Synopsis
The film tells in flashback the story of
Suresh Sinha (Guru Dutt) a famous film director.
His marriage to Bina (Veena) is on the rocks
because her wealthy family sees Filmmaking
as a job lacking in social status. He is
also denied access to his daughter Pammi
(Naaz) who is sent to a private boarding
school. On a rainy night Sinha meets a woman
Shanti (Waheeda Rehman) and gives her his
coat. She comes to the film studio to return
the coat and disrupts the shooting walking
in front of the camera. Seeing the rushes
Sinha is sure that she is a star in the
making and she is cast as Paro in Devdas.
Shanti becomes a star and she and Suresh,
two lonely people, come together. They are
spoken about in gossip columns and even
Pammi's friends make life miserable for
her. She pleads with Shanti to leave Sinha's
life and Shanti withdraws becoming a school
teacher in a small village. Her withdrawal
leads to a decline in Sinha's fortunes and
he finds himself down and out. Shanti is
forced to return to films since she has
a contract with the studio but cannot help
him, as he is too far-gone. Finally Sinha
remembering his glorious past dies in the
empty film studio in the director's chair,
a lonely and forgotten man.
The film
 Kaagaz
ke Phool has been considered Guru Dutt's
finest film by many. A cinematic masterpiece
that went over the audience's heads and
sank like the Titanic so to say. But it
is actually quite an inconsistent film with
its share of lows. However in its better
moments it is nothing short of brilliant.
Lyrical and poetic, it represents some of
the finest work that Guru Dutt has ever
done. The screenplay however is weak and
the film at its worst moments appears to
be totally narcissistic. Perhaps with the
success of Pyaasa (1957),
Guru Dutt felt he could make yet another
serious film but Kaagaz ke Phool
with its defeatist attitude ( at least Pyaasa
had a happy ending of sorts ) appears almost
morbid. Guru Dutt was known to be an extremely
indecisive person and the script of the
film kept changing during the making. Also,
unlike his earlier films where the characters
were so beautifully drawn out, the family
of the film director's wife who want nothing
to do with him are treated as cardboard
caricatures. And Johnny
Walker's angle to provide relief appears
to be forced in the film rather than integrated
into it. As Guru Dutt himself admitted in
an interview to Filmfare in 1963,
"
It was good in patches. It was too slow
and it went over the head of audiences."
After
the film flopped, a dejected Guru Dutt never
officially directed a film again. Though
Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam (1962) bears
his unmistakable stamp, the direction is
credited to Abrar Alvi.
But for all its flaws, like any Guru Dutt
film, the highs far outweigh the lows. Technically
the film is perhaps his best film. The camerawork
with its use of light and shadows is magical.
The frames have been beautifully composed
keeping in mind the cinemascope format.
( It is India's first ever film in cinemascope
and got cinematographer V.K. Murthy the
Filmfare award ) The relationship between
the director and his protégé is delicately
handled on a very human plane. The film
making scenes are shot with meticulous attention
to detail. The ambiance of the film studios
is most effectively created. (Although audiences
could not digest this breaking down of the
myth surrounding the film world, its aura
and glamour ) And song picturisations, as
mentioned already a strong point of Guru
Dutt, are taken to new heights particularly
Dekhi Zamaane ki Yaari and Waqt
ne Kiya Kya Haseen Situm the latter
perhaps the best ever song sung by Geeta Dutt.
Ironically, today Kaagaz ke Phool enjoys
a cult following and goes house full whenever
re-released.
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