THE AUTEURS OF HINDI CINEMA- 1

What really is the purpose of art? If this question is ever asked, one of the most common and obvious answer would be to put forward an idea in an impactful and aesthetically appealing manner which intrigues the audience to ask questions and no art could have as much impact on the psyche of audience as cinema. A film stimulates viewer’s senses through amalgamation of varied other art forms like writing, photography, music, dramatics, design, costume, architecture, animation and accumulates various studies of philosophy, psychology, physics, chemistry, metaphysics etc. to create a unique experience of motion pictures.Yet all over the world and especially in our country, 90% of the films manage to bore you to death and mourn over the loss of those precious 2-3 hours of your life.  But among all this scrap there have been people who managed to bring out pure magic on celluloid, with cinema so impactful and meaningful that it transcends beyond generations. These filmmakers have a particular sensibility, style and aesthetics which are easily distinguishable. French called such filmmakers, ‘Auteur’, which means that they influence the film like an author does to his novels.

 These filmmakers broke free from the tradition of mainstream Hindi cinema that is a formulaic mixture of over-exaggerated loathsome bits of drama, action, romance, comedy, thrill, all in one, except the purpose of storytelling. This tradition has made cinema a cheap thrill for the mass audience, a guilty pleasure activity. But these auteurs made their mark and said what they had to say in the most effective manner while inspiring and empowering generations of filmmakers to make cinema that would break norms and actually mean something to its audience. I have contained this list to Hindi cinema only, so if you don’t see the names of regional masters like Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, don’t be disappointed.

·      GURU DUTT

When a society goes through oppression one thing that acts in its favour is that its persecution awakens a thinking class of the society and creates a revolution whether on political, social or an artistic front. Same was the case when the imperialist oppression of British reached its heights; it started facing a lot of resistance of socialist revolution both on political front as well as artistic grounds, especially in literature, theatre and films. It gave birth to IPTA (Indian people’s theatre association) in Theatre which is in today’s date, the biggest theatre group across the globe plus a whole lot of amazing writers and poets like Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Sahir Ludhyanvi, Saadat Hassan Manto, Abrar Alvi, Rajender Singh Bedi, Majrooh Sultanpuri started writing for films and filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, V.Shantaram, Bimal Roy, K.Asif, Mehboob Khan, Guru Dutt, Chetan Anand made cinematic gems of that era. It was the time an probably the only time when Indian cinema was at par with world cinema. Social dramas like Sujata, Do Bheega Zameen, Do Aankhein Barah Haath. Epics like Mughal-e-Azam, Mayanagari even noir films like Baazi, Who Kaun thi, Mahal were at par with the rest of the world. But one name that stands out among this great lot of filmmakers is of Guru Dutt.

Posters of some of the famous films of Guru Dutt

                                    

 He started his career in films as an assistant to director Vishram Bedekar in film Lakhrani of Prabhat film company at the age of, 20 years and also wrote short stories in English for “The illustrated Weekly”. In that film studio he developed a lifelong friendship with actors Dev Anand and Rehman. Anand gave him his first break as a director at the age of 26, with the thriller, Baazi. Baazi was a highly stylised film for that era, influenced by the noir films of forties Hollywood, plus it introduced the Hindi industry with the concept of extra close up shots, that Guru Dutt shot with a 100mm lens, it was famously called “Guru Dutt shot”. After roaring success of Baazi he had to face failure of next two features, Jaal and Baaz, but these films formed his team of DOP VK Murthy, writer Abrar Alvi, actors Jonny Walker, Rehman and Waheeda Rehman. After the success of next three films, Aar Paar, Mr. And Mrs. 55 and Sailaab and formation of his own production house, he finally made the kind of cinema he wanted to make with Pyaasa in 1957, the story of a broke and unpublished poet who writes about the society and its psyche rather than love, beauty, God and alcohol. Disillusioned by life and society he gets success in the weirdest way possible and finds solace in a prostitute, who appreciates and understands his poetry when the whole world rejects him. It was probably the first time that the main female lead of the film was a prostitute, not a courtesan dancer, but a prostitute. Also it introduced the concept of *prostitute with a heart of gold* character, which is time and again used in many Indian films. The backbone of film is Sahir Ludhianvi’s heart piercing poetry and VK Murthy’s magical and haunting cinematography, with SD Burman’s soulful music.

a still from Pyaasa displaying the hauntingly beautiful framing

Next came in line his magnum opus which had an uncanny resemblance to his own life ‘Kaagaz ke phool’. Many friends advised Dutt against the film as it was too close to home, but he was adamant in his vision and He was a known stubborn perfectionist, who literally never considered anybody else’s opinion. The film is poetry on celluloid, and its song ‘waqt ne kiya, kya haseen sitam’ is by far the best shot romantic song in the history of Indian cinema. Sadly the film bombed at the box office causing huge losses to Guru Dutt films and shocking the master so much that he vowed that he wouldn’t direct a film in his life, a vow which he kept, although there always have been speculations that he directed the classic, ‘Saheb, Biwi aur Ghualm’ as many speculate that this film has every frame and style of a typical Guru Dutt film, plus Abrar Alvi never directed any film after it, still it is acknowledged that Guru Dutt directed the songs as he was very particular of his songs, which used to carry narrative forward in a very aesthetical manner. The mystery around his sudden death which no one can certainly say was an accident or a suicide, added more to his intriguing aura. Even today his films like Pyaasa and Kagaz Ke phool  go houseful, when played in countries like France and Germany.

stills from the song "Waqt ne kiya kya haseen sitam", Kaghaz Ke Phool

                      

 His very close friend Dev Anand once remembering him said, “He was a young man he should not have made depressing pictures”.  In one of his final interviews he said, “See, I wanted to be a director, I became one. I wanted be an actor, I became one. Wanted to make good movies, I made that too, Have money, have everything, but I have nothing left.”