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Yours Guru Dutt: Intimate
letters of a Great Indian Filmmaker
Dwelling deep into his passions and obsessions, it draws a vivid similarity of his inner turmoil and its heart-rending depiction in various films. Having committed suicide in 1964 after a turbulent marriage, these letters were carefully preserved by Arun, his youngest son. The papers are reminiscent of an era when letter writing was a passion. Nasreen Munni Kabir, a documentary filmmaker/ author, credited with a number of television series on Hindi cinema for UK’s Channel 4, has tastefully compiled the book. Her works include Search of Guru Dutt and Movie Mahal. Her books on Indian cinema include Guru Dutt-A Life in Indian Cinema (1966) and Talking Songs with Javed Akhtar (2005). Guru Dutt’s disturbed state of mind time and again inflicted feelings of self-doubt, rejection and hopelessness in him. The problems confronting Guru Dutt and Geeta Roy before they got married made him believe that she did not love him enough. In his worst mood swings, he desired to embrace death or thought he was not worthy enough to deserve her. This fear haunted him in his most lonely moments. His over-involvement in work was an attempt to drive away feelings of dejection and loneliness, which permeated his heart every now and then. Despite getting married on May 26, 1953, after a courtship of about two years, it brought little respite to his disturbed mind. He used Hindi and English while expressing himself, though a letter or two was penned in Bangla, in which he struggled to express himself. His extreme gloom and depression at times made him sceptical that a bad omen was around. A profuse and careful use of black and white photographs capturing various moments of his life with Geeta and sons, Tarun and Arun, posters of his various movies like Baazi, Mister and Mrs 55, Chaudvi Ka Chand, Baaz and a stamp released by the Government of India in 2004 have made the publication a prized possession. Scanned copies of his driving license, various postcards written by him, his large handwriting and signatures all lend a personal touch to the book. The book reflects the true Guru Dutt and provides us with an insight into his turbulent life. It is a tribute to his wife on her seventy-fifth birth anniversary. |
KNOWN to the world as a
filmmaker of fine timbre who could artistically weave human emotions
into the silver screen, making audiences lachrymose with his emotive Pyassa,
Guru Dutt was personally a dejected, melancholic and utterly lonely
person in his real life. A reflection of this aspect of his personality
is evident through this collection of 37 billets-doux penned down to his
wife, noted playback singer Geeta Dutt, and eldest son, Tarun.