Restless Artiste

Guru Dutt, the legendary actor and filmmaker who would have turned 100 this week, continues to remain an enigma as the restless artiste in quest for perfection and melody of life

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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 jaye to kya hai?’ Guru Dutt was 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 himself.

One of India’s most influential actor-filmmakers would have turned 100 on Wednesday. Despite having passed away over 60 years ago, he continues to be celebrated as the 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 include Kaagaz Ke Phool, Baazi, Aar Paar, Chaudhavin Ka Chaand, Sahib Bibi aur 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 artiste 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 Guru Dutt would reshoot a lot and scrap most takes if he didn’t find them 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.

A tumultuous personal life