The World of Guru Dutt

The World of Guru Dutt

9 Episodes

Hailed as “the Orson Welles of Indian cinema” for his striking visual style and ability to weave deeply personal themes into mainstream entertainment, director-producer-actor Guru Dutt left behind some of the most revered works of his country’s national cinema in a short but immensely influential career. As an actor he brought a brooding melancholy to popular Hindi film, often playing a soulful outsider wounded by a callous world. Behind the camera, he was a dramatist and visual stylist of rare sophistication, drawing on his background as a choreographer to unleash tidal waves of emotion in his musical sequences and harnessing light and shadow to achieve stunning compositions with his virtuoso cinematographer V. K. Murthy. Though he died tragically young at age thirty-nine, his films—including the powerful portrait of artistic struggle PYAASA and the fascinatingly self-reflexive PAPER FLOWERS (the commercial failure of which effectively ended Dutt’s directorial career even as it has since been reclaimed as a classic)—live on as masterpieces of poetic expression.

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The World of Guru Dutt

9 Episodes

  • Mira Nair on Guru Dutt
    12:20
    Mira Nair on Guru Dutt
    Episode 1

    Mira Nair on Guru Dutt

    Episode 1

    This interview with filmmaker Mira Nair was recorded in 2022.

  • Baaz
    2:21:27
    Baaz
    Episode 2

    Baaz

    Episode 2

    (“The Falcon”)
    Directed by Guru Dutt • 1953 • India
    Starring Geeta Bali, Guru Dutt, K. N. Singh

    Acclaimed filmmaker Guru Dutt makes his debut as a leading man in this vivid swashbuckling adventure. He stars as Ravi, a sixteenth-century Indian prince whose status has been greatly reduced due to t...

  • Aar paar
    2:17:56
    Aar paar
    Episode 3

    Aar paar

    Episode 3

    (“Heads or Tails”)
    Directed by Guru Dutt • 1954 • India
    Starring Guru Dutt, Shyama, Jagdish Sethi

    Guru Dutt blends noir and comedy with delectable results in this tale of Kalu (Dutt), a poor taxi driver in Bombay who finds himself mixed up with two women and organized crime as he attempts to mak...

  • Mr. & Mrs. ’55
    2:30:01
    Mr. & Mrs. ’55
    Episode 4

    Mr. & Mrs. ’55

    Episode 4

    Directed by Guru Dutt • 1955 • India
    Starring Guru Dutt, Madhubala, Lalita Pawar

  • Pyaasa
    2:23:31
    Pyaasa
    Episode 5

    Pyaasa

    Episode 5

    (“The Thirsty One”)
    Directed by Guru Dutt • 1957 • India
    Starring Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Mala Sinha

    Often cited as the crowning achievement of director Guru Dutt’s career—and as one of the greatest Indian films of all time—PYAASA stars Dutt as the talented but destitute poet Vijay, who exper...

  • Paper Flowers
    2:22:26
    Paper Flowers
    Episode 6

    Paper Flowers

    Episode 6

    (KAAGAZ KE PHOOL)
    Directed by Guru Dutt • 1959 • India
    Starring Waheeda Rehman, Guru Dutt, Kumari Naaz

    Prefiguring Fellini’s 8 1/2, Guru Dutt’s deeply personal, poetic drama draws on his own experiences within the film industry to express an artist’s increasing disillusionment with the world. Pl...

  • Chaudhvin ka chand
    2:41:27
    Chaudhvin ka chand
    Episode 7

    Chaudhvin ka chand

    Episode 7

    (“Full Moon”)
    Directed by M. Sadiq • 1960 • India
    Starring Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman

    Produced by Guru Dutt in the hopes of making a commercial comeback following the box office disaster of his now-classic PAPER FLOWERS, this megahit romance traces the love triangle that forms between two...

  • Sahib bibi aur ghulam
    2:33:08
    Sahib bibi aur ghulam
    Episode 8

    Sahib bibi aur ghulam

    Episode 8

    (“Master, Mistress, and Servant”)
    Directed by Abrar Alvi • 1962 • India
    Starring Guru Dutt, Meena Kumari, Waheeda Rehman

    In nineteenth-century India, a decadent zamindar neglects his wife (Meena Kumari) in favor of alcohol and other women. When a poor young man (Guru Dutt, who also produced and,...

  • In Search of Guru Dutt
    1:27:03
    In Search of Guru Dutt
    Episode 9

    In Search of Guru Dutt

    Episode 9

    Directed by Nasreen Munni Kabir • 1989 • United Kingdom

    Produced for British television’s Channel 4, this three-part documentary examines the influential life and career of Guru Dutt, one of Indian cinema’s most revered auteurs. Through interviews with those who knew and worked with the director...

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