Yasser Usman - Guru Dutt

GURU DUTT

An Unfinished Story

YASSER USMAN

Praise for Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of Indias First Superstar

The book packs a punch while constructing the story of the biggest star of Hindi cinema. India Today

As you read this book you will smile at some places, your eyes will be moist at othersan experience similar to watching a Rajesh Khanna blockbuster. Salim Khan (Veteran screenwriter)

Praise for Rekha: The Untold Story

Yasser Usman takes a close look at the actress life but remains sympathetic Hindustan Times

Rekha: The Untold Story by Yasser Usman exposes a dark side of Bollywood. The book tells how Rekha overcame several odds to become one of the greatest actresses of Indian cinema This assessment, and accusations of misogyny, will be an eyeopener for those who see Bollywood as trendy and cool. The National, UAE

Document[s]the phenomenal rise of the underdog in an overtly patriarchal industry Vogue

A riveting book The Mint

A racy read The Asian Age

[Has] to be read to be believed India Today

Reveals shocking details DNA

An eye-opener The News Minute

Crisp, well-paced Firstpost

It is difficult to be unmoved by Rekhas story Hindustan Times

[Usman] has an eye for human dramawe are constantly intrigued by and care about [Rekhas] story[Also] He shows empathy, something Rekha has been denied for long. OPEN Magazine

it is a compulsive read and will keep you thoroughly engaged. Dawn

Praise for Sanjay Dutt: The Crazy Untold Story of Bollywoods Bad Boy

A film-like narrativepoignantthorough. Business Standard

This isnt fanboy writing lets the ugly speaks for itself. Mint

To

Lalitha Lajmi, eminent artist and Guru Dutts sister

With heartfelt gratitude,

Thank you for sharing your memories of the life and times of Guru and Geeta Dutt

PROLOGUE

BERLIN, 1963

S ahib Bibi aur Ghulam was Indias official entry at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival. On 26 June 1963, its lead actors, Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman, attended the festival along with the films director, Abrar Alvi. The screening took place the next day but the film failed to create any flutter as the international audience could not relate to the overt melodrama and the very Indian theme. This, despite the fact that the film had been trimmed specially for the festival. There were hardly twenty-five people in the theatre and their interest in the film could not be sustained. The film was outrightly rejected.

Guru Dutt walked out of his own screening.

On this very same trip, Waheeda RehmanGuru Dutts protg, and the one and only lead actress in his films for a substantial part of his careerconclusively yet gracefully conveyed the end of her relationship with Guru Dutt.

Yes. The last time I saw him must have been in Berlin, said Waheeda Rehman. Things had started to unravel towards the close of their last shoot together for Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. Guru Dutts younger sister, the eminent artist Lalitha Lajmi, remembers, Waheeda and Guru Dutt had almost parted. She used to invite us both sometimes for dinner and my brother knew she was friendly with me. l heard Guru Dutt went with a boquet of flowers to her home and the doors were not opened to him. Perhaps it was after this incident l had visited him and for the first time he told me not to keep in touch with her any more.

The very next day, Guru Dutt left Berlin.

Legendary film maker B.R. Chopra recalled, That man, Guru Dutt, drank all the way back from Berlin to Bombay while keeping all to himself in a corner seat. We knew all about Waheeda having told him, point-blank that she had made up her mind about him and that was it. She also discreetly left Guru Dutt to find his own way back. Guru Dutt was clearly heading towards turning into a mental and physical wreckI instinctively knew that it was the beginning of the end.

Guru Dutt used up all the sleeping pills that he had carried with him to Berlin. He didnt sleep for the next four nights. He said to me, I think I will go mad, recalled Bimal Mitra, the writer of Sahib, Biwi aur Ghulam and undoubtedly a giant in the literary world from Bengal.

Bombay, 1963

Back in Bombay, his wife Geeta Duttthe glorious singer who had broken playback singing traditions to bring a fresh naturalness to Indian film songshad started blaming their bungalow for all their woes. They shared only a decade old but widely celebrated storythe star singer and the struggling film-maker having found love in tinseltown. Deep down she believed that their relationship had developed an irrepairable rift only after they shifted to this bungalow in the very posh locality of Pali Hill.

Lalitha Lajmi, who witnessed the relationship from the early days of courtship till the end, further recalls, She believed that the bungalow was haunted. There was a particular tree in the house and she said theres a ghost who lives in that tree, who is bringing bad omen and ruining their marriage. She also had something against a Buddha statue that was kept in their huge drawing room. According to Lalitha, it was Geeta who had suggested that they must leave.

This prospect was heartbreaking for Guru Dutt.

It had been his dream housebut never the home he had always longed for.

Guru Dutt had twice attempted to kill himself in this house and survived both attempts.

Once, after surviving a suicide attempt, a close friend asked Guru Dutt, Why should you have done it? You have fame, you have wealth, you have the adoration of the masses. You possess all that most people crave for! Why are you so dissatisfied with life?

Guru Dutt replied, I am not dissatisfied with life, I am dissatisfied within myself. True, I have all that people crave for. Still I dont have that which most people possessa nook where one can repair [retire] to after the days task is done, where one can find some peace and forget ones cares. If only I could get that, life would be worth living!

From a house that had been home to the birth of so many great stories on celluloid, it now only birthed insomnia for Guru Dutt. So despite living in one of the most beautiful bungalows in Bombays prime real estate, Guru Dutt would leave the house early every morning and reach his studio with sleep-deprived eyes. The studio wouldnt be open at that hour and silence hung all around it. Guru Dutts man Friday, Ratan, would open the lock of the small chambera seven feet by seven feet room with a precious small bed. This is where Guru Dutt would lie down quietly and finally find sleep.

I always wanted to be happy in my household. My house is the most beautiful among all the buildings in Pali Hill. Sitting in that house, it does not look like you are in Bombay. That garden, that ambiencewhere else can I find it? Despite this, I could not stay in that house for much longer, once shared Guru Dutt.

Away from his luxurious and palatial bungalow, this small room was where he would find peace and sleep.