One of India's most profound filmmaker, the legendary Guru Dutt and his screenplays were immortalised in a book and released today by four titans of Bollywood namely Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Anurag Kashyap, Farhan Akhtar and Dibakar Banerjee. The book contains complete screenplays of Guru Dutt's ageless classics Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Kaagaz Ke Phool.
While many in the industry have been inspired by Guru Dutt, Farhan today spoke at length about how the late filmmaker's style helped them fine tune their own craft.
Said Kashyap, "His language was unlike any other filmmaker. When I saw Pyaasa, I wanted to know who the cinematographer is, who the writer is and who the director is. His films inspired me to be a filmmaker."
Farhan concurred and said, "My introduction to Guru Dutt was through Pyaasa and I have to thank my mom for that. His themes are relevant even in today's times. Things like social conscience and other things are relevant even today. The many societal taboos that he touched through his movies, female emancipation that he spoke about are absolutely relevant. Guru Dutt was an engaging story teller and technically very superior. He was ahead of his time in terms of using modern technology."
Talking about how Guru Dutt inspired him as a filmmaker, Farhan said, “He has influenced us in many ways. When we were shooting Lakshya, I remember a scene where we had to shoot with just one source of light coming through the bunker that illuminated Preity's face and we had to capture that expression. In such times, you think about Guru Dutt."
Also effusive in his praise for Guru Dutta was Dibakar Banerjee. Said Dibakar," The complete union of music with visuals stay with you unlike in today's times."
For Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Guru Dutt is that rare filmmaker who made films that he liked without any box-office concerns. "I spoke to Dev saab at length about Guru Dutt and he had told me that Guru never looked at box-office.”
Truly, generation will come and go in Bollywood but there will never ever be a Guru Dutt again.
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