Film Club Celebrates Guru Dutt

It was a belief in venturing out of the beaten track that possibly led a telephone operator to venture into film studios and become one of the greatest choreographer, actor, director, writer and producer of the Hindi film industry popularly known as Bollywood.

Gurudutta Shiv Shankar Padukone, 1925-64, joined the Prabhat studio in 1944 as an actor, then choreographer and assistant director of "Hum Ek Hain" in 1946. In 1951 he scripted "Bazzi," "Jaal and "Pyassa." In 1956 he set up his own production house with "Baaz." He made India's first CinemaScope film, "Kaagaz Ke Phool." Then followed "Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam," "Chandni Ka Chand," "Aar Paar" and a host of melodramas.

In an article in Celluloid, in the last phase of his life which ended with suicide, Guru Dutt wrote: "In the formula-ridden film world of ours one who ventures to go out of the beaten track is condemned to the definition which Matthew Arnold used for Shelley, "...an angel beating his wings in a void". I believe one who is out to go against the winds has to be prepared for bouquets as well as brickbats, for triumphs as well as heartbreaks, whether or not one makes a classic or collects the cash. It is this baffling unpredictability that gives edge to the thrill of movie-making."

It is to pay tribute to this great film personality that the Hyderabad Film Club is organising the 10-day Guru Dutt Film Festival till Septemeber 29. Besides, "Pyaasa," "CID," "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam," the festival will screen "Mr and Mrs 55," "Aar Par," "Chaudhwin Ka Chand," "Baazi," and "Bharosa." A seminar on Guru Dutt films will follow on September 30.