Guru Dutt and Sanjay Leela Bhansali are so similar as people and filmmakers yet so different
Never mind if Guzaarish has turned out to be such a sinker, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is still being toasted as the cinematic genius of our times. Quite like Guru Dutt whose biggest flop Kaagaz Ke Phool is remembered as a cult classic. And that’s not where the similarity ends… the two have a lot more in common
Guru Dutt had a troubled childhood and a strained relationship with his parents, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s filmmaker father Navin Bhansali was a gambler and an alcoholic and died leaving his wife Leela to fend for herself and their young children. Much of his trauma resurfaces in his films.
However, Vinod Mirani, a film analyst believes there is no comparison between the two. “Bhansali better be himself first and then aspire to be somebody as great as Guru Dutt.” Another trade pundit N P Yadav is of the opinion that Bhansali can be compared to the likes of Dutt as “he is a filmmaker who is passionate about his craft and dares to venture beyond box office results to make films as per his sensibility.”
Guru Dutt was a gifted dancer; his first public performance in Kolkata earned him a handsome sum of Rs5! He joined Uday Shankar’s dance troupe and later joined films as an assistant director and choreographer for P. L. Santoshi’s film, Hum Ek Hain. Likewise SLB is trained in Odissi and he cut short his course at the FTII Pune to join Vidhu Vinod Chopra as an assistant in Parinda and on 1942- A Love Story in which he supervised the filming of the song ‘Ek ladki ko dekha to aisa laga…’
Guru Dutt’s directorial debut Baazi was a smash hit and he followed it up with four more — Jaal, Aar Paar, Mr. and Mrs. 55, C.I.D and Pyaasa. Pyaasa was rated as one of the best 100 films of all time by Time magazine. The only movie produced by Guru Dutt which was a box-office disaster was Kaagaz Ke Phool. He lost over Rs17 lakhs on it but his following project Chaudhvin Ka Chand turned out to be a runaway hit.
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Bhansali also made an impressive debut with Khamoshi – The Musical and followed it up with commercial hits like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas and Black. Black was selected by Time (Europe) as fifth of the 10 Best Movies of 2005 from across the globe. And then came the big flop – Saawariya — which was rejected by the masses as well as the classes.
Guru Dutt’s team grew old along with him — his muse Waheeda Rehman, cinematographer V K Murthy and writer Abrar Alvi. SLB also is known to be loyal to his team and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan doing her third film with SLB recently admitted to be “honoured to be his muse”.
Guru Dutt was celebrated for his famous close-ups and song picturisations and SLB is praised for his larger than life, operatic cine frames. The two filmmakers are acknowledged as cinematic geniuses by their peers. Not surprising at all that SLB intends to remake his idol’s Kaagaz Ke Phool and Sahab Biwi Aur Ghulam someday.
But unlike Guru Dutt, SLB is not an actor. And unlike SLB, Guru Dutt never turned music director. The former met with his tragic end at the young age of 39 while SLB is all gung-ho about life and films at 47 today. n
(Deepa Karmalakar is aMumbai-based freelance writer)