Javed Akhtar, Sudhir Mishra, R Balki, Hansal Mehta and Bhawana Somaaya attended a session to pay tribute to legendary Guru Dutt, as part of the Guru Dutt Film Festival. The screening of the classic flick Pyaasa (1957) took place after the wonderful session where the eminent personalities shared lesser-known trivia about Guru Dutt and a lot more.
RARE Trivia from Guru Dutt Film Festival session: How change in interval placement SAVED Pyaasa from becoming a disaster; Guru Dutt was too shy to explain 16-year-old Waheeda Rehman about her street walker character
Journalist Bhawana Somaaya said, “When I went to watch his movies, I was seduced by the frames, the aesthetics and even his poetry, morality, characterizations and the roles that women played. There are absolutely marvellous women characters in his films and so many of them are favourites. I love Gulabo in Pyaasa. I have a very beautiful memory associated with Gulabo. I loved the song ‘Jaane Kya Tune Kahi’. When I interviewed Waheeda Rehman for my book ‘Mother Maiden Mistress’, I told her that she looked beautiful in the song and asked her what brief was given to her by Guru Dutt.”
Bhawana added, “She told me, ‘I was 16 at that time and I did not know what a street walker was. Guru Dutt was feeling awkward in explaining the idea to her’. Hence, he told Waheeda ji’s mother that ‘Please explain to her that she’s playing this character’. After a while, when he got back on the set, he asked the mother, ‘Did you tell her?’. She replied, ‘No. I didn’t know how to do it’.”
Bhawana Somaaya revealed, “Guru Dutt told Waheeda ji, ‘You will walk a few steps ahead, then you will turn back, look at the camera, smile and walk three steps ahead’. He showed it to her and added, ‘Don’t do it like me. You do it (in your own style)’. And I think that she is so ethereal when she does that (smiles).”
Javed Akhtar, meanwhile, confessed, “Pyaasa was not a first-day hit. When the film was released, people were highly disappointed. At the premiere, everyone sympathized and said that it was a good effort. During the screening, he did not go inside. He sat on the staircase of the theatre. A friend sat next to him. Guru Dutt said, ‘Yaar mujhe fir ek Aar-Paar (1954) banani padegi’!”
Javed Akhtar then explained how a simple tweak changed the destiny of Pyaasa, “On the third day of release, Guru Dutt went to the office of a director who had never made a successful film, Gajanan Jagirdar. Gajanan told him, ‘Guru Dutt, you have made a major mistake. You have put the interval in the wrong place. If you change the interval placement, it’ll make for a better narrative’. Guru Dutt acted on this suggestion and it changed the film!”
More Pages: Pyaasa Box Office Collection
BOLLYWOOD NEWS – LIVE UPDATES
Catch us for latest Bollywood News, New Bollywood Movies update, Box office collection, New Movies Release , Bollywood News Hindi, Entertainment News, Bollywood Live News Today & Upcoming Movies 2025 and stay updated with latest hindi movies only on Bollywood Hungama.