Regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of Indian cinema and lauded for his cinematic work, filmmaker, film director, producer, actor, choreographer, and writer, Guru Dutt was indeed a star filmmaker who’s not forgotten and is still relevant.
A lot of authors have penned about the legendary filmmaker. One of them is the best-selling Bollywood biographer, Yasser Usman who came out with his biography 'Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story' in 2021. In this definitive biography of a nonconformist star, Yasser explores the man and the myth that Guru Dutt was. He uncovers the extraordinary lives of the rich and the famous, and the toll it takes on the emotional and mental health of a human being. He also narrates Guru Dutt's unfinished life, a tale of unrequited love, unresolved relationships and unmatched cinematic talent, and much more.
In a session titled 'Guru Dutt: Exploring the life of an enigma' at the Times Litfest 2023, Yasser was seen in conversation with Avijit Ghosh, author and associate editor with The Times of India, wherein they spoke about Guru Dutt’s short but compassionate, ambitious and ultimately tragic life that reveals itself in the pages of this book.
“When I began writing this book, everyone said that there are already a lot of books on Guru Dutt’s life. What new aspect will you bring? I believe we talk about Guru Dutt as someone very intellectual and elitist which limits him. He was a commercial filmmaker. Commercial success was extremely important to him. During his career, he just made one flop film,” Yasser said.
“While making these classics, he was going through a hard personal time. He attempted suicide but parallelly he was making these masterpieces. This is the contradiction I wanted to achieve through my book,” he added.
In the session, Yasser and Avijit also conversed upon various aspects from Guru Dutt's life, including-- his childhood, how he began his career, and his life with wife Geeta Dutt who was an acclaimed singer.
When Avijit asked Usman about Guru Dutt’s encounter and relationship with Dev Anand, Yasser said, “Guru Dutt met Dev Anand, who later became his best friend, in a hostel in Pune when their shirts which they sent for laundry got interchanged. The movie ‘Baazi’, in which Dev Anand was the leading actor and which was directed by Guru Dutt, gave Dev Anand the image and style. That's Guru Dutt’s important contribution to Dev Anand’s career.”
The conversation further escalated when someone from the audience questioned the two about Balraj Sahni's clash with Guru Dutt. It is noted that Balraj Sahni had co-authored the screenplay for the movie ‘Baazi’. To this Avijit replied, “The clash between Balraj Sahni and Guru Dutt was ideological. Sahni was left oriented and he believed in meaningful cinema, while Guru Dutt believed in commercial cinema.”
Giving an insight into Guru Dutt's marriage with Geeta Dutta, Yasser said, “When Guru Dutt got married to Geeta Dutt, she was an acclaimed singer and a star. Dutt promised Geeta that she can sing after marriage. Later he tweaked the promise that she can sing but only for his films. Of course, there were other factors like the rise of Lata Mangeshkar, but it was a downfall for Geeta Dutt."
(Byline: Devanshi Batra)
