikesh Mukherjee
. After his death in October 1964, he left several films incomplete. He was cast as the lead in
K Asif
's film
Love and God
but was replaced by
Sanjeev Kumar
when the film was revived years later. He was also working opposite
Sadhana
in
Picnic
which was left incomplete and shelved. He was set to produce and star in
Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi
but was replaced as the lead by
Dharmendra
and the film released in 1966 as his team's last production.
[22]
Personal life
[
edit
]
In 1953, Dutt married Geeta Roy Chowdhuri (later,
Geeta Dutt
), a well-known playback singer whom he met during the making of
Baazi
(1951).
[7]
The couple had been engaged for three years, overcoming a great deal of family opposition in order to marry. After marriage, in 1956, they moved to a bungalow in
Pali Hill, Mumbai
. They eventually had three children, Tarun, Arun, and Nina;
[7]
after the death of Guru and Geeta, the children grew up in the homes of Guru's brother
Atma Ram
and Geeta's brother Mukul Roy.
[23]
[24]
Dutt had an unhappy marital life. According to Atma Ram, he was "a strict
disciplinarian
as far as work was concerned, but totally undisciplined in his personal life."
[25]
He smoked and drank heavily and kept odd hours. Dutt's relationship with actress
Waheeda Rehman
also worked against their marriage. At the time of his death, he had separated from Geeta and was living alone. Geeta Dutt died in 1972 at age 41, after excessive drinking, which resulted in liver damage.
Death
[
edit
]
On 10 October 1964, Dutt was found dead in his bed in his rented apartment at
Pedder Road
in Bombay.
[26]
He is said to have been mixing alcohol and sleeping pills. His death may have been
suicide
, or just an
accidental overdose
. If the former is true, it would have been his third suicide attempt.
[27]
Dutt's son, Arun, considered the death to be an accident. Dutt had scheduled appointments for the next day with actress
Mala Sinha
and actor
Raj Kapoor
for his movie
Baharen Phir Bhi Aayengi
, to discuss the making of colour films. According to Arun: "My father had sleeping disorders and popped sleeping pills like any other person. That day he was drunk and had taken an overdose of pills, which culminated in his death. It was a lethal combination of excessive liquor and sleeping pills."
[28]
At the time of his death, Dutt was involved in two other projects:
Picnic
, starring actress
Sadhana
; and director
K. Asif's
epic,
Love and God
.
Picnic
remained incomplete and the latter was released two decades later as it was entirely reshot, with
Sanjeev Kumar
replacing Dutt in the leading role.
[4]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Success
[
edit
]
Contrary to a general belief about the viability of his film projects, Dutt more or less produced commercially successful films.
[29]
Over the years the commercial nature of his projects saw a trade-off with his creative aspirations. Movies such as
C.I.D.
,
Baazi
,
Pyaasa
,
Kaagaz Ke Phool
,
Chaudhvin Ka Chand
and
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam
were the first of their kind in Hindi cinema.
[9]
The only film produced by Dutt that was considered a box office disaster was
Kaagaz Ke Phool
, which is now a
cult classic
.
[9]
The extra-feature on the DVD of
Kaagaz Ke Phool
has a three-part
Channel 4
-produced documentary on the life and works of Dutt titled
In Search of Guru Dutt
.
He, along with Raj Kapoor,
Mehboob Khan
and
Bimal Roy
, was one of the few Indian film directors able to achieve a healthy blend of artistic and commercial success between the mid-1950s and mid-1960s. His brother
Atma Ram
dedicated his 1969 directorial
Chanda Aur Bijli
to him.
[9]
Honours
[
edit
]
Dutt is known as a director who used his imagination in relation to light and shade, his evocative imagery, and a striking ability to weave multiple thematic layers into his narratives.
[30]
Both
Kaagaz Ke Phool
and
Pyaasa
have been included among the
greatest films of all time
, as well as on
Sight & Sound
magazine's 2002 "Top Films Survey", which polled over 250 international film critics and directors. In 2005,
Pyaasa
made its way on to
Time
magazine's All-Time 100 Movies
list.
[9]
In 2010, Dutt was included among
CNN
's "Top 25 Asian Actors of all time".
[13]
A postage stamp featuring Dutt was released by
India Post
on 11 October 2004.
[31]
On 10 October 2011, a
Doordarshan
documentary on Dutt aired. In 2021, author
Yasser Usman
published a biographical book about him, titled
Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story
.
[32]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Acting credits
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Guru Dutt | Indian filmmaker and actor"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
.
Archived
from the original on 28 February 2021
. Retrieved
3 April
2021
.
- ^
An, Gautam (27 November 2014).
"
'Pyaasa' (1957) is an Eternal Classic. Here's Why"
.
The Cinemaholic
.
Archived
from the original on 14 April 2021
. Retrieved
3 April
2021
.
- ^
"10 Greatest Regional Indian Film Directors Of All Time"
.
in.news.yahoo.com
.
Archived
from the original on 4 August 2017
. Retrieved
3 April
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
Rajadhyaksha, Ashish, and Paul Willemen. [1994] 1998.
Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema
Archived
21 August 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
. London: British Film Institute Publishing.
- ^
"Guru Dutt"
.
Upperstall.com
. 9 July 2000.
Archived
from the original on 21 November 2022
. Retrieved
21 November
2022
.
- ^
"The top 10 reasons why Guru Dutt was magnificent"
.
EasternEye
. 6 October 2022.
Archived
from the original on 21 November 2022
. Retrieved
21 November
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
"Women were ready to do anything for Guru Dutt- Devi Dutt"
.
filmfare.com
.
Archived
from the original on 6 May 2021
. Retrieved
6 May
2021
.
- ^
"Asian Film Series No.9 GURU DUTT Retorospective"
.
Japan Foundation
. 2001. Archived from
the original
on 20 June 2009
. Retrieved
13 May
2009
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
"All Time 100 Movies: The Complete List"
.
Time
. 2005. Archived from
the original
on 14 March 2007.
- ^
"2002 Sight & Sound Top Films Survey of 253 International Critics & Film Directors"
. Cinemacom. 2002.
Archived
from the original on 4 June 2012
. Retrieved
19 April
2009
.
- ^
"4. Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam - 1962"
.
Outlook
.
Archived
from the original on 12 April 2021
. Retrieved
3 April
2021
.
- ^
"25 Must See Bollywood Movies - Special Features-Indiatimes - Movies"
. 15 October 2007. Archived from
the original
on 15 October 2007
. Retrieved
3 April
2021
.
- ^
a
b
"Big B in CNN's top 25 Asian actors list"
.
Press Trust of India
. New York. 5 March 2010. Archived from
the original
on 1 November 2011
. Retrieved
15 April
2013
.
- ^
"What Guru Dutt & Deepika Padukone have in common?"
.
Rediff.com
. 31 December 2004.
Archived
from the original on 26 October 2012
. Retrieved
3 September
2016
.
- ^
Nandgaonkar, Satish.
"The past master"
.
The Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on 4 January 2014
. Retrieved
25 April
2014
.
- ^
a
b
c
Guru Dutt
at
IMDb
- ^
Khan, Fatima (10 October 2018).
"Remembering Guru Dutt, the genius filmmaker"
.
ThePrint
.
Archived
from the original on 21 April 2022
. Retrieved
21 April
2022
.
- ^
"Dev saga: When Navketan went noir - Times of India"
.
The Times of India
. 10 December 2011.
Archived
from the original on 12 April 2021
. Retrieved
12 April
2021
.
- ^
"Interview: Dev Anand Remembers Guru Dutt"
. dearcinema.com. Archived from
the original
on 4 April 2011.
- ^
Box Office 1960
. BoxOffice India.com
Archived
22 September 2012 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Nobody really knows what happened on October 10"
Archived
5 June 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
. In.rediff.com (11 October 2004). Retrieved on 14 November 2018.
- ^
"Unfinished business: The movies that Guru Dutt announced and abandoned"
.
Scroll.in
. 8 July 2015.
Archived
from the original on 3 June 2021
. Retrieved
3 June
2021
.
- ^
"Guru Dutt's son passes away"
.
Rediff.com movies
. 28 July 2014.
Archived
from the original on 17 April 2016
. Retrieved
5 April
2016
.
- ^
"Guru Dutt's son Arun passes away"
.
The Hindu
. 28 July 2014.
Archived
from the original on 7 August 2020
. Retrieved
5 April
2016
.
- ^
Kabir, Nasreen Munni (1997)
Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema
, Oxford University Press, p. 124,
ISBN
0-19-564274-0
- ^
"Film maker Guru Dutt dead"
.
The Indian Express
. Bombay, India: Express News Service. 10 October 1964. p. 1.
Archived
from the original on 28 August 2022
. Retrieved
7 September
2021
.
- ^
"
'Guru Dutt attempted suicide thrice' ? Rediff.com movies"
. In.rediff.com. 8 October 2004.
Archived
from the original on 10 May 2012
. Retrieved
3 September
2016
.
- ^
Ashraf, Syed Firdaus (15 October 2004).
"I miss my father terribly"
.
Rediff.com
.
Archived
from the original on 11 September 2012
. Retrieved
5 July
2010
.
- ^
"Top hit bollywood movies from www.boxofficeindia.com"
.
Archived
from the original on 22 July 2012
. Retrieved
11 May
2008
.
- ^
"Guru Dutt"
.
Archived
from the original on 7 July 2022
. Retrieved
3 July
2022
.
- ^
"Guru Dutt"
.
www.istampgallery.com
. January 2016.
Archived
from the original on 5 August 2020
. Retrieved
26 September
2020
.
- ^
Bose, Sushmita (11 March 2021).
"Guru Dutt was an immensely poor communicator in real life"
.
Khaleej Times
.
Archived
from the original on 12 April 2021
. Retrieved
12 April
2021
.
- ^
"Award Winners: 1963"
.
bfjaaward.com
. Archived from
the original
on 6 June 2014.
- ^
a
b
"Filmfare Awards Winners From 1953 to 2020"
.
filmfare.com
.
Archived
from the original on 4 February 2018
. Retrieved
9 August
2021
.
- ^
"10th NFA Catalogue"
(PDF)
.
dff.nic.in
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 17 October 2021
. Retrieved
9 August
2021
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Guru Dutt, 1925?1965: A Monograph
, Firoze Rangoonwalla,
National Film Archive of India
,
Govt. of India
, 1973.
- My Son Gurudutt
, Vasanti Padukone, India, serialised in
The Imprint
and
Screen
magazines, April 1979 & 2004.
- Nanna maga Gurudatta
, Vasanti Padukone, Kannada, Man?hara Grantham?le,
Dharwad
, India, 1976, 120pp.
- Guru Dutt, un grand cineaste encore pratiquement inconnu hors de l'Inde
, Henri Micciollo, Films sans Frontieres, 1984.
- Profiles, Five Film-makers from India
, Shampa Banerjee.
Directorate of Film Festivals
,
National Film Development Corp.
, 1985.
ISBN
81-201-0007-7
.
- In Black and White: Hollywood and the Melodrama of Guru Dutt
, Darius Cooper,
Seagull Books
, 2005.
ISBN
81-7046-217-7
.
- Yours Guru Dutt: Intimate Letters of a Great Indian Filmmaker
,
Nasreen Munni Kabir
, Lustre Press,
Roli Books
, 2006.
ISBN
81-7436-388-2
.
- Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi's Journey
, Sathya Saran. 2008,
Penguin
,
ISBN
0-670-08221-X
.
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Guru Dutt
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