KAAGAZ KE PHOOL; THE MAGNUM OPUS OF GURU DUTT'S LIFE.

NOTE: THIS PAGE IS A PART OF AN ASSIGNMENT 

In the 1950s, at the height of India’s golden age of film-making, came a movie which touched all our hearts and left a mark forever, and that movie is ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’. 

This bleak but lovely film is the gloomy story of a depressed filmmaker who spends his life lonely, unappreciated, and plagued by demons – like the tragic biography of its tortured auteur, Guru Dutt. In other words, Kaagaz Ke Phool was the magnum opus of Guru Dutt's life. Director Suresh Sinha (Guru Dutt) is making an adaptation of the classic Indian tragedy ‘Devdas’. His heroine doesn't share his artistic vision; she wants her character glammed up. After she walks off the set, Suresh stumbles across the heroine he has been looking for in Shanti (Waheeda Rehman), a young working woman without a family.  Suresh becomes Shanti's mentor and father figure, and tenderness grows between them as well.  Just when that tenderness appears poised to blossom into real love, though, Suresh's young daughter Pammi (Kumari Naaz), who is kept from Suresh by his estranged wife (Veena) and who fantasizes that her parents will reunite, prevails on Shanti to leave Suresh. The film covers a span of years as Shanti and Suresh, who seem destined for one another, nevertheless attempt to navigate their lives apart.    

Kaagaz ke phool, translated to ‘paper flowers’ in English, is an exceedingly beautiful film.  It is poetically written, touchingly acted, and shot with gorgeous and evocative black and white cinematography; there is something about black and white movies that cannot be described. Its ‘tortured artist’ theme, however, is somewhat grating - films about how hard it is to be a filmmaker always tend toward the self-indulgent, and even an excellently crafted film like Kaagaz ke phool cannot entirely escape the gravity of that sort of navel-gazing.  It is frustrating to watch the tragic evolution of people who are done in by their own stubbornness; Suresh in particular, but Shanti too, have plenty of opportunities to improve the course of their lives, and their persistent refusal to take advantage of them shifts the mood away from the tragic and toward the pathetic.  At one point, after Suresh - without Shanti as his muse - makes a bad film and loses his job, there is some focus on about how unforgiving the film industry is, how once one has begun to fall there is no regaining one's footing.  But this is not shown to be inevitable for Suresh - rather, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, in both the professional and personal domains of his life.  It is not for nothing that the film opens with Suresh moulding Devdas to his vision; that story chronicles an even more annoyingly self-indulgent character that refuses to take responsibility for his own happiness.

In closing, Kaagaz ke phool- for most of the part is engaging and compelling. Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman are beautiful and charismatic, and even though the actions of their characters can be depressing and frusfrating, it makes us want to genuinely care for them. And there were moments at which my breath caught at the sheer beauty, like the majestic and unutterably lovely "Waqt Ne Kiya", one of the most famous songs from this film. The real triumph is in the film’s stunning cinematography, gracefully gliding through the empty studio sets like a beautiful spectre of Dutt’s own shattered desires. Modern day Bollywood has redefined cinema and has definitely grown weaker compared to the timeless classics of the 50’s. Hopefully, it will draw some inspiration and find a path to walk towards the better. 

What’s your favourite movie from the timeless era? Leave it in the comments below!