Guru Dutt@100: Restless artiste in quest for perfection, melody of life

HE was 39 when he was found dead, directed just eight films and took 104 takes for that searing climax shot of "Pyaasa" where the poet protagonist stands framed in light and shadow as he asks "Ye duniya agar mil bhi jaaye to kyahai?’

- BEDIKA

Guru Dutt's life can perhaps be summed up in these three numbers - a superbly talented filmmaker and actor who died just too young from a cocktail of alcohol and sleeping pills and whose films went from being easy-breezy to dark and personal, reflecting his own turmoil and struggles with self.

The actor-filmmaker, one of India's most influential, turns 100 on July 9, moment for cineastes and others to celebrate the work of a man who spelt magic on screen and remains an enigma all these years later.

Never perhaps has there been a showbiz personality -- his life and work both underscored by tragedy -- who has left such a profound impact and so many unanswered questions. His films, some which he produced and others he directed, include "Kagaaz Ke Phool", "Baazi", "Aar Paar", "Chaudhavin Ka Chaand", "Sahib Bibiaur Ghulam" and "Pyaasa".

In "Pyaasa", Dutt's role as Vijay, the anguished poet, epitomises not just his artistic mastery as actor and director but also the man he probably was -- an obsessive and uncompromising artist at odds with society and its rules.

In his biography "Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story", author Yasser Usman quotes close friend Dev Anand as saying Dutt would reshoot a lot and scrap most of it if he did not find it perfect.

"By the time he made 'Pyaasa’ in 1957, the indecisiveness had magnified manifold. He would shoot and shoot and was unsure about what he really wanted in a particular scene. Even with himself, for the famous climax sequence in 'Pyaasa’, he shot one hundred and four takes!" Usman writes.

"Pyaasa" carries the disillusionment that manifests again in his last directorial "Kaagaz Ke Phool", the semi-autobiographical story about a director unwilling to compromise. He made it when his relationship with wife Geeta Dutt was going through a difficult time and never really recovered from the debacle of the film he termed a “still born child”.