MASTER CLASS

Light and shadows were at play in his films, like in life. His films were a slice of his life, but with technical flourishes and sharp observations on society and its hypocrisies. With that, Guru Dutt created his distinct style and cinematic language. On his birth centenary, THE WEEK takes you through the life and work of one of the greatest filmmakers

- BY POOJA BIRAIA

In 2022, R. Balki made a film in which the protagonist, a serial killer, ruthlessly eliminates film critics, particularly those who “fail to see a film as a piece of art and trash it with poor ratings”. He takes the dramatic part of their film reviews as inspiration for his modus operandi, carving stars on the critics' heads to mimic the star rating system of reviews. The first murder leaves a portly film critic sitting on the toilet, naked. His body has been slashed multiple times and his modesty protected by a roll of toilet paper. The killer, a cinephile, is also a failed director and a fanboy of the celebrated writer-actor-director Guru Dutt, and each time he murders a reviewer, he does so strategically against the background score of Dutt's classics, including Kaagaz Ke Phool. The 1959 release, which remains one of the finest examples of self-reflection in world cinema, was famously trashed by critics of the time, only to attain cult status decades later. Dutt was so heartbroken at the film's then failure that he never directed another movie.

Balki, in his homage to Dutt in the aptly titled Chup: Revenge of the Artist, avenges Dutt's misery by “putting a bloody, ironic spin to the classic”. “While tearing his art apart, nobody thought about the sensitivity of the artiste. I wanted to show the world how the art and the artiste remain evergreen, transcending space and time. The ingenuity of the genius shines and inspires generation after generation,” Balki had told THE WEEK ahead of Chup's release.