‘Mr & Mrs 55 Was Better Than Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam’

‘Mr
&
Mrs
55
was
breezy,
romantic
and
so
Hollywood.’

Guru
Dutt
left
us
too
soon,
at
the
age
of
39.

Author
and
producer

Nasreen
Munni
Kabir
directed
a
46-part
series

Movie
Mahal,
In
Search
of
Guru
Dutt,
discusses
Guru
Dutt’s
films
and
the
songs
with

Subhash
K
Jha.

Nasreen,
Guru
Dutt
would
have
been
100
on
July
9.

Sadly
he
left
us
long
back.

Even
more
sadly,
his
reputation
hinges
mainly
on
the
great
trilogy.

Yes,

Pyaasa,
Kaagaz
Ke
Phool,
Sahib
Bibi
Aur
Ghulam.
That’s
because
people
in
those
days
loved
tragedies.

I
personally
feel

Mr
&
Mrs
55
was
better
than
all
three.

Why
do
you
say
that?

Mr
&
Mrs
55
was
breezy,
romantic
and
so
Hollywood.
It
was
Guru
Dutt’s
most
Hollywood
film.

And
his
chemistry
with…
Madhubala?

No,
Johnny
Walker.
They
made
the
best
buddy-pair
on
screen.
Guru
Dutt
insisted
on
having
Johnny
Walker
in
his
films.

Mostly
as
comic
relief,
though
personally
I
don’t
think
Johnny
Walker
fitted
in
well
in

Kaagaz
Ke
Phool.

He
didn’t.
In
fact
to
be
honest,
I
feel

Kaagaz
Ke
Phool
is
scripturally
problematic.
What
lifted
it
were
the
songs,
and
the
lighting
and
V
K
Murthy’s
camerawork.

His
core
team
contributed
massively
to
Guru
Dutt’s
cinema.

While
the
songs
in

Sahib
Bibi
Aur
Ghulam
carry
Guru
Dutt’s
stamp
through
and
through,
the
talkies
portions
have
Abrar
Alvi’s
stamp.

Abrar
Alvi
claimed
to
have
ghost
directed

Pyaasa.

Yes,
he
did
say
that
he
once
walked
into
the
set
of

Pyaasa
and
took
over.

Do
you
think
Guru
Dutt
would
allow
anyone
on
the
set
while
shooting?

It
is
so
irresponsible
to
make
these
claims
which
no
one
could
verify.

Why
can’t
Abrar
Alvi
be
happy
with
what
he
actually
did
in
Guru
Dutt’s
cinema?

If
you
had
to
choose
the
one
song
as
your
favourite
from
Guru
Dutt’s
repertoire,
which
would
it
be?

Yeh
Raat
Yeh
Chandni
Phir
Kahan
and
its
companion
piece

Chandni
Raaten
Pyaar
Ki
Baaten
from

Jaal.
The
way
the
two
merged
into
one
another
seamlessly
…

I
don’t
know
how
Guru
Dutt
and
Sachin
Dev
Burman
achieved
it.

This
is
the
first
audio-memory
song
in
our
cinema.

Look
at
the
song

Udhar
Tum
Hasin
Ho
from

Mr
&
Mrs
55
and

Na
Jao
Saiiyan
Chhuda
Ke
Baiyan
from

Sahib
Bibi
Sur
Ghulam….they
revolve
around
a
car
and
a
bed,
respectively.

Waheedaji
thinks
Guru
Dutt
was
miscast
as
Bhoothnath
in

Sahib
Bibi
Aur
Ghulam.

I
disagree.
He
was
the
perfect
Bhootnath,
a
ghostly
figure
who
was
allowed
entry
into
the
inner
chambers
of
a
feudal
household
where
the
women
stayed.

I
would
say
Waheedaji‘s
track
with
Guru
Dutt
in

Sahib
Bibi
Aur
Ghulam
was
a…

Distraction?

Yes,
a
sort
of
distraction.
Do
you
know
the
song

Bhanwara
Bada
Nadaan
Hai
was
re-shot
when
Guru
Dutt
was
not
happy
with
the
way
it
was
shot
the
first
time?

Where
would
you
place
him
in
Hindi
cinema?

At
a
place
where
sadly,
today’s
audience
cannot
reach
him.
Just
look
at

Pyaasa.
Waheedaji‘s
character
Gulabo
is
so
relevant
even
today.

The
protagonist
Vijay
is
written
off
as
dead
and
buried
by
his
family.

But
Gulabo,
who
has
nothing
to
gain
from
it,
takes
it
upon
herself
to
publish
Vijay’s
poems
posthumously.

I
think
we
need
that
kind
of
selflessness
more
than
ever.