Guru Dutt

Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone was born on 9 July 1925, in Padukone in the present-day state of Karnataka in India into a Konkani Chitrapur Saraswat Brahmin family. His name was changed to Gurudatta Padukone following a childhood accident, the belief being that it was an auspicious choice.{{cite web |url=http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/sep/20dutt.htm |title=What Guru Dutt & Deepika Padukone have in common? |work=Rediff.com |date=31 December 2004 |access-date=3 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026130236/http://www.rediff.com//movies/2007/sep/20dutt.htm |archive-date=26 October 2012 |url-status=live }} His father, Shivashanker Rao Padukone, was a headmaster and a banker; his mother was Vasanthi, a teacher and writer. Both parents were originally settled in Karwar but relocated. Dutt spent his early childhood in Bhowanipore, Kolkata, and spoke fluent Bengali.{{cite web|last=Nandgaonkar|first=Satish|title=The past master|url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041010/asp/look/story_3860229.asp|work=The Telegraph|access-date=25 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140104212923/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1041010/asp/look/story_3860229.asp|archive-date=4 January 2014|url-status=dead}}

He had one younger sister—Lalita Lajmi, who was an Indian painter—and 3 younger brothers, Atma Ram (a director), Devi (a producer), and Vijay. Likewise, his niece Kalpana Lajmi was also a well known Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. His second cousin Shyam Benegal was a director and screenwriter. He is also a second cousin twice removed of Amrita Rao, whose grandfather and Dutt were second cousins.{{IMDb name|id=nm0244870}}

Beginning in 1942, he studied at Uday Shankar's School of Dancing and Choreography in Almora,{{Rp|93}} but was taken out in 1944 after getting involved with the company's leading lady. From there, gaining employment at a telephone operator at a Lever Brothers factory in Calcutta (now Kolkata),{{Rp|93}} Dutt wired home to say he had got the job. However, soon after, he was disenchanted by the job and left it.{{cite news |last1=Khan |first1=Fatima |title=Remembering Guru Dutt, the genius filmmaker |url=https://theprint.in/features/remembering-guru-dutt-the-genius-filmmaker/131039/ |access-date=21 April 2022 |work=ThePrint |date=10 October 2018 |archive-date=21 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421103142/https://theprint.in/features/remembering-guru-dutt-the-genius-filmmaker/131039/ |url-status=live }}

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|date=May 2021}} 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.

In 1945, Dutt made his acting debut in Vishram Bedekar's Lakhrani (1945), as Lachman, a minor role.{{Rp|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.{{Rp|306}}

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 fiancé. (The Vidya's fiancé threatened police action, after which, the matter was resolved.) 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 |date=March 2023}}

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). 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. 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.{{Cite news|date=10 December 2011|title=Dev saga: When Navketan went noir - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/dev-saga-when-navketan-went-noir/articleshow/21631974.cms|access-date=12 April 2021|work=The Times of India|archive-date=12 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412225959/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/dev-saga-when-navketan-went-noir/articleshow/21631974.cms|url-status=live}} 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.

Dutt went on to cast Anand in C.I.D. (1956). After Dutt's death, Anand said that "He was a young man, he should not have made depressing pictures."{{cite web |url=http://dearcinema.com/interview/dev-anand-remembers-guru-dutt/1824 |title=Interview: Dev Anand Remembers Guru Dutt |publisher=dearcinema.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404231145/http://dearcinema.com/interview/dev-anand-remembers-guru-dutt/1824 |archive-date=4 April 2011}} Creative differences between Dutt, and Chetan Anand (Anand's elder brother), who was also a director, made future collaborations difficult.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

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. 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. 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. 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.

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.[http://boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=166&catName=MTk2MA== Box Office 1960]. BoxOffice India.com {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922021750/http://boxofficeindia.com/showProd.php?itemCat=166&catName=MTk2MA== |date=22 September 2012 }}

In 1962, his team released Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, a critically successful film which was directed by Dutt's protégé, 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.[http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/11guru.htm "Nobody really knows what happened on October 10"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605033404/http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/11guru.htm |date=5 June 2016 }}. In.rediff.com (11 October 2004). Retrieved on 14 November 2018.

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.{{Cite web |title=Unfinished business: The movies that Guru Dutt announced and abandoned |url=https://scroll.in/reel/739541/unfinished-business-the-movies-that-guru-dutt-announced-and-abandoned |website=Scroll.in |date=8 July 2015 |access-date=3 June 2021 |archive-date=3 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603160955/https://scroll.in/reel/739541/unfinished-business-the-movies-that-guru-dutt-announced-and-abandoned |url-status=live }}

In 1953, Dutt married Geeta Roy Chowdhuri (later, Geeta Dutt), a well-known playback singer whom he met during the making of Baazi (1951). 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; 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.{{cite web|date=28 July 2014|title=Guru Dutt's son passes away|url=http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/guru-dutts-son-passes-away/20140728.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417083926/http://www.rediff.com/movies/report/guru-dutts-son-passes-away/20140728.htm|archive-date=17 April 2016|access-date=5 April 2016|work=Rediff.com movies}}{{cite web|date=28 July 2014|title=Guru Dutt's son Arun passes away|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/guru-dutts-son-arun-passes-away/article6257465.ece|access-date=5 April 2016|work=The Hindu|archive-date=7 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807193806/https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/guru-dutts-son-arun-passes-away/article6257465.ece|url-status=live}}

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."Kabir, Nasreen Munni (1997) Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema, Oxford University Press, p. 124, {{ISBN|0-19-564274-0}} 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.

On 10 October 1964, Dutt was found dead in his bed in his rented apartment at Pedder Road in Bombay.{{cite news|date=10 October 1964|title=Film maker Guru Dutt dead|pages=1|work=The Indian Express|publisher=Express News Service|location=Bombay, India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lI9lAAAAIBAJ|access-date=7 September 2021|archive-date=28 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828114412/https://books.google.com/books?id=lI9lAAAAIBAJ|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite web|date=8 October 2004|title='Guru Dutt attempted suicide thrice' – Rediff.com movies|url=http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/08spec1.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120510132350/http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/08spec1.htm|archive-date=10 May 2012|access-date=3 September 2016|publisher=In.rediff.com}}

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."{{cite web|author=Ashraf, Syed Firdaus|date=15 October 2004|title=I miss my father terribly|url=http://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/15dutt.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120911032505/http://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/15dutt.htm|archive-date=11 September 2012|access-date=5 July 2010|work=Rediff.com}}

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.

File:Guru Dutt 2004 stamp of India.jpg

Contrary to a general belief about the viability of his film projects, Dutt more or less produced commercially successful films.{{Cite web |url=http://www.boxofficeindia.com/cpages.php?pageName=top_hits |title=Top hit bollywood movies from www.boxofficeindia.com |access-date=11 May 2008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722193837/http://www.boxofficeindia.com/cpages.php?pageName=top_hits |archive-date=22 July 2012 |url-status=live }} 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.

The only film produced by Dutt that was considered a box office disaster was Kaagaz Ke Phool, which is now a cult classic. 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.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/the_complete_list.html |title=All Time 100 Movies: The Complete List |magazine=Time |date=2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070314020006/http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/the_complete_list.html |archive-date=14 March 2007}}

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. {{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guru-Dutt |title=Guru Dutt |access-date=3 July 2022 |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707132534/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guru-Dutt |url-status=live }}

He was inducted into the Walk of the Stars, at Bandra Bandstand, where his autograph was preserved.{{Cite news |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/walking-with-the-stars-112040100022_1.html |title=Walking with the stars |last=Saraswathy |first=M. |date=1 April 2012 |work=Business Standard India |access-date=24 November 2019}}

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. In 2010, Dutt was included among CNN's "Top 25 Asian Actors of all time".

A postage stamp featuring Dutt was released by India Post on 11 October 2004.{{Cite web|title=Guru Dutt|url=https://www.istampgallery.com/guru-dutt/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805134321/https://www.istampgallery.com/guru-dutt/|archive-date=5 August 2020|access-date=26 September 2020|website=www.istampgallery.com|date=January 2016}} 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.{{cite news |url=https://www.khaleejtimes.com/wknd/interviews/guru-dutt-was-an-immensely-poor-communicator-in-real-life |title=Guru Dutt was an immensely poor communicator in real life |last=Bose |first=Sushmita |date=11 March 2021 |work=Khaleej Times |access-date=12 April 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412021849/https://www.khaleejtimes.com/wknd/interviews/guru-dutt-was-an-immensely-poor-communicator-in-real-life |url-status=live }}

Acting credits

• {{Cite book|last=Kabir|first=Nasreen Munni|title=Guru Dutt: A Life in Cinema|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1996|isbn=978-01-95638-49-3|author-link=Nasreen Munni Kabir}}
• {{Cite book|last=Kabir|first=Nasreen Munni|title=Yours Guru Dutt|publisher=Roli Books|year=2006|isbn=978-81-74363-88-6|author-link=Nasreen Munni Kabir}}
• {{Cite book|last=Saran|first=Sathya|title=Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi's Journey|publisher=Penguin Books India|year=2008|isbn=978-01-43416-92-0}}
• {{Cite book|last=Usman|first=Yasser|title=Guru Dutt: An Unfinished Story|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2021|isbn=978-93-86797-89-6|author-link=Yasser Usman}}

• Films directed by Guru Dutt
• Guru Dutt Films
• Guru Dutt team

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• 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, Manōhara Granthamāle, Dharwad, India, 1976, 120pp.
• Guru Dutt, un grand cinéaste encore pratiquement inconnu hors de l'Inde, Henri Micciollo, Films sans Frontières, 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}}.

{{Commons category|Guru Dutt}}

• {{IMDb name|0244870}}
• [https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/guru-dutt-such-sweet-sorrow 2016 article] from Sight and Sound by Mark Cousins
• [https://archive.today/20130104165542/http://sify.com/movies/fullstory.php?id=14716533 Review of Ten Years with Guru Dutt: Abrar Alvi's journey]
• [http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/mar/04dinesh.htm Interview with Dev Anand]
• [http://in.rediff.com/movies/2004/oct/08spec1.htm Interview with Guru Dutt's cameraman, V. K Murthy]
• [http://www.lesamisdenemesis.com/?p=260 Urbain Bizot, Thirst and Mourning]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutt, Guru}}

Category:1925 births

Category:1964 deaths

Category:Konkani people

Category:Indian male film actors

Category:Hindi-language film directors

Category:Male actors in Hindi cinema

Category:Indian film choreographers

Category:Alcohol-related deaths in India

Category:Drug-related deaths in India

Category:20th-century Indian male actors

Category:Filmfare Awards winners

Category:National Film Award (India) winners