Year: 1959

Director: Guru Dutt

Cast: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Veena 

 

Buoyed by the critical and commercial success of Pyaasa (1957), director- actor Guru Dutt decided to go one step further in terms of autobiographical expression and made Kaagaz Ke Phool. Pyaasa had already depicted travails of a struggling artist in a commercial world but it was a symbolic expression. In Kaagaz Ke Phool, Guru Dutt would tell a story of a genius director caught in a failed marriage and falling in love with a newcomer actress. It was as close as any cinema would ever get to his real life.

 

The real-life drama of Guru Dutt’s crumbling marriage with his singer-wife Geeta Roy- Dutt and his proximity with then upcoming actress Waheeda Rehman gave a timeless mystical appeal to Kaagaz ke Phool. But unfortunately the public- expectations to see that love-triangle in the film also took away the focus from Dutt’s central theme, which was to portray the fickle and fake nature of showbiz, where money matters first and the artistic capability counts for nothing.

 

The film opens with an unkempt, old man walking through the gates of a sprawling studio. Through flashback, his tragic and turbulent life- story unfolds. He is a brilliant and successful director, who values realism over fantasy. The studio bosses comply with his idiosyncrasies- not because they understand his artistic vision but just because he is delivering them the hit movies. In personal life, he is a loner- separated from his rich society wife (Veena) and his young daughter (Baby Naaz). While grooming a rank newcomer actress- an orphan girl (Waheeda), he finds himself coming emotionally closer to her but his daughter’s impetuosity ends up in destroying the tender bond. The heart-break ends up in ruining his life and career, turning him into an alcoholic, a pitiable man who dies as an anonymous has-been!

 

Critically speaking, the film’s concept is good but the execution leaves much to desire. Compared to Pyaasa, its narrative and characterizations, both seem patchy. Yet, there are plenty of great cinematic moments to make it a classic- like the two poignant songs Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam and Bichhade Sabhi Baari Baari; Waheeda’s heartfelt performance and Guru Dutt’s cynical takes on showbiz.

 

Released in 1959, Kaagaz Ke Phool flopped at box-office. Its rejection by classes and masses is said to have hurt and shaken Guru Dutt so much that he never ever recovered from that artistic setback. Tragically this fictitious tale of a director’s downward spiral went on to become a reality. Guru Dutt could never muster enough courage to officially acknowledge his directorial inputs in his later films- Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Chouhanvi Ka Chaand. Earlier fiction had followed real life in Kaagaz Ke Phool, later it was the turn of real life to follow the fiction!