Old Is Gold – Pyaasa (1957) The Very Definition of Perfect Cinema!

There is a reason why Guru Dutt is considered one of the greatest film makers of all time and why his works are studied and analysed all over the globe. Today, I am going to talk about one such work of his, which left a deep impact on me and I just couldn’t resist writing about it. Pyaasa is undoubtedly one of the finest films I have ever seen and I am not just talking about Bollywood here. It is a piece of art which is not meant for the audiences to savor but instead it makes you self introspect and analyze the morals and ethics of the so called contemporary society.

Pyaasa Being Remastered for Venice Film Festival (Image: © Guru Dutt Movies Pvt Ltd)

The posters, synopsis and rankings hail it as a romance drama but that’s not how I interpreted it. In fact, the romance part of the film is limited and it is more about the social paradoxes, hypocrisies and the utter selfishness of people. Vijay (Guru Dutt), a young man is kicked out of his home by his brothers, who go as far as selling Vijay’s soulfully written Nazmen (Poetry) for a few cents. After losing his love, his mother, his job and his home, he seeks refuge at his so called friend’s place who eventually also turns out to be mean and selfish. After facing so much pain and rejection, Vijay starts falling into the trap of depression and the only consolation he has is in the form of Gulabo; who falls in love with him and assists him in getting his works published.

(Image: © Guru Dutt Movies Pvt Ltd)

 

“The concept that filmmakers like Todd Philips (The Joker 2019) are coming up with now is what Guru Dutt came up with over 60 years ago.” This is what my film appreciation teacher said while talking about this film and I totally agree with her. As unfair as this world is, Joker went on to win various Oscars, whereas Pyaasa wasn’t even well received at the time it came out. Unfortunately, all of Guru Dutt’s works started getting what they deserved, only after his tragic death. This is why sometimes Pyaasa is considered to be a reflection of his actual life. Although Pyaasa ended with a hope, sadly his life didn’t.

(Image: © Guru Dutt Movies Pvt Ltd)

 

Apart from the unique and heart warming story-line, the film is beautifully written with many powerful dialogues. But its actually the song album of the film, which serves at its soul. I’ll talk about the playlist more in the following para but here I want to talk about how the gut wrenching lyrics of certain songs serve as the real narrative and take the movie forward. Songs in this film are not meant just to listen and forget, in fact they need to be analysed and interpreted. In short what I mean to say is that, if you skip the songs, you basically skip the essence of Pyaasa.

(Image: © Guru Dutt Movies Pvt Ltd)

 

The beautiful album is composed by none other than S.D. Burman, penned down by Sahir Ludhianvi and sung by Mohammad Rafi, Hemant Kumar and Geeta Dutt. The gist of the film can be wrapped up in these three super serious and depressing songs – “Jaane Vo Kese Log The”, which talks about how plastic love in the modern world is; “Jihne Naaz Hai Hind Par Vo Kahan Hain”, which highlights all the problems prevailing in the society and questions the worth of the so called freedom we have; and “Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya”, which totally rejects the contemporary society. Apart from them, “Jaane Kya Tune Kaha” and “Hum Aapki ki Aankhon Mein” were the only things romantic about this film, while “Sar Jo Tera Chakraye” and Johnny Walker were the only fun elements.

(Image: © Guru Dutt Movies Pvt Ltd)

 

This brings me to the performances. As expected, Guru Dutt delivered one of the most impactful performances I have seen in Bollywood. Waheeda Rehman (Gulabo) and Mala Sinha (Meena) also performed exceptionally well in the roles they were offered. Johnny Walker (Abdul), as I mentioned above was a lot of fun and a much needed comic relief in this highly pessimistic film. Whereas, Rehman (Mr. Ghosh), Mehmood (Vijay’s brother) and Shyaam Kapoor (Vijay’s friend) made sure their characters were the most hated ones on screen. All these characters come together for an inspiring and heartbreaking final showdown; which showcases Vijay as a Jesus-like figure, who tries to make everyone realize the bullshit going on in this world by singing “Ye Duniya Agar Mil Bhi Jaye To Kya Hai”. To be honest, I have never ever watched a scene which impacted me as much as this one.

Just Look at the Composition of This Shot! Jesus Dutt! (Image: © Guru Dutt Movies Pvt Ltd)

I definitely won’t recommend anyone to watch this film if they want to see something fun but I would definitely recommend to watch it only when your mood is light. In short, heavy mood + this film = you being seriously depressed and nobody wants that. But if you want to enjoy, uhhh I mean, appreciate an artistic masterpiece, Pyaasa would be the one to go with. Well, now I take my leave to listen to its beautiful album and cry myself to sleep.

Important links:

Pyaasa Songs / Pyaasa Album (Gaana, Amazon Music)