I was 16 browsing through the week's India today obviously looking for the pictures of actresses when i came across this article about Guru Dutt..... It had the poster of the film Pyaasa in it and the bottom line read as India's answer to Hamlet.... It made me interested.... I was in 12th std then so buying a DVD and watching a film was out of the question..... slowly the very title of the film started intriguing me...... Pyaasa in hindi meand thirst or the thirsty one(as wikipedia says) and yes i did watch the film after my boards.. probably the first film i saw after schooling.... Then began the my liking for cinema......
Pyaasa
Before going deep into the analysis of this classic film... Here is what i heard on its making.......
It is 1956 and the director of this film Mr.Guru Dutt is waiting in the sets of the film for the arrival of Dilip Kumar who was supposed to play the male lead.... the shoot is scheduled to begin by 9 Am.... It is 10.30 and no signs of Dilip Kumar as yet ... Mr.Dutt being a short tempered man orders the make-up man to make himself up... and lo he is ready for the shoot.... Thus started the making of a classic and contemporory masterpiece called "pyaasa"......
The film opens with an abstract shot of the sky.... a beautiful poetry in the backdrop narrated by none other than the protagonist Vijay(Dutt)...I do not want to go deep describing the movie scene by scene and hence here i choose to decribe the theme... Vijay is in streets with absolutely no money with him he is virtually a begger.... The reason for this being the evolution of a major revolution in his thoughts.... And the thoughts in turn is penned down as poetry....Vijay basically is a struggle between materialism and non-matrialism.... His thoghts are revolting he finds it completely useless to have two beings in the same body... two aspects in the same body... His material being is revolting with that of his intellectual being.... He is disturbed by the hard hitting fact of reality that almost 90% of the people in the world have given in to materialism.... He finds himself absolutely distanced from the rest of the world....
At this juncture he comes face to face with a gold hearted prostitute Gulabo(Waheeda)who sings a poetry of Vijay from his stolen collections though she initially insults him she later gains a lot of respect for him.... She becomes his bridge to reality.... A solace to his revolting self.... Their relationship grows.... Vijay meanwhile has a wild realization on how swiftly Gulabo handles he quest for intellect and her need for materialism....He starts feeling that an equal amount of importance is to be given to both materialism and intellect....
In a series of misunderstandings that follow people deem Vijay to have died of an accident but he is actully alive Gulabo sells all her jewellery to to publish his works.... Works are published.... Vijay comes back.... In a series of evets that follow Vijay is frustrated with life.. he finally announces that Vijay is indeed dead and leaves the room.... Goes to Gulabo and titles roll....
Other characters in the film are
Vijay's lover at college who has completly given herself in to money and luxury... Ditches Vijay to marry a rich publisher....
The oil seller-He is Vijay's loyal friend... always smiling and funny yet knows where exactly he is going....
There is sequence in the film wherein Vijay is put in a mental hospital deeming him insane.... But escapes... By this it is very evident that whay Dutt is trying to say... "All sane are insane and all insane are sane" he was probably inspired by Hermann Hesse....
It made a mark in me because it gave me a wild realizition of the struggle within me... a struggle of two beings which is on going even while i am typing... My material and my intellect.... Every human being struggles both physically and mentally... materially and intellectually... Although i realized this i was only able to change the name of my bluetooth device to "non-mateialsm".... I realized materialism is a cycle... to get out of it is not possible... I still have Pyaasa- The eternal quest towards absolute intellectual growth....
