Guru Dutt was the grand romantic in the era of Bollywood
that was marked by over wrought melodramatic unforgiving romanticism,
the 'Classic' period of the 1950s. An actor, producer, and
director he created vehicles for himself that portrayed him
as as the rogue poet and moody intellectual bohemian.
His film "Pyaasa"(1957) in which he starred
as the tortured poet opposite Mala
Sinha and Waheeda
Rehman is considered one of the masterpieces of Hindi
film. "Pyaasa" is filled with poetic shots of nature
and dark mood drenched black and white shots all of which
were hallmarks of a 'Guru Dutt' film's look.
He was involved in one of Bollywood's great real life
love tragedies with the actress Waheeda Rehman. (That eerily
echoed their roles from his film "Pyaasa".) Dutt
had 'discovered' Rehman and had made her his muse as they
starred together in a string of films. But Dutt was married
and the affair faltered ending with Waheeda moving on. Legend
says that he committed suicide because he couldn't reconcile
his loss. Guru Dutt died from an overdose of sleeping pills
in 1964, he was only 39 years old.
