By: Vidya SM

He was the actor-director who was "hatke". He was that earnest man who was set to change the social situations in India through his films. Guru Dutt, the true man of substance.

Guru Dutt Shiv Shankar Padukone born on 9 July 1925 in a Saraswat family of Mangalore was educated in Calcutta in forties. The traditional education did not satisfy him and he joined Uday Shankar's dancing school in Almora for two years. Later he came down to join the Prabhat studios in Pune, where he had the all round training of the film making, his knowledge of dance eventually helped him to make his entry into the filmdom as a choreographer for the film LAKHRANI. For few years later he worked as an assistant director for directors like A. Banerjee, Gyan Mukherjee and Amiya Chakrabarty.

His first major break through came when the then established actor Dev Anand gave Guru Dutt a chance to direct his film BAAZI under his banner Nav Ketan in 1951. Luckily for Guru, BAAZI turned out to be a hit, where the usual romantic hero was given the image of a loner and an outcast. His unique concepts established him as a director. With BAAZI as a hit he made JAAL again with Dev Anand, but the audience did not accept this film.

Guru made his entry as a hero in the film BAAZ, where he played the role of a local ruler under Portuguese. But the film failed in the box office. It was AAR PAAR that made Guru Dutt both an actor and the director, He was accepted well by the industry and around this time he got married to the singer Geeta Roy, who also rendered songs to his movies.

With AAR PAAR, he started his own production company and did films under his own banner like MR. AND MRS. 55,where he played the role of a cartoonist, CID, directed by Raj Khosla, which also introduced the new sensation Waheeda Rehman to the filmdom.

 The film that took him to his peak was PYAASA, which had both Waheeda Rehman and Mala Sinha in it. The film that was almost close to DEVDAS, a character that stirs up every Indian. This film seemed to be the answer to all the people who criticized his earlier films.

Fifties was when India was on the threshold of change and Guru Dutt made his contribution by directing and acting in the films with social consciousness like KAAGAZ KE PHOOL, CHAUDVIN KA CHAND, SAHIB, BIBI AUR GHULAM.

His career crumbled down when he got addicted to paan and alchohol. He succumbed to his habit and died in the year 1964.

Even though his career was a short-lived one, the characters he created will always be on the minds of the viewers.

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