Pyaasa

Among the pantheon of great early Bollywood directors is the wonderful Guru Dutt, whose 1957 film Pyaasa marks a high point in pre-sixties era Hindi filmmaking. Dutt ranks among the best filmmakers of this time, which includes the likes of Raj Kapoor and Mehboob Khan, in developing new modes of Hindi storytelling. Pyaasa bridges the very best of the great classical era, which was beginning to flourish under the leadership of Satyajit Ray and his Apu Trilogy, with the developing populism and themes which would define the more formulaic Bollywood films. In some ways, Dutt's film is as expressive and poetic as Ray's Aparajito (1957) or Parash Pathar (1958), and represents a sophisticated blend of music into the film's narrative (sung poems by the tortured protagonist) which today strike the viewer as inspired. But Dutt's career was to span only a little over a decade, as he committed suicide only 7 years after Pyaasa was completed. Guru Dutt had become the very real example of the lonely, isolated poet Vijay he himself had played in Pyaasa, having lost or isolated himself from so many of the people he had once dearly loved. As Dutt's character in Pyaasa foreshadows for Dutt himself, slowly harmonizing in a scene about his continually agonizing life, "Even my shadow eludes me as it fades away...." The film's story concerns the poet Vijay, a celebrated student in his school days, he now floats ghost-like through the streets of a bustling Indian city, broke and mystified. He clings to poetry in the hopes the world will some day read it, but the harsh streets and businessmen of the city are a cruel lot. Only two fellow outcasts, a massage oil salesman and a local prostitute, befriend him. He still pines for an old-flame and former classmate, but she is unfortunately concerned with status and privilege, and Vijay struggles with how to orient his feelings for love. It's clear the prostitute is the woman who truly loves him, but can this fill the void inside him? When the poet is mistakenly believed to be dead (a possible nod to Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels, 1941), his fame bursts wide upon the public. But now he must confront what his poetry, if anything, will mean to him and the world. The music in Pyaasa is another wonderful example of Bollywood thematic storytelling. The songs for the most part appear at critical narrative moments where Vijay is compelled to express his inner most thoughts - essentially song poems. The director uses these moments to make an impact, with expressive lighting, numerous tracking shots, and other lyrical camera devices to accentuate the music and rhythm as it unfolds. One scene, where Vijay returns to his own en masse memorial only to be horrified by the greed and hypocrisy on display, is a tour de force of lyrical filmmaking. Dutt's life and his film Pyaasa reminds one of the talented French filmmaker Jean Vigo and his film L'Atalante (1934); this is a richly rewarding forgotten work from a director who died too young. Producer: Guru Dutt Director: Guru Dutt Screenplay: Abrar Alvi, Guru Dutt Cinematography: V.K. Murthy Film Editing: Y.G. Chawhan Art Direction: Biren Nag Music: Sachin Dev Burman Cast: Guru Dutt (Vijay), Mala Sinha (Meena), Waheeda Rehman (Gulab), Rehman (Mr. Ghosh), Johnny Walker (Abdul Sattar), Kumkum (Juhi). BW-142m. by Richard Steiner